Common Myths Surrounding Dissociative Identity Disorder
Dissociative identity disorder (DID) is a highly controversial diagnosis. Doctors and therapists alike struggle with a lack of knowledge not because they do not want to know, but because they were not trained. On the average psychiatrists receive a few hours or days of training about recognizing and treating DID.
Because of all the controversy and how the media treating this enigmatic disorder as a plot for scary movies people are confused. They are left believing those who live with the diagnosis of dissociative identity disorder are dangerous. Worse yet,
Some folks express a desire to form DID.
The Myths
This article is full of myth busting material to aid both those who live with the diagnosis of DID, and all who want to know more about it. It is meant to be an aid in describing dissociative identity disorder to anyone who does not understand. Please feel free to share it.
Also, please remember, one cannot place every person who has developed DID into the same box. Some of the symptoms may or may not pertain to all individuals.
Myth: DID is not a real diagnosis.
The American Psychiatric Association (APA), the leading group comprised of psychiatrists, has a bible, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). Now in its fifth edition, the DSM is what psychiatrists and therapists use to help them diagnose mental health conditions. Dissociative Identity Disorder is a recognized mental health disorder and included in the DSM-5.
Myth: DID is well-portrayed in the movies and on television.
Movies cannot and do not accurately portray the struggles and lives of those living with the condition. When movies and tv portray those who live with DID, they often sensationalize it making their characters evil or deadly. The facts are that people living with DID live lives that are much more mundane than in the movies and television. They do not have any superpowers nor are they deadly or evil. They are just people with an extraordinary mental health disorder.
Myth: DID is the same thing as schizophrenia.
While related in the portions of the brain that are involved, schizophrenia and DID are two distinctly different diagnoses. Schizophrenia is a psychotic illness with symptoms that include delusions, hallucinations, paranoia, disorganized thoughts, speech and movements and social withdrawal. Schizophrenia does not involve alternate personality states or dissociation People living with the diagnosis of DID may experience some symptoms related to psychosis, such as hearing voices. However, DID involves alternate personality states and dissociative experiences.
Myth: people with DID are violent
While a small percentage of people living with the diagnosis of DID can be violent, that percentage is no more than any other demographic group. In fact, people who live with this disorder in their lives are far more likely to fall prey to violence than to perpetrate it.
Myth: DID alters are obvious and extreme
Although characters in movies and television programs appear to change wildly into other characters who are easily recognizable as being a different part, this is not the case for most people living with this condition. In fact, most switches are not noticed by the person’s closest family members or companions. Even therapists often cannot tell when their client has changed.
Myth: DID is only characterized by having alternate identity states
Although having alternate identity states (alters) is the best-known symptom of the disorder, it is not the only symptom. Because DID is the result of trauma, it is often accompanied by other highly disruptive disorders such as complex post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, anxiety disorders, eating disorders and conversion disorders. Persons with DID also have memory problems, physical pain, risk of suicide, and face enormous stigma.
Myth: Alters are imaginary friends.
Alters are dissociated self-states that can be highly differentiated from each other. They might have unique names, ages, gender identities, sexualities, memories, skills, abilities, and ways of viewing and interacting with the world. Alters can have different psychological disorders or physiological markers and reactions to stimuli, including “differences in visual acuity, medication responses, and allergies. The creation of alters is entirely unconscious and is the result of failed integration of thoughts, memories, emotions, learned behaviors, and traits because of extreme trauma during early childhood.
Myth: Individuals living with the diagnosis of DID are never aware that they have alters.
It is common for individuals with DID to have awareness of, hear and have general knowledge of the alters. Often, they are also aware of some of their activities. Also, many have known or at least seen signs of their alters throughout their lives.
Myth: Individuals with DID are never aware of what the alters do and cannot communicate with them.
While all individuals with DID experience some degree of unawareness of their alters, many become and remain co-conscious with them. (Co-consciousness is the ability for two or more alters to remain aware of each other or the outside world at the same time.)
Indeed, 95% of individuals with DID report hearing child voices, 90% report hearing persecutory voices, 89% hear voices arguing with each other, and 95% hear voices commenting on their life or activities. Even those with poor internal communication can communicate through leaving notes, drawing pictures, or leaving messages through journaling.
Myth: Child abuse is the only cause for DID.
The causes of DID are long-term and repeated childhood trauma, not necessarily including child abuse. Other causes include living in a war zone, having repeated medical procedures performed on their person. All cases of dissociative identity disorder form in early childhood before the age of seven and older children and adults cannot form DID.
Myth: Therapists cause DID.
There are multiple research sources supporting the fact that DID is not caused by therapists (iatrogenic). If someone forms DID as an adult in a therapist’s office, they do not have a true case of DID.
Myth: DID is rare.
Between 0.1 and 2% of the world population live with the diagnosis of DID. In fact, the DSM-5 places prevalence of the disorder at 1.5% or 71 million people worldwide.
Myth: DID is an American and western civilization phenomenon.
DID is found worldwide with research performed in countries such as the Netherlands, Turkey, Puerto Rico, New Zealand and China.
Myth: Dissociative identity disorder did not exist before the movie Sybil.
The first recorded case of DID was that of Jeanne Fery in 1584, long before the Three Faces of Eve or Sybil.
Myth: DID is easy to fake.
While there are documented cases where people have faked DID faking DID happens no more than with other mental health disorder. In fact, Professionals who have been trained to recognize dissociative identity disorder will know if their client has DID or some other diagnosis such as Borderline Personality Disorder.
Myth: DID is the same thing as borderline personality disorder.
While there are similarities between DID and BPD, they are two distinct disorders. Both are projected to be caused by severe childhood trauma and insecure, disorganized attachment can be explained by the theory of structural dissociation.
However, those living with the diagnosis of DID experience themselves as having multiple distinct parts while those with BPD experience themselves as poorly defined and fragmented.
Both disorders have dissociative features, and both have difficulties maintaining healthy attachments to others. However, borderline personality disorder does not involve alternate identity states, dissociative states, or fugue. Those living with the diagnosis of DID are less likely to view the world in black or white terms and have intense fear of abandonment.
One can have BPD and DID as comorbid disorders.
Myth: Individuals with DID can choose to get rid of, kill off, or immediately integrate alters.
Alters are not separate entities, but rather parts of the same personality. As such, alters cannot be rid of or killed by the host. In fact, if one part dies, the entire person dies because they are the same person.
Integration is a process that takes several years of working with a therapist. DID cannot be cured but the negative effects of living with are often mitigated through psychotherapy.
In Conclusion
I am sure there are plenty more myths that need busting about dissociative identity disorder. However, I hope the ones above and their rebuttals have helped.
Dissociative identity disorder will continue to be a controversial diagnosis until better methods and more examining of the brain occurs. Interestingly, there are papers out there that describe how using fMRI studies, they have found differences in the brains of those with DID opposed to those who do not (Hoshino, 2016) (Reinders, et al. 2019).
In the meantime, advocates like myself will keep instructing all who will listen about the realities of dissociative identity disorder.
“I’m not here to be small, to compare, to judge (myself or you), to fit in or to be perfect. I’m here to grow, to learn, to love, to be human.” ~ Sue Fitzmaurice
“Be yourself….and make the world adjust!” ~ Germany Kent
References
Hoshino, T., & Takeno, J. (2016). Robot science discussion on the onset of dissociative identity disorder (DID). Procedia Computer Science, 88, 52-57.
Reinders, A., Marquand, A., Schlumpf, Y., Chalavi, S., Vissia, E., Nijenhuis, E., . . . Veltman, D. (n.d.). Aiding the diagnosis of dissociative identity disorder: Pattern recognition study of brain biomarkers. The British Journal of Psychiatry, 1-9. doi:10.1192/bjp.2018.255
Can anyone point adults whom have no one to help them in the right direction of finding a good therapist/ psychiatrist or what ever it would be called that deals with DID not just ptsd or point the right direction. All these pages on all these websites should have a link for that, not for just support groups for the families, and not just for children and their parents but still they dont give the information needed to actually help get a child the right help. Also, Come on if a child has this they more than likely dont have a parent available which makes many links out there a smokscreen of how helpfull a non orofit agency truelly is. Its great that I’ve come accross those links but that’s it?it stops there just like it probably does for most people who stumble accross them. What about the children that aren’t children anymore? What about the fear an adult has when going to a crazy doctor because telling a doctor (a) what one has been through when small and thus into adulthood can bring authorites about or (b) fear of loved one’s being removed (c) being locked up in a looney bin if honest answers are given on an intake form (d) under certain circumstances a psych record can become a very non private matter and be used against them if subpoenad and that their are a vast amount of types of people with the authority to request access to records for an ensurmountable amiunt of reasons other than the obvious ones and that patient has NO right to fight that release of course depending on the state they live in.
So what good does information like this article do for the people that don’t have someone to help them and dont have any answers on how to get help and allow them selves to get help with the knowledge needed to also battle those 4 fears from happening .
The # on the back of a medical card, that is always more stressfull than anyhing. What crazy person is going to keep having themselves scout for the right doctor especially when half they pcik actually don’t even work for the office they say they work for. Gettiing gaslighted to take whats available for everyone else thats in the poverty class on government health insurance instead of whats needed for the ones that are more than just poverty. Only a certain amount of times a person is allowed to change their provider during a 12 minth perood by the way, people on state health insurance can not change their doctor/provider whenever they want to, thats a luxury for people that have alot money and can pay for their health insurance and im not talking about medicare the plan for the disbled , they are in the same boat as the ones on medicaid.
Now someone that has the luxury of oaying for their health insurance i guarantee you they dont have some serious mental problems because its these serious mental problems not getting the proper treatment that are a big factor in a person exceling in life. Sorry for the way i worded thkngs as if its very inconsiderate but i got the point accrosss and whomever has the right to take this down can alter my words into a better more ethicla way if youd like. But EXTREMELY GREAT articke though, those myths are what helps people not realize what category theyre “quirks” may fall into and that its more serious than quirks. Also this article can really help people actually put into words what they have been going through that are not embarrassing or taken the wrong way and to not be so easily diverted to treatment to everything other than this that has still not worked that im also sure patients dont realize there are many other things they could be getting looked for if they knew there are other categories there symptoms do fall under but are unaware also for the fact that theyve never been asked the right questions during their intake. And sorry for posting this comment here ,although my comment is a tad bit in regards to the article specifically, more in regards to DID in general and even more so not even to this website but to a huge issue I see. but this comment either comes out to the world now and this way even if its not in the right place nor right department ,lol. to “file my comments and concerns” and not addressed to the right individual that doesnt yet seem to exist; but its feels for some reason the right way than any other previously failed “right way” attempts then no attempts at all i guess. And these things always come out the best when its the wrong place, wrong time, and to the wrong person.
Who knows though this article is that great maybe the right person uses this site and will stumble accross the comment and that would be better than no comment being made.
By the way on many websites it says DID is what the term used to be for Borderline Personality Disorder. Which is misleading because according to this article which says the two are two different disorders.
A list of everything else that is close to those two disorders would be great to post on here as well not just the common mixups.
So an individual can know,
Research them all,
And say to a doctor why havnt i been looked at for any of these when no treatments have helped for what they supposedly have and for them to have that power to say i want to be looked at for these things
And when asked why
Well because you must have not asked me the right questions.
And a patient must stress the fact they are not self diagnosing themselves.
A patient trying to stand up for their right is a very dangerous choice because it can allow a doctor to incorrectly diagnose them in an even further detremental way just to prevent legal actions that can arrise out of misdiagnosis and mistreatment from medical boards stripping them of their license to treat people if one of their patients or one representing tbat patient brings any of it outside of the practicing office.
Patients deserve a good process of elimination and deserve preventing even further misdiagnosis that cant be removed from their mental health record.
It would be great if a person had the right to remove a diagnosis of their record due to a doctors neglegence.
So be great if patients rights links based per state laws or federal laws were attached to all sites like this one. The rights patients really need to know and if a link doesnt exist out there that somelme would take the time to gather the necessary information and make one.
Links for What strategies or legal actions a person can take without waiting on help from others
to get the ball rolling, and having it done quickly and the right way for them not the right way for everyone else.
And not all the links that lead to a dead end, waste of time that causes people that need help to stop looking for it.
And yes this was written by an anonymously crazy person so its all over the place. And more information than probably needed and im aware that I made it complicated and very out of place professionally. I apologize and thankyou for having a comments section here. And I’m not sure if I had to put something under the website section, I dont have one.
Very Good, Shirley!!!