DB 6 - Dissociative Identity Disorder
Gillianrich
DissociativeIdentityDisorder-handout.docxLecture Hand Out
This group of disorders is often what students think of when they think of the course Abnormal Psychology. These are the disorders that are most often portrayed in the media. While these disorders may appear to be quite different on first glance, they actually share a number of attributes. The most common element is some sort of dissociation or sense of detachment. Dissociative Identity Disorder was formerly know as Multiple Personality Disorder which was not an accurate description. You may have seen a number of films featuring a main character who has DID. Sybil is a movie (and book) commonly used when talking about this disorder. Another is Three Faces of Eve. You will see from the following that there is now a question about the diagnosis . A diagnosis of DID is fairly rare (contrary to what movies and television) would have you believe. Many in the psychiatric and psychological communities question if the disorder is real. While we can argue this point, there are many who believe that the disorder is real, but rare. One thing common to most people diagnosed with DID is severe abuse as children. The DID becomes a coping mechanism. One interesting fact is that many people with DID lead relatively normal lives.
Somatoform disorders are the other type of disorder often linked to DID. Somatoform disorders usually arise as a response to stress. The focus on some bodily function (soma means body in Greek). One of the mot common is conversion disorder in which some part of the body, such as the eyes, stops functioning. This disorder was previously called hysterical blindness (or paralysis). Again it was a favorite of Hollywood although it is also very rare.
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