Dissociative Identity Disorder And Multiple Personality...

Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID for short and popularly known as multiple personality disorder) is one of the more fascinating and simultaneously terrifying of the formal mental disorders. Probably due in part to DID’s fantastic, almost unbelievable nature, it is also one of the more controversial disorders that has been formally included in the DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders). In the most recent DSM, DSM-5, the signature criteria for DID is the â€Å"disruption of identity characterized by two or more distinct personality parts†¦ (that) may be observed by others, or reported by the patient† (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). This disorder manifests as an individual displaying distinct and often radically†¦show more content†¦These distinct identities can manifest themselves in various forms such as animals. The article shows that the presence of altering identities can be caused by the amount of stress present in the subject’s daily life (Stiglmayr, 2008). â€Å"The average patient with DID has been in the mental healthcare delivery system an average of 6.8 years and has received more than three other diagnoses, reflecting either misdiagnoses or comorbidities, before receiving an accurate diagnosis of DID† (Kluft 2005). This means that DID can be hard to diagnose right away . One of the scholarly article examines Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) from a diagnostic perspective in an attempt to produce a definitive categorization for the controversial disorder. The article begins by acknowledging the controversy about DID by stating that many clinicians have doubts about whether it even exists. Still, the disorder does appear in the DSM-IV and most recent addition, the DSM-5, so it is respected by American Psychiatric Association. The diagnostic criteria for DID in the DSM-IV requires the display of several core personalities that are totally unaware of one another. Formally this is how DID is recognized, and its place within the DSM-IV at all bears witness to the genuine nature of the disorder. Next, the article discusses one of the more popular conceptions of DID: that it is a â€Å"defensive response that results naturally from continuous and