An Argument on Dissociative Identity Disorder (did) as Fictitious

Abstract

This essay contends that Dissociative Identity Disorder, or DID, is fictitious. It first analyzes historical trends from the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth centuries, demonstrating the influence of sensationalism on this condition. In the following section, the essay utilizes credible articles and quotes from a variety of knowledgeable individuals to maintain that the accepted source of DID, childhood trauma, is not a valid cause of the disorder. Through a logical appeal, the paper concludes that the lack of a definitive, factual source of DID furthers the assertion that the condition is fabricated.

Moreover, it states that medical professionals’ subjective diagnosis tools could result in a misdiagnosis of DID. For this reason, DID may simply be a misdiagnosis of other, more credible, mental health issues; the paper evaluates a legitimate diagnosis report and college counselors’ expert opinions to bolster these assertions. Finally, the article counters two common rationales DID advocates utilize to maintain that this condition is scientifically-based. Again, the paper reveals that Dissociative Identity Disorder is a fabricated condition through historical trends, the discreditation of childhood trauma as a source of this disorder, and the analysis of faulty diagnosis tools.

An Analysis of Dissociative Identity Disorder

The year 1976 marks a turning point in the field of psychiatry. A nonfiction miniseries, Sybil, was televised during this period of time, depicting patient Sybil Dorsett’s constant struggle against a medical disorder. This condition, Dissociative Identity Disorder, is mainly defined by the development of multiple psyches within one individual, generally aiding him or her to cope with past childhood abuse. The show’s odd plot focused on Sybil’s sixteen different personalities, gaining a wide viewership while educating the public on this condition.

In fact, the number of reported cases of Dissociative Identity Disorder skyrocketed over the following decades, growing from less than a hundred cases per year to thousands. Presently, as increasingly more patients are being diagnosed with DID, one must ensure that this disorder is a scientifically-based condition. Indeed, an acute analysis of DID reveals its fictitious nature. Thus, as illustrated through historical trends, a lack of factual information on the causes of the condition, and a possible misdiagnosis due to faulty procedures, Dissociative Identity Disorder is a fabricated affliction.

Historical Trends

Since the symptoms associated with DID were less theatrical before the launch of Sybil, historical trends expose this condition’s spurious essence. In the recently-added introduction to the primary source “Psychological Consultation Report: Mrs. White and Miss Black” (2006), psychiatrists Corbett Thigpen and Hervey Cleckley provide a brief overview of DID’s history. They state that the first known case was reported during the year 1791, in which psychologist Eberhardt Gmelin described a young German woman who imitated a French aristocrat (para. 10).

This female patient reveals the most commonly accepted symptoms of DID during the eighteenth century, merely containing two psyches of the same gender and age. Similarly, within the article “Essay Review: Multiplying the Multiplicity…,” professors Ivan Leudar and Wes Sharrock (1999) describe patient Mary Reynolds, who was diagnosed with DID during the year 1815. Reynolds tended to alternate between a pious, timid psyche and a more outgoing, childish personality (para. 3).

Evidently, during the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, patients with DID generally contained two separate personalities of a consistent sex and age. These signs were much less severe than the symptoms associated with Sybil, who contained sixteen varying personalities. Since the indications of DID dramatically differ in intensity between Sybil and the previous cases, the condition is faulty overall.

Due to the currently augmented potency of DID’s symptoms, especially after the release of Sybil, historical trends continue to reveal the fictitious elements of the condition. Soon after this show’s first appearance, patients diagnosed with DID began to suffer from symptoms that matched those of Sybil. Five years after the miniseries was first released, patient Billy Milligan was diagnosed with DID, containing twenty different psyches of varying ages, genders, and sexual tendencies (Leudar & Sharrock, 1999, para. 5).

Milligan’s DID symptoms were incredibly intense, being more dramatic than any other case documented before the release of Sybil. Hence, the sensationalism surrounding DID influenced Milligan’s diagnosis, proving the condition is fictitious. Likewise, in the late 1990’s, patient Kim Noble was found to maintain nearly one hundred separate psyches (Leudar & Sharrock, 1999, para. 5).

As highlighted through Noble’s severe diagnosis amidst the controversy and fame of Sybil, the currently intense symptoms associated with DID simply stem from sensationalism. Therefore, the crippling symptoms reported after the release of the Sybil film, as illustrated by patients Milligan and Noble, expose the fabricated basis of this condition. In addition to historical trends, an analysis of the proclaimed causes of DID also reveals the fictitious nature of this disorder.

Childhood Trauma

Since the established source of DID, a history of childhood abuse, fails to parallel the signs of the condition, this inability to delineate an accurate cause further exposes the disorder’s fabricated core. Supposedly, a patient develops numerous personalities to cope with painful memories of adolescent maltreatment. However, as the article “Remembrance of Traumas Past” (2017) maintains, past studies of individuals who have “endured prolonged trauma consistently show their distress stems from being unable to forget, not being unable to remember” (para. 8).

Hence, previously experienced abuse generally results in the incapacity of the victim to obliterate these painful recollections. Consequently, childhood trauma could not logically induce DID, in which patients are unable to recall their allegedly traumatic experiences unless properly treated, illustrating the disorder’s spurious core. Moreover, victims of childhood abuse tend to experience a wide range of symptoms, including physical and mental health complications (“Remembrance of Traumas Past,” 2017, para. 23).

However, the symptoms associated with DID tend to remain constant, including a splitting of the consciousness and the development of multiple personalities. Thus, it is unlikely that victims of childhood abuse are especially susceptible to DID, revealing the generally fictitious elements of the disorder. In general, since childhood trauma is not a probable source of DID and the accepted source of this condition is unknown, the entire disorder is fabricated.

In fact, the inability to delineate a valid cause of DID results in the fear that memories of childhood abuse stem from treatment sessions, emphasizing the condition’s fabricated basis. During the broadcast “Real 'Sybil' Admits Multiple Personalities Were Fake” (2011), author Debbie Nathan bolsters the assertion that agonizing memories of childhood abuse are generated during treatment sessions. Nathan specifically mentions Sybil, who confessed to fabricating her traumatic childhood and DID symptoms early in the therapy process.

However, after months of hypnosis and sodium pentothal injections, which increase an individual’s susceptibility to suggestions, the therapist’s constant discussion of traumatic experiences persuaded Sybil to remember these events (para. 6). Thus, Sybil exemplifies the ability of therapeutic methods to produce false memories of childhood trauma in the treated patients, substantiating the theory that recollections of adolescent abuse are not the source of DID and that the entire disorder is fabricated. Similarly, after nine years of therapy, DID patient Cathy Kezelman developed traumatic memories of being “raped and tortured by a cult led by her grandmother” (Remembrance of Traumas Past, 2017, para. 28).

Kezelman’s inability to recall such abhorrent memories before undergoing therapy implicates that the numerous sessions of hypnosis and drug treatment generated these recollections, maintaining the assertion that DID is fictitious. Accordingly, both Sybil and Kezelman’s therapy-generated memories demonstrate that the supposed source of DID, memories of childhood trauma, arise through treatment. Since the generally accepted source of DID is false, the overall disorder of DID appears to be fabricated.

A Misdiagnosis

Due to the subjective tools utilized to diagnose a patient with DID, this disorder may simply be a misdiagnosis of other medical issues, demonstrating the condition’s fictitious nature. In the primary source, “Psychological Consultation Report: Mrs. White and Miss Black” (2006), psychologist Leopold Winter delineates the equipment he utilizes to properly diagnose a patient with DID. Winter assumes that an IQ test, which is administered to each of the delineated personalities within an individual, coupled with basic observations can accurately determine if the person suffers from DID (para. 10).

Both IQ tests and basic observations are incredibly subjective and, therefore, are unable to definitively prove that a patient has this disorder. The subject, for instance, could simply become disinterested while completing a second IQ examination, resulting in a lesser score than achieved during the first test. This variation in grades could be falsely interpreted as proof that a patient contains multiple personalities.

Ergo, the subjective tools utilized could provoke the misdiagnosis of an individual with DID, illustrating the disorder’s fabricated basis. Unfortunately, more recently developed diagnosis tools fail to eliminate the subjectiveness of DID examinations. In fact, college counselors Benjamin Levy and Janine Swanson (2008) discuss these advancements in the article “Clinical Assessment of Dissociative Identity Disorder Among College Counseling Clients.” The counselors assert that the commonly implemented Dissociative Experiences Scale, or DES, is unable to distinguish between the symptoms of DID and PTSD (para. 4-9).

Thus, the modern DES tool could induce a misdiagnosis of DID by misinterpreting the genuine mental health issue of PTSD. This incertitude corroborates the contention that DID is nonexistent, simply being the misdiagnosis of other conditions. Again, college counselors Levy and Swanson (2008) directly maintain that the accepted symptoms of PTSD match the signs of DID (para. 12). Due to the extreme similarities between DID and PTSD, one could argue that the former is simply the technologically-based misdiagnosis of the latter. Therefore, faulty IQ tests, subjective observations, and the unreliable DES could result in the misdiagnosis of DID in place of other medical conditions, implying that DID is spurious.

Evaluating Claims of DID Supporters

Despite the claims of some therapists, who maintain that DID’s placement in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Health, or DSM, validates the authenticity of the condition, the medical community’s general disapproval of DID invalidates this belief. In the introduction of the article “Remembrance of Traumas Past” (2017), the anonymous author refers to the International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation’s 2015 convention. During this meeting, keynote speaker Peter McClellan declares that DID’s credibility is evident through its placement in the DSM (para. 13).

McClellan illustrates a common assumption held by supporters of DID, specifically that the condition is corroborated through its inclusion in the diagnosis “bible” of psychologists. However, during the broadcast “Therapists Split on Multiple Personalities” (2009), psychiatrist Dr. Numan Gharaibeh utilizes a previously conducted study to justify his argumentative points on DID. He proclaims that merely twenty-one percent of the three hundred board certified psychiatrist surveyed believed in the existence of DID (para. 6).

Hence, despite DID’s placement in the DSM, most psychiatrists continue to view this disorder as being scientifically invalid. Consequently, based on the numerous professionals who consider DID to be a fabricated condition, the inclusion of DID in the DSM fails to disprove the fictitious essence of this mental illness. Nevertheless, supporters of DID continue to validate the disorder through other means.

Although advocates of DID utilize reports of successful patient treatments to ascertain this disorder’s existence, all of these favorable outcomes are announced by the therapist and not the patient and are, therefore, undependable. During the broadcast “Exploring Multiple Personalities in ‘Sybil Exposed’” (2011), professor Bethany Brand, a supporter of DID, and author Debbie Nathan, an opponent of DID, debate the existence of this disorder. Brand first cites a study, during which 280 selected patients diagnosed with DID achieved significant improvements in all aspects of life through therapy (para. 32).

Brand utilizes this statistic to substantiate the claim that DID is a treatable, real condition that can be aided through treatment sessions. In response, Nathan maintains that, regardless of the diagnosis, all individuals who undergo therapy tend to improve (“Exploring Multiple Personalities in ‘Sybil Exposed,’” 2011, para. 33).

Through this statement, Nathan implies that correctly diagnosing the 280 patients did not directly result in their improvements; instead, the generally utilized therapeutic methods included in the experimental treatment sessions induced advancements in the tested areas. Hence, Nathan rebuttals the belief that a patient must be correctly diagnosed to improve through therapy, maintaining that DID is fictitious in nature. Later on in the broadcast, professor Paul McHugh contributes to the discussion. McHugh proclaims, “All these reports of so-called successful treatment to DID are always being done by believers in DID” (“Exploring Multiple Personalities in ‘Sybil Exposed,’” 2011, para. 41).

McHugh implies that the recorded cases of effective DID treatments lack credibility, being reported by therapists who are exclusively biased in favor of this disorder’s existence. Since there are no plausible methods to validate these reports, which are conducted by a partial examiner, these accounts fail to prove that DID is a credible disorder.

Overall, although some psychologists believe that DID’s credibility is illustrated through patient success stories, these biased reports fail to demonstrate a direct, causational relationship between a proper diagnosis and psychological improvements. Thus, despite reports of patient advancements through therapy, DID’s fictitious core remains evident.

Conclusion

The Sybil miniseries forever altered the views of society. This show sensationalized Dissociative Identity Disorder, augmenting the number of cases reported each year. Presently, in order to ensure that these patients are being properly diagnosed with a valid condition, enabling their improvements in mental health areas, an in depth analysis of this condition is required. Unfortunately, this investigation raises questions over the disorder’s authenticity.

Firstly, an evaluation of historical trends reveals a shift in the severity of DID symptoms after the release of Sybil. This correlation discredits the disorder’s existence. Moreover, the erroneous belief that childhood trauma induces DID illustrates the absence of information on a legitimate source of this condition, expanding the ambiguity surrounding the disorder. Likewise, the subjective tools therapists implement to diagnose a patient with DID implicates that this condition is simply the misdiagnosis of other medical health issues, emphasizing DID’s fictitious essence. Nevertheless, one could attempt to validate DID through its placement in the DSM or through reported cases of successful treatments.

Although, the numerous professionals who consider DID to be fabricated, as well as the inability to establish a direct connection between a factual diagnosis and patient improvements, demonstrate the inaccuracies involved in validating a condition based on these justification; DID’s fabricated core is not disproved through these rationales. Hence, as revealed through historical trends, this condition’s unsubstantiated cause of childhood abuse, and a probable misdiagnosis due to subjective tools, Dissociative Identity Disorder is a fabricated mental illness.