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Dissociative Identity
Disorder
Melanie Pena
Period 1
What is Dissociative Identity
Disorder?
• Previously known as Multiple Personality
Disorder.
• A severe form of dissociation.
• Lack of connection with thoughts, memories,
feelings, actions, and one’s sense of identity.
• A psychological response to stressful events and
when the person wants an escape from reality.
• An effect of severe trauma during childhood.
What Causes the Disorder?
• Neglect during childhood.
• Physical, mental, and/or sexual abuse during childhood.
• Interpersonal and environmental stress during developmental
stages interfere with personality development.
• Dissociation happens when the child’s parents are
unpredictable and frightening to the child.
• Developmental factors include:
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Recurrent episodes of childhood abuse.
The absence of safety in overwhelming trauma.
The ability to easily dissociate from life.
A developing coping style that helps escape distress.
Frequent abuse from anyone.
Background of the Disorder
• Historic cases were thought to be dealing with demonic
possessions when one showed signs of different personalities.
• Experts now believe they were cases of multiple personalities
instead of possession.
• More understanding of multiple personalities being a mental
condition showed up in the 18th Century.
• First reported case of “exchanged personality” was credited to
Eberhardt Gmelin in 1791.
• A 20 year old German women who began speaking and behaving
like a French aristocrat during the French Revolution. When she
was the “French Woman” she knew what was going on, but when
she was the “German Woman” she knew nothing of the “French
Woman”.
• In the 19th and 20th centuries, Hypnosis was used when
dealing with DID.
Who Came Up With It?
• DID is said to date back to Paleolithic times in cave
paintings where shamans would change into animals or
take in other spirits.
• Paracelsus: A German –Swiss physician who was credited
with the first writings of a women who clamed she had
“amnesia” in 1646.
• Case: A woman who had amnesia about an altered
personality who stole money from her.
• Eberhardt Gmelin: A German Botanist who was officially
credited for discovering MPD in Germany in 1971.
• Case: “French Woman”.
Doctors Who Treated This
Disorder
• Benjamin Rush: A chief surgeon who theorized that the doubled
conscious was related to a disconnection of the two brain hemispheres.
• Dr. Samuel Latham Mitchel: Chief Editor of the Medical Repository
where he published the case of Mary Reynolds.
• Eugene Azam: A professor of surgery in the 19th century who
documented the case of Felida X who showed 3 separate personalities.
• Pierre Janet: French psychologist who documented cases on 5 people,
Leonie, Lucie, Rose, Marie, and Marceline, who each had their own split
personalities and somatoform disorders.
• Mortin Prince: Published the case of Christine Beauchamp who had 3
personality states.
• Corbett Thigpen and Hervey Cleckley: Psychiatrists who published
Christine Costner Sizemore’s case in the book and movie “The Three
Faces of Eve”.
• Dr. Cornelia Wilbur: Psychiatrist of the 20th century who treated Sybil
Dorsett who had 16 separate personalities.
Famous Cases
• Jeanne Fery: With no knowledge of DID in the 16th century, Jeanne’s case was
though to be related with possessions and exorcisms due to her altered states
being violent. In her documented case, her exorcist gave a past history of
childhood abuse which made them believe her parents were also possessed. No
specific number of personalities given. Jeanne’s case was the first documented
case of DID (The Journal of Psychohistory ).
• Mary Reynolds: In 1811 at the age of 18, Mary awoke in a new personality and
kept on switching between two different personalities. Historical documents
suggest that Mary was a part of a religious persecution which caused her
separate personalities(NCBI).
• Kim Noble: Born in 1960 into a unhappy family where she suffered extreme and
repeated abuse at an early age. Her traumatized mind formed separate
personalities to break away from the memories of her abuse which resulted in
more than 100 separate personalities being created (The Guardian).
• Christine “Caroline” Sizemore: A woman with 22 Personalities who’s case was
portrayed in “The Three Faces of Eve” then later wrote a book, “I’m Eve”, about
her life with multiple personalities (Psychology Encyclopedia).
• Shirley Mason “Sybil Dorsett”: Shirley had 16 separate personalities developed
as a result of her childhood abuse caused by her psychotic mother. With 16 years
of therapy, Shirley accepted her separate personalities (Fortea).
Signs and Symptoms
• Characterized by the presence of two or more split personalities that
take over a persons behavior.
• Signs include:
• The inability to remember personal information.
• Each identity has their own age, gender, race, posture, gestures, and
their own way of talking.
• Suddenly speaking different languages.
• Symptoms include:
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Depression
Mood swings
Sleep disorders
Anxiety and panic attacks and phobias
Auditory and visual hallucinations
Amnesia and time loss
“Out of body” experiences
Self-sabotage
How It’s Diagnosed
• DSM-5 criteria on how to diagnose (WebMD):
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Must have two or more distinct personalities present with their
own way of perceiving, relation, and thoughts about their
environment and self.
Amnesia in the recall of everyday events, personal information,
and traumatic events must occur.
The person must be distressed by the disorder and have
trouble functioning in life areas because of the disorder.
Their disturbance is not part of their normal culture or religious
practice.
Symptoms cannot be caused by direct physiological effects of
substance abuse or a general medical condition.
• Similar secondary disorders(e.g. anxiety, depression) with
other psychiatric disorders cause lengthy amounts of time for
it to be correctly diagnosed.
Treatments
• There is no official cure for DID.
• Long term treatments include:
• Talk therapy: patient and therapist speak in means of expressing
and resolving issues.
• Psychotherapy: the treatment of mental disorders by
psychological rather than medical means.
• Medication may be used to in addition to treat accompanied
anxiety/panic disorders.
• Hypnotherapy: the use of hypnosis as a therapeutic technique.
• Used to bring forth hidden memories and/or personalities.
• Adjunctive therapies: art and movement therapy.
• Medication is used to treat the anxiety and depression that
are present in DID along with Psychotherapy.
Is It Hereditary?
• No genetic cause and link for DID has been found.
Statistics
• The rate of DID is .01% to 1% of the general population
(WebMD).
• More than 1/3 of the population say that they feel like they’re
watching themselves in a movie (WebMD).
• 7% of the population may have undiagnosed DID (WebMD).
• 99% of people with DID have personal histories of recurring
life –threatening disturbances in their developmental stage
during childhood (WebMD).
• Present in all races, but is more common in American children
(Healthy Place).
• More females suffer from DID than males at a ratio of 10:1
(Healthy Place).
• Average number of altered personalities found in one person
with DID is between 8 through 13 (Healthy Place).
Work Cited
• A History of Dissociative Identity Disorder. (n.d.). Retrieved from
http://www.fortea.us/english/psiquiatria/history.htm
• Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) Statistics and Facts - HealthyPlace. (n.d.). Retrieved from
http://www.healthyplace.com/abuse/dissociative-identity-disorder/dissociative-identity-disorderdid-statistics-and-facts/
• Dissociative Identity Disorder (Multiple Personality Disorder): Signs, Symptoms, Treatment. (n.d.).
Retrieved from http://www.webmd.com/mental-health/dissociative-identity-disorder-multiplepersonality-disorder#1
• Dissociative Identity Disorder - TWO FAMOUS CASES. (n.d.). Retrieved from
http://psychology.jrank.org/pages/189/Dissociative-Identity-Disorder.html
• Dissociative Identity Disorder . (n.d.). Retrieved from
https://www.aamft.org/imis15/AAMFT/Content/Consumer_Updates/Dissociative_Identity_Disord
er.aspx
• Gillig, P. M. (n.d.). Dissociative Identity Disorder: A Controversial Diagnosis. Retrieved from
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2719457/
• History of D.I.D. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://splintersofthemind.weebly.com/history-of-did.html
• Kim Noble: The woman with 100 personalities. (2011). Retrieved from
http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2011/sep/30/kim-noble-woman-with-100personalities
• M. (n.d.). Mary Reynolds: A post-traumatic reinterpretation of a classic case of multiple
personality disorder. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3308663
• Spawn, A. (n.d.). Dissociative Identity Disorder. Retrieved from https://prezi.com/gmjwi9qomqs/dissociative-identity-disorder/
• Van der Hart, O., Lierens, R., & Goodwin, J. (n.d.). Jeanne Fery: A Sixteen Century Case of
Dissociative Identity Disorder. Retrieved from http://www.onnovdhart.nl/articles/jeanne_fery.pdf