MPD / DID: Multiple Personality & Dissociative Identity Disorder:

OVERVIEW

Sponsored link.

Overview of MPD / DID

The term "Multiple Personality Disorder" (MPD) has been largely replaced by "Dissociative Identity Disorder" (DID).  

As the former name implies,  MPD/DID is a mental condition in which 2 or more personalities appear to inhabit a single body. A simple definition of DID by two conservative Christian counselors, Arthur Zeilstra and Janet Howden, is:

"Dissociation is an act of disconnecting, locking the memory or pain in a 'suitcase' and storing the 'suitcase' in the back of the brain. Dissociation Identity Disorder is the phenomena of completely disconnecting oneself from a memory (or memories) and the emotions around the memory(ies), creating a separate identity to hold memories and emotions." ₁

Bob Larson of Bob Larson Ministries, a fundamentalist counter-cult and anti-Occult group, defines MPD as follows:

"MPD is a mental condition in which the personality becomes fragmented ("dissociated") into two or more distinct identities, each of which may become dominant and control behavior from time to time to the exclusion of the others.  These identities are called "alter personalities" (often simply "alters") and each maintains its own integrity of characteristics and habits.  Each has its own age, name, sex, intelligence, and personal tastes." ₂

A minority of mental health professionals accepted MPD/DID as a real phenomenon during the 1980s and early 1990s. Few continue this belief today. Most professional therapists believe that it is an iatrogenic (physician induced) disorder that either does not appear naturally, or is almost non-existent.  However, belief in MPD/DID is still commonly found among conservative Christian counselors, perhaps because it meshes so well with their concept of Satan, demons, and demonic possession.

Views of MPD therapists:

Since the 1970s, therapists who accept MPD as a real phenomenon generally believe it to be caused by very severe abuse during childhood -- violence so extreme that the child cannot absorb the trauma in its entirety. The child dissociates, and creates an alternative personality (a.k.a. "personality state," "alter," "part," "state of consciousness," "ego state," "fragment,"  "identity.") to handle the abuse. If the abuse continues, additional alters are created as needed. "Trying to escape overwhelming fear and pain by imagining you are somewhere else - or someone else -seems to lay the groundwork for separating off some parts of your identity." ₃

Dissociation itself is a common experience. Most people have observed mild dissociative episodes in which they lose touch with their surroundings. Examples include daydreaming, highway hypnosis, or losing oneself in a movie or book. MPD is viewed by some as an extreme level of dissociation, "which may result in serious impairment or inability to function." ₄

A new term, Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) was created in 1994 to replace MPD. One of the reasons was that the original term was being thrown into disrepute by many people giving phony demonstrations of alter switching during television talk shows.

Views of skeptics:

Judging by:

the skeptics appear to be gaining acceptance in society.

In time, MPD/DID will probably be relegated to the trash heap of mental health techniques, along with recovered memory therapy, and frontal lobotomies.

References:

1. "Dissociation and Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID): [Seminars] Led by Arthur Zeilstra and Janet Howden." See: http://www.cornerstonechristian.ca/
2. "MPD," Bob Larson Ministries, at: http://www.boblarson.org/
3. William H. Smith, "Overview of multiple personality disorder." Essay is no longer available online.
4. Sidran Foundation, "Dissociative Identity Disorder (Multiple Personality Disorder)," essay © 1994 at: http://www.sidran.org/didbr.html

Copyright © 1998 to 2005 by Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance
Originally written: 1998-JAN-11
Last updated on 2005-FEB-15
Author: B.A. Robinson