However, there is strong evidence that traumatic experiences can cause people to experience states of dissociation, suggesting that dissociative states-including the adoption of multiple personalities-may serve as a psychologically important coping mechanism for threat and danger (Dalenberg et al., 2012). Of course, not all reports of childhood abuse can be expected to be valid or accurate. (1990) suggests that in one study about 95% of people with DID were physically and/or sexually abused as children.
![other words for multiple personality disorder other words for multiple personality disorder](http://astraeasweb.net/images/three_model.gif)
People with this disorder tend to report a history of childhood trauma, some cases having been corroborated through medical or legal records (Cardeña & Gleaves, 2006). It motivated therapists to actively seek for clues of childhood abuse in their dissociative patients, well within the mindset of the 1980s, as childhood abuse was a sensitive issue then in psychology as well as in politics (Hacking, 1995).įrom then on, many movies and books were made on the subject of multiple personality, and nowadays, we see patients with dissociative identity disorder as guests visiting the Oprah Winfrey show, as if they were our modern-day circus acts.ĭespite its controversial nature, dissociative identity disorder (DID) is clearly a legitimate and serious disorder, and although some people may fake symptoms, others suffer their entire lives with it. Probably, this relation between childhood abuse and dissociation has fueled the increase of numbers of multiples from that time on. Wilbur was one of the first to relate multiple personality to childhood sexual abuse. Sybil tells the story of how a clinician-Cornelia Wilbur-unravels the different personalities of her patient Sybil during a long course of treatment (over 2,500 office hours!).
![other words for multiple personality disorder other words for multiple personality disorder](https://thesaurus.plus/img/synonyms/644/multiple_personality.png)
However, it wasn’t until years later, when the fictional, as-told-to book of Sybil (Schreiber, 1973) became known worldwide, that the prototype of what it was like to be a “multiple personality” was born. This book, and later the movie, was one of the first to speak of multiple personality disorder. It all started with the book The Three Faces of Eve (Thigpen & Cleckley, 1957). One possible explanation might be the media attention that was given to the disorder. In the 1990s, there were hundreds of people diagnosed with multiple personality in every major city in the United States (Hacking, 1995).
![other words for multiple personality disorder other words for multiple personality disorder](https://i.cbc.ca/1.5543463.1587738774!/fileImage/httpImage/image.jpg)
From then on, the numbers of “multiples” increased rapidly. That is when multiple personality disorder became an official diagnosis in the DSM-3. For example, at times they might act and identify as an adult while at other times they might identify and behave like a child. dissociative identity disorder (DID) was rarely diagnosed until the 1980s. This is a disorder in which people present with more than one personality. Multiple personality disorder, or dissociative identity disorder (DID) as it is known now, used to be a mere curiosity.