Ugh. I just read another article that questions whether dissociative identity disorder (DID) is a “real” disorder. You can read the short article here . The entire article is about the “Top 10 Controversial Psychiatric Disorders,” and DID is ranked at #7.
The article talks about the movie Sybil bringing DID into public awareness and then how a psychiatrist named Herbert Spiegel in 1995 questioned whether DID was “real”:
[Spiegel] believed [Sybil’s] “personalities” were created by her therapist, who — perhaps unwittingly — suggested that [Sybil’s] different emotional states were distinct personalities with names. Likewise, critics of the dissociative identity diagnosis argue that the disorder is artificial, perpetuated by well-meaning therapists who convince troubled and suggestible patients that their problems are due to multiple personalities.
The article ends by stating that DID will be included in the updated version of the fifth edition of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), which is scheduled for publication in May 2013.
Articles like this really bother me. If anything, I am interacting with more and more people with DID. There are entire practices that do nothing but treat people with DID. (I am aware of one in Colorado and one in Florida. I have no idea if there are more.) That sounds like quite the conspiracy to have that many therapists trying to mess with the heads of that many clients.
DID is not something to “believe in” or “not believe in.” Whether or not Herbert Spiegel “believes” that I had/have DID does not change my experience, and it p@$$es me off whenever people suggest that, as someone with DID, I am so weak-minded that I would allow another person to tinker with my head to this degree. Why on earth would someone even want to make me believe that I have this disorder? Why would I make something like this up?
I did not tell a soul about Irate when I first “met” this alter personality. Quite frankly, I thought people would think that I was “crazy” and take away my kid. I integrated Irate long before I talked to anyone, even my therapist, about Irate’s existence. So, how would my therapist have had the opportunity to “create” Irate in my head? Also, I did not trust anyone, so why on earth would I have allowed another person to “make parts up” in my head?
When will society stop choosing not to believe in something just because they did not experience it themselves? What really bothers me is the pervasive disbelief in the epidemic of child abuse (which is the cause of most cases of DID) when 1 in 3 women and 1 in 5 to 7 men were themselves sexually abused. WTF?????
Photo credit: Hekatekris
Yeah, I hear you. No therapist created my organization, either. Actually, I suspect that my therapist (Old Guy) was a bit wary of this whole thing. He certainly did not ‘encourage’ me or do anything to invent this. If anything, I got the idea that he needed it to just disappear (which just made things worse). I needed it to go away, too, but that’s not how things work.
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It’s sickening. Do these people even DO research? Talk about making things up!
As always, well done Faith.
Peace,
pf
The article does not say anything that is untrue. It is only saying that people have questioned that DID is real. I think we all know people have questioned it, It does not say it is currently being questioned…
I don’t understand why people are so angry about this?
Hi, Shen.
I can only speak for myself. My anger is that this bias against DID continues to exist despite its inclusion in the DSM. I did note that the quote about not believing in DID was written in the ’90’s, so at least it was not current. I sometimes receive emails from people believing that I am mentally ill because of their misconception that severe child abuse like mine does not exist, nor does DID. It is really annoying.
– Faith
IDD Imagination Deficit Disorder). It is not seen as a disorder as it is pervasive. Those with IDD are not aware they are afflicted, they can not imagine themselves or anyone else being any other way. They are resistance to any change or the idea that they do not understand everything. Better for them to think they know “the way.”
I do not argue if DID is real anymore. I state that I know I am multiple, some professionals accept and successfully treat people for trauma, those that do not are quite content practicing unsuccessful treatment, make more money, have more prestige and I stay away from them.
When people want DID explained to them I state if it was simple enough for me to explain to you I would not need so long to work on it.
As a practical matter I find it helpful to allow that some people may be therapeutic constructs.Being flip. if the professionals know more about your multiplicity than you do don’t worry about it you are not. Who knows it may even be effective.
For me it is pretty simple. I lived as a multiple before I discovered not everyone is multiple. In a real way I did not imagine not being multiple until psychoanalysis and expressive therapy with a therapist who has clients who no longer need or want therapy.
I have decided to champion those professionals that are successful in treating people and people who successfully heal from trauma. The rest can stay the hell away from me. I don’t even care anymore if they are trying. This is adult stuff, effort with out desirable results is not valuable.
Articles like this make me so angry. There are even websites out there that are dedicated to “debunking” the myth of DID. Occasionally I find one and I want to get violent, that’s how badly it upsets me. Because basically, they’re denying the horrific abuse that I’ve gone through, they’re denying that I found a way to survive, and they’re denying that I am who I am!
I’ve long wondered what these skeptics would think of me. . . . I figured out that I had multiple personalities YEARS before I started seeing a therapist and was diagnosed. A friend recently played Devil’s advocate and argued that these skeptics would claim I’d looked at too many websites about DID and “decided” I had those symptoms. But the truth is, even before I looked my symptoms up online, I knew that I had multiple “people” living inside my head. I didn’t know what it was called, but I knew that I heard voices talking amongst themselves in my head, and occasionally they’d address me–commenting on what I was doing, asking me questions, or mocking me. These same “voices” would on occasion take over and control my body, leaving me an unwilling observer to their arguments with my parents, or their self-injurious activities.
I had no memories of abuse at that point, so I invented a reason for my “multiple personality syndrome” and decided that it was caused by the sensory overload disorder I have–that over the years, my brain had gotten so overwhelmed by stimuli that it split my personality into several aspects of itself, in order to deal with it all. Rather than being complete individual personalities, I assumed that each alter was merely a facet of myself, such as my dark side, my scientific side, my innocent side, and so on.
Eventually I looked up “hearing voices” online and found that I either had DID or schizophrenia, and since the voices were internal, that meant DID. I then proceeded to look up everything I could find on DID and found that the symptoms matched so MANY details of my life that it was positively eerie. I mean, things that I thought were just personal quirks, turned out to be caused by DID: lack of childhood memories, having objects in my home that I didn’t remember buying, having vastly different handwriting, and so on. I had no idea those were symptoms of anything!
They definitely can’t claim that my therapist caused my DID! I basically walked into her office, told her that I had DID and asked her to confirm it for me, which she obligingly did. And lest they claim that she somehow made me believe that I’d figured it out on my own, I have the dated diary entries to prove the course of my discovery.
I understand why you are saying this bothers you, but the article itself does not say anything very persuasive against DID. I guess I don’t see what the fuss is about. It appears to be a list of disorders that have been questioned, over time, and I think we all know DID has been questioned. It also states that it will be included in the DSM, which means that it is currently assumed to be a “real” affliction.
It doesn’t really matter to me what other people think. I know who I am, I know what is real inside me, I’m very glad to have a therapist who does not question what is real for me.
For as long as I can remember I have “lost time”. I didn’t know what it was called. I suppose it was a kind of denial. Movies like Sybil and the Three Faces of Eve (which predates Sybil by quite a while) were things I avoided. I can remember the first time I heard someone talking about the book Sybil. I panicked and refused to read the book or see the movie without really understanding why.
When I first “switched” in front of my therapist, over three years ago, I told him things I had no memory of telling him. He confronted me at the next session, asking me if I ever “lost time”. I felt like a child who had been caught in the act of something really nasty. I wanted to bolt from his office. It was so terrifying to me to admit that, yes, all my life I have lost time. The rest of the questions he asked me were equally chilling, to me.
In a way it was a relief to have put a name to what was going on inside me. When he spoke of “dissociation”, I knew that was what had been happening. He did not suggest it and make it happen, he put a label on something that was already happening so that I could begin to look at it instead of denying it.
The article itself is not bad, it is simply stating historical facts. I don’t believe it will affect anyone in a way that is negative towards this diagnoses. If it does, there will still be plenty of therapists out there who do believe and are willing to help. It does not say society is choosing not to believe in this disorder. I’m afraid being an alarmist about this article is more harmful than the article itself… no offense intended here, just my feelings about it. Getting people angry about it will only push more people to “choose sides” and that is not going to be helpful to those of us who are in the minority group here – those of us with DID.
Hey Shen,
There are not plenty of therapist out there that do believe it incorrect although it is improving. 80% of those in the mental health field do not believe that DID is a valid DX. Of the remaining 20% believe that it is rare and they will never have a client that is DID. In my experience the psychiatrist are much less likely to understand DID exists. The average time that a person is in inappropriate treatment prior to getting a correct Dx is 4-7 years.
Any article that discusses DID and does not state that it is known the cause is childhood trauma is biased in my opinion.
Yes, Michael, you are right. It is not believed by too many, in my opinion. What I was saying is that this article does not say anything that is untrue. It is saying that it is controversial – which is exactly what you are saying. If 80 percent of the therapists don’t believe it that does imply that there is some controversy about it.
The article overall does not address why any psychiatric diagnosis is given. It is only a list of controversial diagnoses. I wish it was not so controversial, just as I’m certain all the readers of this blog do. However, creating an angry mob does not help any cause. If we want people to believe us it is far more important to behave in a sincere way than to become hostile.
I wonder at the statistics you mention, however. Where do they come from? I’m rather surprised that 80 percent would not believe it and yet it would remain in the DSM. I’m not questioning what you said, only wondering where it comes from. I wonder who did this poll and how many people were actually asked.
It is hard to see DID listed with things like hysteria and penis envy, but this is still simply a list of controversial diagnoses and the fact that DID is controversial should not be a surprise to any of us.
I think this triggers anger in us because it feels so non-affirming of our reality and many of us, having been abused in childhood, crave affirmation above almost everything else. I know I do. It would be very hard to hear someone say it to me directly, that they did not believe my experiences to be real. However, even then I would try not to become hostile because I know that is not going to change their mind. People believe what they want to believe and most often that is because what they believe makes them feel safe. No one would want to have DID. Not believing in it would make it feel certain that it was not going to happen to them or their loved ones.
Side note to Shen — Judith Herman, author of Trauma & Recovery, believes that “hysteria” is actually PTSD. In her book, she talks about “hysteria” being viewed as a woman’s disease until a bunch of soldiers can home after WWI with the same symptoms.
– Faith
Hey Shen,
The figures are from the International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation Web Page. I do not know the specifics of the study. It matches my experience.
This time last year I ended up in Athol MA ER. I said “I do not know who I am please help me”. I was put in a room to wait and there was a pencil and paper there. I started drawing and remembered I was DID. They had never heard of it and the mental health professional that I ended up talking to started asking me questions about what it is like to be a multiple. Not helpful. I am not allowed in the local hospital they tell me to wait for a place in Mclean’s
This topic was addressed on Mindparts. http://www.mindparts.org/2010/01/is-dissociative-identity-disor.html
I am angry as there are so many children being abused as I write this and so many people that are getting treatment that is harmful.
Hi, Shen.
You are correct in your assessment of the article. It is not what was written in the article that bothers me so much as the continued persistence of society in general to disbelieve in the existence of DID.
– Faith
Very very frustrating indeed. People are very naive,.. it is similar in a way to when I hear some middle class people grumble and complain about people scrounging and living off state benefits, I mean its ludicrous, as if anyone would “choose” to live in poverty?? Whenever I hear someone say it, I turn to them and say, “oh, well why are you not doing it then, if it’s so easy?” …… oh, of course, you don’t want to live like that do you! so why on EARTH do you think they choose too??
The same goes with many psychiatric disorders, who would choose to have DID? no one, it is ignorant people who believe it. People who never think outside the box, and are lucky enough never to have had anything shitty happen to them.
I rarely speak on this website from the perspective of a therapist, but this time it seems like it may be useful. Whether or not the article is not saying anything inaccuraten (like the fact it is a controversial diagnosis), it is this continued thinking played out in reality that creates great harm. I’ve worked in the mental health field for a long time. I have seen people with DID abused and traumatized the the system they came to for help because therapist won’t believe the diagnosis. There was one therapist that I worked with who when she first had a client with DID come to her, told her upfront that she didn’t believe in DID, and she “wasnt’ going to pull that crap on her.” Then I have just seen other mental health professionals malign and accuse clients behind their backs of just being “borderline” and manipulative (which is an insult to people with DID and people with borderline personality disorder). Then their is the issue of psychiatrists who won’t believe the diagnosis, and the minute they hear that someone hears voices will automatically dignose them as schizophrenic and start loading them up on anti-psychotics which only makes it worse. Saying this is not meant to scare anyone, but just to say that I know what CAN go on from the perspective of the mental health system, and how damaging it can be to people with DID, and even to others with diagnosis that are either “controversial” or misunderstood.
There is another dynamic that clients might not be aware of. When you then have therapists (like me) who do believe in the diagnosis, and tend to work well with clients who have it, the therapist often becomes the target, while those around him/her are talked about as allowing the client to manipulate them, and the therapist then becomes the target of all that doubt. So although there may be nothing inaccurate about an article that says the diagnosis is controversial, what is crazy-making is what this looks like in practicality when you actually run into those people.
Elaine,
First thank you so much for your work.
I as best I can take my anger to champion those few that can help people heal. It takes great courage to go up against your own profession. I am aware that therapist that practice successful therapy are often maligned.
How horrible that those than can help have to fight others that can not?
great observation Elaine….the practicality of how this disbelief plays out in real life is what matters to those of us who have had to flounder in the mental health system. I am grateful to have a therapist who not only believes in DID but understands it as well. Obviously all of us on this website know that it is real, I try to educate people who don’t understand it, but mostly avoid those who refuse to be open to the idea of learning about something they don’t understand.
I totally understand why some people doubt the DX, it took me a year and a half to completely accept my DX. On top of that, there ARE people out there who pretend to have DID for attention….but usually those people tell everyone they come in contact with that they have it. Usually, those of us who are truly DID avoid telling anyone, and only tell when it is imperative AND we know they are a safe person to tell.
barbi
I totally hear you. I get very worked up when I read or hear about stuff like this. It makes me so angry! One time, my sister was in her senior year English class and the topic of “Is DID real?” came up. A boy in her class was going off about how it was made up, it wasn’t real, people faked it etc. My sister got so offended that she spout off everything she had learned about DID (from reading and from knowing/living with me) that he shut right up and the conversation was dropped. Sometimes I really wonder why people would question it – they should meet someone or get to know someone with DID and then get back to me.
Thanks for sharing.
-Bee
Goethe said, “A person hears only what they understand.”
To me this means that people will only receive information they want to receive, in most cases that is whatever agrees with their preconceived notions…so in this case, some people including those with degrees in psychology will NEVER understand DID because they don’t want to.
And yes, it is extremely annoying.
Faith,
I think you are right on when you say that the bigger issue is the disbelief of society regarding childhood abuse. This is a frustrating fact.
I have found that some people don’t believe in DID because they have known so many people who were badly abused as children who do NOT have DID.
Something I’ve discovered that helps with educating these people is to tell them that there are 3 main reasons a person develops DID: 1) Trauma at an early age, usually ongoing in some way. 2) No one to confide in or feel safe telling. and 3) The ability to dissociate.
With those main 3 things in place a child may develop DID whereas a child terribly abused who did not have the propensity to dissociate may not.
None of this is set in stone, it is just helpful when educating people of the disorder and why some child abuse survivors have it and some do not.
barbi
See, I didn’t really know that much about DID (except what you learn academically) until I started working with clients with DID, and then basically I just LISTENED to them. I tried to get inside the experience as much as I could, and trust that everyone is the expert on themselves. So I learned from clients. What I saw before I understood though were people who were so frightened and misunderstood and vulnerable. That I could relate do naturally since I have had PTSD, and at times can still be triggered. So it didn’t take much of a stretch for DID to make sense to me. It was also because of what I went through for many years because of the PTSD that I realized what it was to be frightened and misunderstood and vulnerable. So the connecting with clients came very easily. The passions for being an advocate for them came out of my own awareness of what I had been through, and a determination not to let systems abuse other people if there was anything I could do to intervene. The problem is though that although I used to be very shy and hardly spoke, once I learned to speak up for those who felt they didn’t have a voice, I have not always been as tactful as I should. I don’t mean I was ever mean, I just assumed that whoever i was dealing with gave a damn about what I had to say. So I am still in the process of trying to learn that there are some ways of advocating that are better than others. That is actually how I got in touch with this website- not because I am a therapist, but because of having to revisit my own own traumatization and then retraumatization from finding out that out that even though I may be effective with clients in general, tends to at times put me at odds with the systems I work, and I find myself again feeling frightened, and misunderstood and vulnerable.
So I participate in this blog as part of my healing too. It just seemed that it might be useful today to mention that I’m also a therapist, and what I have seen from the other side that just affirms even more the need for advocacy and quality therapy, rather the “cookie cutter” assembly line type therapy that tries to tell a client that if they don’t fit the mold it is their fault that they aren’t getting better.
Another Article Calling DID Diagnosis ?Controversial?…
I found your entry interesting do I’ve added a Trackback to it on my weblog :)…
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I hate to be contrarian, but of course DID is controversial because there has been a longstanding controversy. I think one of the reasons it’s so controversial is because it’s so complicated. Do I care? I used to, but not much anymore. I don’t find it invalidating for someone to say something is controversial.
Another Article Calling DID Diagnosis ?Controversial? « Blooming Lotus…
I found your entry interesting do I’ve added a Trackback to it on my weblog :)…
WTF is right, Faith. I think they just don’t want to deal with the reality that people are doing severe enough abuse to people to cause DID. It’s another layer of minimization.
It drives my crazy when i hear things like this. Alters don’t just show up, in my openion they are created due to stress in the enviroment due to truma. The alters i have are/were put there to help me survive. What about soilders and ptsd. They sure as hell arn’t makeing that up. God bless all our soliders, strong famlies on the home front and people with DID.
Hi, Raven.
Soldiers don’t develop DID unless they already had it from ongoing and severe childhood trauma. I wonder if that is part of the problem. You can prove that a soldier was traumatized in verifiable war, but you only have the DID person’s word about the child abuse (in most cases).
– Faith