Multiple Personality Disorder

[aggle_rithm]

If you haven't seen the movie "Identity" and you want to be surprised, don't read any further. However, I'm sure most skeptics would hate the movie.

I couldn't understand, before I saw "Identity", why some reviewers thought it was great and others thought it was ridiculous. Then I saw it, and it all became clear.

The entire premise of the movie is based on the existence of a psychological condition called Multiple Personality Disorder...excuse me, "Dissociative Identity Disorder" (they needed a new name since the old one was a subject of ridicule by serious psychologists).

If you believe in MPD, then the movie was great. If you don't, then the entire premise was flawed beyond redemption.

I personally don't believe in MPD. Why? Because there is not a single case of this disorder that was not CAUSED by the "therapeutic" tactics used to "treat" the disorder. A combination of suggestion, drugs, and hypnosis convinces people that they have multiple personalities, but there is not one single case of a person spontaneously exhibiting multiple personalities without a "therapist's" intervention.

Comments...? Dissenting viewpoints...? Spittle-emitting tirades...?

 

[malaka]

If you haven't seen the movie "Identity" and you want to be surprised, don't read any further.

Too late, dammit. Between the subject and this first line, I think I've figured it out.

 

[CurtC]

Thanks for the warning. I had no idea what it might be about. I can usually suspend my disbelief about crazy stuff - for example, the move The Sixth Sense was really good. But I don't think I could get past my skepticism on this topic.

 

[aggle_rithm]

Re: Re: Multiple Personality Disorder

Too late, dammit. Between the subject and this first line, I think I've figured it out.

Sorry about that. If it'll make you feel any better, there was another plot twist at the end that I didn't see coming at all. Of course, by then the whole experience was tainted by the reliance on MPD as a plot device.

When I went to see it I was able to figure out the MPD angle pretty quick from the psychobabble they were throwing about. ("Who am I talking to now?", etc.)

If you watch "Star Trek", there are about ten episodes that have a similar plot -- after a while you learn to spot them a mile away.

 

[aggle_rithm]

Thanks for the warning. I had no idea what it might be about. I can usually suspend my disbelief about crazy stuff - for example, the move The Sixth Sense was really good. But I don't think I could get past my skepticism on this topic.

Yep...it's one thing to suspend disbelief for something supernatural, but another thing altogether when you're dealing with (largely discredited) pseudoscience. One can be taken as a fairy tale, while another is presented as something that could really happen. Given the gullibility of the average movie-goer, I think this is not such a good thing.

 

[Blue Monk]

Spittle-emitting tirades...?

As much as I enjoy a good ol' spittle-emitting tirade I'm afraid I have to agree with you on this one and thank you for the warning.

I am finding it harder and harder to enjoy this kind of nonsense as simply entertainment when I know it is having an impact on what the general public actually believes.

 

[Dancing David]

There sure are a lot of people who avoid personal responsibility by claiming to have alters. I think that there is evidence that most poeple who have Boderline Personality Disorder have been severly traumatised as children. I feel that most people who qualify for DID have BPD and therefore the diagnosis is redundant. I thought that the criteria was not so much 'theraputic intervention' (that is like making a claim that doctors cause cancer) but that there is intrapsychic communication between the alters, which blew the whole multiple thing. If they can talk to each other then they aren't seperate and therefore they aren't multiple.

For anyone who knows someone who thinks they have alters refer them to a psychiatrist and the Linnehan Model

Peace
dancing David

 

[Bruce]

I tend to keep my skepticism at home when I go to the movies. It makes them more enjoyable. For example:

1. I don't believe in aliens, but ejoyed Men in Black.
2. I don't believe in ghosts, but enjoyed Sixth Sense.
3. I have a firm understanding of physics, but enjoyed Star Wars anyway.

I actaully enjoyed Identity, despite it's logical flaws. Who knows, maybe my life is just a twisted fantasy in somebody's head. I think the last 2 minutes of the film could have been removed or changed. Kinda fell flat.

 

[Denise]

I'd love to see some discussion on MPD. I really don't know much about it. I remember when Sybil came out. She had like 16? personalities, by the eighties people has over 100. It just got very bizarre.

I have heard that the Sybil story was discredited, but don't really have any info on this.

Can anyone teach me about MPD and why it's an actual phenomenon, or why it's bogus? Thanks!

 

[Darwin]

Well what you see in the movies,as long as it comes to psychiatry/psychiatric patients,the situation seems a bit hopeless.
People with psychiatric disorders are all too often presented as wicked loons out for someone´s head.I think psychiatrists themselves have taken this into account,I have heard "Beautiful Mind" being referred to as a movie which displays this issue in at least relatively better light (even though Russel Crowe could use some control in his private life)

However,on mpd;
http://www.sidran.org/didbr.html

Personally,I think it can be a legitimate diagnosis.

 

[aggle_rithm]

I'd love to see some discussion on MPD. I really don't know much about it. I remember when Sybil came out. She had like 16? personalities, by the eighties people has over 100. It just got very bizarre.

I have heard that the Sybil story was discredited, but don't really have any info on this.

Can anyone teach me about MPD and why it's an actual phenomenon, or why it's bogus? Thanks!

Read "Making Monsters" by Richard Ofshe and Ethan Watter. It's mainly about the Recovered Memory movement, but has a lot of information on MPD as well.

About Sybil: when her regular therapist went on vacation, a collegue was asked to fill in for her. The first thing Sybil asked was, "Who do you want me to be today?" She answered, "Just be yourself." Sybil seemed relieved to hear this.

Even the movie shows cracks in the Sybil story. She told her therapist that she had made the whole thing up, that there were no multiple personalities. Her therapist chose to ignore this, and managed to convince Sybil otherwise. Her proof? She found a purple crayon at Sybil's childhood home.

 

[aggle_rithm]

There sure are a lot of people who avoid personal responsibility by claiming to have alters. I think that there is evidence that most poeple who have Boderline Personality Disorder have been severly traumatised as children. I feel that most people who qualify for DID have BPD and therefore the diagnosis is redundant.

Assuming there is such a thing as DID, which has not been established.

I thought that the criteria was not so much 'theraputic intervention' (that is like making a claim that doctors cause cancer) but that there is intrapsychic communication between the alters, which blew the whole multiple thing. If they can talk to each other then they aren't seperate and therefore they aren't multiple.

People who have cancer, and don't go to a doctor, die. People who "have DID" and don't go to a therapist never display the kinds of problems associated with the "disease". I realize there are contradictions here, because it is not possible to have DID without going to a therapist.

There are many cases where the symptoms of DID stopped as soon as the treatment stopped. This is anecdotal evidence, of course, but then the whole concept of MPD/DID is based on anecdotal evidence.

For anyone who knows someone who thinks they have alters refer them to a psychiatrist and the Linnehan Model

Peace
dancing David

I agree they need to go to a psychiatrist -- but a COMPETENT one. Usually, the more experience a psychiatrist has, the less likely he/she is to embrace theories like MPD/DID.

 

[aggle_rithm]

Personally,I think it can be a legitimate diagnosis.

I recently read "Phantoms in the Brain" by neurologist V.S. Ramachandran. He offered the opinion that MPD was feasible, but more studies were needed. Whenever he tried to confer with specialists on the disease, however, he was frustrated because they claimed to have patients with more than two personalities -- something Ramachandran found very unlikely, because his model describes one personality per brain hemisphere. In other words, there is no known mechanism for more than two personalities.

I think Ramachandran is the ideal person to investigate such things. His scientific methodology used to investigate brain function, as described in the book, is ingenious.

 

[Soapy Sam]

Anyone who reads Ramachandran or Oliver Sacks' case histories is aware that some deeply strange phenomena emerge from neurological damage. I find nothing inherently unbelievable in the idea of a brain fitting in more than one "user" in the computing sense.
I have not seen the movie and have no plans to, but we all know how little true science makes it onto the silver screen. I certainly would not reach conclusions about a complex mental condition based on a popular movie. Sit back,enjoy the nonsense, and watch the audience if bored is my usual movie rule. The odd groan might escape my popcorn-stuffed maw, but I'm usually only there to keep the boss happy anyway.
(She likes small budget French films. They are sometimes rather good, I have to admit, though a few explosions would not go amiss).

 

[Darwin]

"I recently read "Phantoms in the Brain" by neurologist V.S. Ramachandran. He offered the opinion that MPD was feasible, but more studies were needed. Whenever he tried to confer with specialists on the disease, however, he was frustrated because they claimed to have patients with more than two personalities -- something Ramachandran found very unlikely, because his model describes one personality per brain hemisphere. In other words, there is no known mechanism for more than two personalities."

I´m sort of a novice neuroscience geek myself,which hardly means I´m in the position to land a critique on the author mentioned but I do not think I agree with this idea completely,at least as far as I got out of it from your post.

 

[Hellcat]

BPD

Extracts of MPD via a religious point of view????as sourced below

Views of skeptics:
Many therapists and investigators are skeptical about the widespread natural occurrence of true MPD. They assert that "real" MPD it as a non-existent or extremely rare phenomenon, affecting only a handful of persons in North America. They view almost all cases of diagnosed MPD as having been artificially created by an iatrogenic (physician induced) process. That is, it created by a therapist and their client/patient during therapy, without either recognizing the process. At the same time, skeptics are aware of the suffering of those diagnosed with MPD; they regard MPD survivors as victims of bad therapy. Their cure for MPD is to isolate the patient from the therapist and mutual support groups.
Some Roman Catholics and conservative Protestant Christians believe that the symptoms of MPD are created by multiple, indwelling demons or "unclean spirits" as mentioned frequently in the Christian Scriptures ( New Testament). The appropriate method of treatment is to exorcise the demons. They would disagree with any therapy that involves actually talking to the demons/alters.
Finally, a few individuals believe that MPD is a naturally occurring phenomenon, and unrelated to childhood abuse or creation by an iatrogenic process. As one web site describes it, MPD is a gift.

Judging by:

the increasing numbers of malpractice suits against MPD specialists,
the increasing numbers of cancellations of MPD therapists' licenses to practice,
the recent drop in membership of their professional organization, the International Society for the Study of Dissociation (ISSD),
the decreasing numbers of books on MPD/DID therapeutic methods,

the skeptics appear to be gaining acceptance in society

Formerly called Multiple Personality Disorder
Given a diagnostic category in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) in 1980.
Characterized by the existence of two or more distinct personality states that have the capacity to take control of the body and the inability to recall personal information too great to be explained by ordinary forgetfulness. The condition cannot be due to the effect of substances or a medical condition.
There may be accompanying symptoms such as depression, anxiety, obsessive/compulsive behavior, eating disorders, substance abuse, etc.
Arises from continued and repeated sexual and/or physical abuse beginning in early childhood.
DID is a defensive mechanism that protects the child from the physical and emotional pain associated with abuse by separating a part of the child’s mind or consciousness to deal with the trauma of the abuse. Over time and repeated abuse, these separate parts establish identities of their own.
People with DID have been shown to be highly susceptible to dissociation (an alteration in consciousness wherein the individual and some aspect of his or her self or environment become disconnected or disengaged from one another), of above average intelligence, and highly creative. DID is generally diagnosed in adulthood, triggered by some factor that compels or allows the alters to emerge.
Systems of alter personalities differ from individual to individual, but there are generally host personalities who appear most often, opposite gender personalities, self-helper personalities, persecutory personalities who may harm themselves or others, and child personalities.
Switching is the process of shifting from one alter to another.
Co-consciousness refers to the level of shared awareness of existence and behavior between the host personality and the alters. Levels of co-consciousness vary from person to person from total lack of knowledge of others in the system to complete co-consciousness where every alter knows to some degree what each alter and the host personality are doing or thinking.
The object of therapy is to stabilize the person, lessen the degree of dissociation, increase cooperation and co-consciousness within the system, and often ultimately merge the alters into one personality, a process called integration.
Although no controlled study has been conducted in the United States, an estimate of the prevalence of DID in the U.S. population is from 1 in 500 to 1 in 5,000, or between 250,000 and 2,500,000 people.
Four times as many women are diagnosed as men.
The average person diagnosed with DID spends 7 years in the mental health system before being properly diagnosed, due to misdiagnosis and lack of training on the part of therapists to spot the disorder.
Two non-profit groups based in the United States that disseminate information on The Dissociative Disorders are:
The Sidran Foundation (www.sidran.org)
The International Society for the Study of Dissociation: (www.issd.org
sourced here.

Treat this site with some polite respect here

 

[Q-Source]

Treat this site with some polite respect here

Hello Hellcat,

........or should I say?, hello....

Ma'at
radiating-sunflower
Passionate Iniquity
P_I
Pie
Moon_Lilly
Radiating Sunflower
Biker Babe
Vamp
Aswan
Geisha
Frenchy
Raven
Error 404

Each one with their own personality...

Speaking of MPD

-----------
To all:

I think that internet is a very dangerous weapon for people who may suffer from MPD. It definitely gives them the forum to augment their disorder and make worse their problem.

Q-S

 

[Dancing David]

Believe me I have worked with many a troubled person, those who have thought they had alters and those who did not. I still feel that BPD is a more useful diagnosis.
In my experince there are very few psychiatrists who diagnose MPD, but the clients and therapists who wish they were psychitrists do diagnose it.

 

[Q-Source]

Believe me I have worked with many a troubled person, those who have thought they had alters and those who did not. I still feel that BPD is a more useful diagnosis.
In my experince there are very few psychiatrists who diagnose MPD, but the clients and therapists who wish they were psychitrists do diagnose it.

are you a psychiatrist?


Uuups, I just read your profile.

Great job!

 

[Hellcat]

Hello Hellcat,

........or should I say?, hello....

Ma'at
radiating-sunflower
Passionate Iniquity
P_I
Pie
Moon_Lilly
Radiating Sunflower
Biker Babe
Vamp
Aswan
Geisha
Frenchy
Raven
Error 404

Each one with their own personality...

Speaking of MPD

-----------
To all:

I think that internet is a very dangerous weapon for people who may suffer from MPD. It definitely gives them the forum to augment their disorder and make worse their problem.

Q-S

Try Radiating sunflower terminated then Passionate iniquity, then after finding the account had been terminated Pie re joined with the name changed by hal at my request to Biker babe and Hellcat (ex-radiating sunflower work account). The others nothing to do with me. All known and made public knowledge on the board.

A name change request as done with Magnifico is not a socket puppet creation the whole thread change to the name and hal knows all my requests I have never hidden who I was.


Idle gossip QS I thought that you would be above such gutterness.



Now if you are gaining personal information as in my name, address etc, for the account of hellcat I strongly questions the security of this site. I formally request form Administration how such information is getting out.