NATURE AND HISTORY OF THE MPD / DID CONTROVERSY

Please read the overview to MPD / DID before tackling this essay.

Quotations:

"...it has been proven that different personalities manifest different physiological symptoms. Some alters are allergic to penicillin or certain foods, whereas the host personality is not." Lisa Scott

"There was no credible scientific evidence for any of this: no evidence that people who had experienced years of abuse ever repressed it; no evidence that forgotten memories caused the symptoms experienced; no evidence that 'recovering' memories relieved symptoms." Dr. Elizabeth Loftus, commenting on DID.

"...if you go to a therapist with an open mind to asking for help in resolving problems and he or she tells you something that seems ridiculous, it probably is: therapists, despite their training and potential gift for insight, have no special intellectual powers--merely more degrees." "Melanchthon" -- book reviewer on the Amazon.com web site, reviewing Reference 10.

"Sybil said: 'Well, do you want me to be Helen?' And I said, 'What do you mean?' And she said, 'Well, when I'm with Dr. Wilbur she wants me to be Helen.' I said, 'Who's Helen?' 'Well, that's a name Dr. Wilbur gave me for this feeling." 1

Nature of the MPD / DID controversy:

MPD/DID is extremely controversial. As in the case of Recovered Memory Therapy (RMT) Satanic Ritual Abuse (SRA), beliefs about destructive and mind control cults, abuse during UFO abductions, etc., almost all experts in the field are deeply polarized into two groups, which we call:

"Skeptics: - those who believe that MPD is a psychological fad. It is either non-existent or phenomenally rare in nature. It is a disorder that has an iatrogenic cause; it is unknowingly created by the therapist-patient interaction. Thousands of victims have been generated by bad therapy.

"Believers" - those who see MPD as a very serious public mental health problem affecting perhaps 1% of the population. These are further divided into: "Secular believers" Most are humanistic therapists and feminist counselors who believe that MPD is quite common, is caused by severe abuse during childhood, and can be resolved by re-integrating the alters into the dominant personality through therapy.

Some believe that MPD occurs naturally, without any therapist involvement, and is unrelated to childhood abuse.

"Religious believers" - typically some Roman Catholics, Fundamentalist and other Evangelical Christians who view MPD as a byproduct of demon possession that can only be cured through exorcism.

As in so many other therapeutic controversies, it is imperative that we reach a consensus on MPD quickly in order to minimize continuing harm to the public:

If MPD is an iatrogenic (therapist caused) disorder which does not naturally appear in society, then it is important that exorcisms and MPD therapy be discontinued, to avoid creating additional victims.

If MPD is real, if alters exist, and if the disorder is caused by severe child abuse, then attempted exorcisms by religious believers could exacerbate the victims' suffering. Activities by skeptics could prevent victims from receiving proper therapy.

If MPD is real, occurs naturally, is not a disorder, and is unrelated to childhood abuse, then it should be appreciated and studied; persons with MPD should be valued, not treated.

If MPD is real and is caused by indwelling demonic spirits, then psychotherapy to integrate the alters could cause great harm. Attacks by skeptics could prevent victims from seeking release through exorcisms.

History of MPD / DID:

There have been stories throughout history of people who have behaved strangely, and who later were unable to recall their actions. But the first medical studies of what we now call MPD/DID did not appear until the 1800s.

It was regarded as a very rare medical curiosity until the mid 1950's. Dr. Bennett Braun reports that a 1944 "review of the literature by Taylor and Martin found only 76 documented cases of MPD" worldwide prior to that time. Of she & Watters refer to a 1979 study which found "only two hundred cases of MPD in all recorded medical history." The appearance of Recovered Memory Therapy (RMT) in the 1980s gave therapists a method which appeared to recover images of early childhood abuse. These images often coalesced over time into memories which the therapist and patient believe were the root cause of MPD.

Beliefs in Satanic Ritual Abuse (SRA) became popular about the same time. This gave a rationale for therapists to expect high levels of MPD in the general population. "By 1984 the number of reported cases had jumped to a thousand, and by 1989 to four thousand." 11 During the 1990s, "some psychiatrists and psychologists specializing in the treatment of MPD ...estimated that twenty to thirty thousand people" suffered from the disorder.

A fictional novel, presented as a documentary, The Three Faces of Eve (1956), described a woman who was believed to have three personalities. This was the first multiple personality book to catch the attention of the public. It was later made into a movie which various sources date as being released in 1956 or 1957. It had a profound effect on the public, convincing many that multiple personalities were both possible and common.

In 1968, MPD was defined in the American Psychiatric Association's "Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders" (DSM-II) as a hysterical neuroses. It was redefined in DSM-III (1980), as one of four dissociative disorders. These disorders have in common "a sudden, temporary alteration in the normally integrative functions of consciousness, identity, or motor behavior." MPD is differentiated from other dissociative disorders by the following symptoms:

The individual switches between two or more distinct personalities

Control of the individual is held by whichever personality is in control at a given time

"Each individual personality is complex and integrated with its own unique behavior patterns and social relationships."

A second book, also presented as a documentary, described a woman who was believed to be possessed by 16 personalities. This was Sybil (1973). It also came out in a made-for-TV movie version in 1976. Sally Field on an Emmy for her performance as Sybil. Joanne Woodward played the role of Sybil's mother. The movie made a major contribution to the public's perception and acceptance of MPD.

Dr. Herbert Spiegel was Sybil's backup therapist when her main psychiatrist, Dr. Cornelia Wilbur, was out of town. He concluded that Sybil's "personalities" were artificially generated during therapy when Dr. Wilbur gave names to Sybil's various emotional states. He said that Sybil told him that Dr. Wilbur wanted her "to be Helen" when she discussed a specific past occurrence. Dr. Spiegel suggested that she talk about the event simply as Sybil. "Then she discovered she didn't have to act like Helen in order to talk about it."

Audio tapes of Sybil's original therapeutic sessions have emerged; they confirm that the personalities were artificially generated by the therapist. Dr. Robert Rieber of the John Jay College of Criminal Justice obtained a set of audio tapes of conversation between Sybil, her psychiatrist and the author of the book. In a paper delivered to the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association in 1998-AUG, he said that the tapes show that the three were "not totally unaware" that the story that they told was wrong. "Yet at the same time they wished to believe it, no matter what. I would prefer to believe that there was as much self-deception as deception of others. They were not malicious people."

This novel/movie first introduced the concept that abuse during early childhood was a cause of MPD. This belief has since gained near universal acceptance among MPD therapists

The American Psychiatric Association renamed MPD as Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) in DSM-IV (1994).

As increasing numbers of therapists became active in the MPD field, new concepts were introduced. Patients were no longer limited to only a few alters. The novel by Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894) -- "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1866) -- described two alters. "Eve" in the 1950s had three; Sybil had 16. More recently, therapists uncovered dozens of alters - even hundreds, and eventually as many as 4,500 within some individuals. Alters "may present themselves as differing from the body in age, appearance, sex, language and even species. Some therapists claim to have uncovered vegetable and even inanimate personalities." Some alters appear as animals; others are inanimate objects, like clouds. Different personalities exhibit different speech patterns, mannerisms, attitudes, thoughts, and gender. Alters are said to differ in allergies, handedness, eyeglass prescription or even the presence/absence of diabetes. "Some alters are allergic to penicillin or certain foods, whereas the host personality is not."

According to the DSM, the client is under the control of one personality or alter at a time; she/he usually cannot recall events that happened when the other alters were in control.

During the 1980s and early 1990s, the number of people diagnosed with MPD increased enormously. 40,000 cases of MPD were diagnosed between 1985 and 1995. In 1998, there were over two dozen clinics in North America which specialize in this disorder. The bubble burst near the turn of the century. The number of active cases declined precipitously as belief in MPD has become less common in North America and all of the MPD/DID clinics were shut down. Some causes of this decline were:

A growing belief that recovered memory therapy is extremely unreliable and often creates images of abuse that are unrelated to real childhood events.

A growing belief that no abusive Satanic religious cults exist, which engage in ritual abuse or murder.

Some persons accused of criminal acts have attempted to escape responsibility for their actions, and blame it on MPD. They claimed that their dominant personalities were not responsible for the crimes - their alters did it. This has contributed to public suspicion about the reality of MPD Alleged victim-survivors of MPD have appeared on many TV talk shows. Some have given unconvincing, artificial, often comic performances of alter switching.

Observation by some skeptics that MPD symptoms only appear after the beginning of therapy. These symptoms tend to rapidly disappear after the patient terminates treatment and is isolated from their therapist.

Some insurance companies have become alarmed at the extremely high cost of the long-term treatment of patients in MPD clinics. Costs sometimes run over a million dollars per patient.

Malpractice lawsuits against MPD therapists, their clinics and affiliated hospitals have been launched in recent years. Some settlements have run into millions of dollars.

Many therapists specializing in MPD -- including some leading authorities in the field -- have had their licenses pulled by regulatory agencies.

MPD/DID seems to have gone through a 15 year cycle like many past psychological fads. It rapidly grew in acceptance among a minority of therapists, reached a plateau and then started to decline in popularity. One way of tracking the popularity of MPD/DID diagnoses is by scanning the publishing dates and topics of books on the topic. On 2000-NOV-9, Amazon.com listed 22 books on MPD and 44 on DID. 29 were written between 1986 and 1996 -- all or almost all by therapists describing how to treat the disorder. They reached a peak in 1994. Between 1997 and 2000, there were only three books written which deal with therapeutic techniques. However, another book describes MPD as a hoax; four others are personal stories written by victims/survivors of MPD.

We predicted in 2000-NOV, that by the year 2010 CE, MPD/DID will be relegated to the trash bucket of psychological fads, along with frontal lobotomy, recovered memory therapy, therapy to uncover memories of abuse in former lifetimes, and therapy related to abuse by LGM (little green men) onboard UFOs. This prediction seems to be on track. Still remaining will be thousands or tens of thousands of victims of MPD therapy who will continue to suffer emotional disability. They will slash themselves, attempt suicide and sometimes die as the result of incompetent therapy.

References:

Bennett G. Braun, Ed., "Treatment Of Multiple Personality Disorder" American Psychiatric Press, (1986) Read reviews or order this book safely from Amazon.com online book store

R. Ofshe & E. Watters, "Making Monsters: False Memories, Psychotherapy and Sexual Hysteria," Schribners, New York, NY, (1994), Chapter 10, Pages 205 to 224.

"Possession, multiple-personality disorder", at: http://www.physics.wisc.edu/~shalizi/notebooks/possession.html

Malcolm Ritter, "Lost tapes challenge Sybil story: psychologist; Multiple personalities created during therapy?," Associated Press, 1998-AUG-17.

C.H. Thigpen, H.M. Cleckley, "The Three Faces of Eve," (1956; Revised 1992) Read reviews or order this book

F.R. Schreiber, "Sybil: the true story of a woman possesses by sixteen separate personalities," Warner Books, (1973; Reissued 1995). Read reviews or order this book.

Lisa Scott, Member, International Society for the Study of Dissociation, letter to the editor of Psychology Today, 2001-FEB issue.

Elizabeth Loftus, "The Most Dangerous Book You May Already Be Reading," Psychology Today, 2000-DEC.

Joan Acocella, "Creating Hysteria: Women and the Myth of Multiple Personality Disorder." Jossey-Bass, (1999). Read reviews or order this book.

Reinder Van Til, "Lost Daughters: Recovered Memory Therapy and the people it hurts,"

Eerdmand (1997), P. 178 to 182. This book deals mainly with the recovered memory therapy hoax which damaged hundreds of thousands of lives during the 1980s and 1990s. The author briefly discusses the case of Sybil.

Mikkel Borch-Jacobsen, "Sybil -- The making of a disease," New York Review of Books, 1997-APR-24, Pages 61 & 62. This is an interview of Dr. Spiegel. See: http://www.astraeasweb.net/

John Taylor, "The Lost Daughter" Esquire magazine, 1994-MAR.