Name: 我、我自己和我。Dissociative Identity Disorder (Me, Myself, and I: Dissociative Identity Disorder)
Uploaded: 2021-01-14T07:30:08.000Z
Duration: 5 min 20 s
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visited the psychotherapist she'd been seeing
for a few months.

When the therapist asked her how she was doing,
she said, “I'm fine but Shirley isn't.

She was so sick she couldn't come, so I came instead...

Through continued therapy, the therapist discovered
what seemed like

16 personalities living inside Shirley's mind.

She later wrote a now-famous book about Shirley,
titled "Sybil"—

using a different name to protect her patient's
privacy.

And that book put a rare syndrome, then called
multiple personality disorder, on the map.

Before Sybil, fewer than 100 cases had ever
been reported,

but after the book came out, diagnoses exploded
into the thousands.

In a surprising twist, Shirley's specific
case might not have been real,

and she eventually wrote her therapist claiming
she'd made it all up.

But researchers are still looking into the
disorder as a whole.

Today, we call Shirley's diagnosis dissociative
identity disorder, or DID.

It often occurs alongside other psychiatric
disorders,

And it's still very controversial among psychologists
and psychiatrists.

But what's not controversial is that the
way Hollywood portrays it is way off.

To be diagnosed with DID, a patient needs
to have

two or more so-called “identities”, or
personality states.

This doesn't necessarily mean a whole other
person

In many cases, it's more like their overall
personality is fragmented,

and different parts of their history and self-image
can take control.

For example, only one personality state might
be able to

speak a language learned during a semester
abroad in college,

while another doesn't remember that experience.

Or if they'd previously been a very religious
person,

they might have one fragment of them that's
devout, and another that isn't.

Sometimes these fragments present themselves
as multiple people

with different ages or genders, but not always.

And while these fragments can be complicated,
with their own wants and aspirations, they

aren't there to fulfill,
like, evil or criminal desires.

So the idea that people with DID are ruled
by the worst parts of themselves,

like in Fight Club or Split, is entirely fictional.

The other major symptom is memory loss or
amnesia.

This could be missing personal information
about themselves,

or missing memories from times when
another personality fragment was in control.

Also, it doesn't count if the personality shift

If everyone tells you that you turn into someone
else when you're drunk,

but you can't remember what you said or
did …

you do not have dissociative identity disorder.

And, parents: imaginary friends? Totally
cool.

They're really common—like, 2/3 of kids
have them—

and this is not a symptom of your child harboring
another secret personality.

But if a patient has multiple identities,
their memory is shaky,

and they're distressed or impaired by these
symptoms,

then a psychiatrist might diagnose them with
DID.

It's not that their condition isn't real—

there's no denying that patients have these symptoms.

But experts disagree on where the symptoms
come from—

whether DID is a stand-alone disorder,
or whether it's better explained by other,

Surveys of psychiatrists found that most agree
it's a valid diagnosis,

but many think it's commonly misdiagnosed.

That's partly because DID is so rare,
most studies on it have very small samples.

But it's also because it's very unlikely
that patients get just a DID diagnosis.

It's usually tacked on to other diagnoses,
and this is one reason why many psychologists

think that
it's better understood as an extreme version

For example, DID can look a lot like a dissociative
fugue state.

This is a kind of temporary memory loss where
people behave impulsively,

leave their homes and wander around,
and do things that they would never otherwise do.

So it might seem like a shift in personality.

These people also often lose their memories
of who they are,

so they sometimes invent a new identity to
fill in the gap.

And although a lot of these fugue cases are
a bit of a mystery,

some are explained by substance use or neurological
conditions.

DID also overlaps a lot with post-traumatic
stress disorder, or PTSD.

That's especially interesting, because the
psychologists

who most strongly believe DID is a distinct
disorder

think it stems from childhood trauma or abuse—
which could also cause PTSD.

And DID similarly shares symptoms with borderline
personality disorder,

which is characterized by impulsive behavior,
as well as unstable relationships and identity.

One study of 33 patients in the 1980s found
that 70% of patients with DID

could have just as easily been diagnosed
with borderline personality disorder instead.

But, the researchers concluded that because
30% of the cases

were distinct, DID should be considered a
stand-alone disorder.

DID is also controversial because many of
the new diagnoses

seem to be coming from just a few psychiatrists,
and some suggest these doctors may be overzealous

But the doctors themselves counter that by
saying that

they're just better at seeing the signs
and identifying the disorder.

Regardless, the good news is that treatment
for DID with tailored therapy—

at least for the symptoms related to identity
fragmentation—

Which is great, because although there's
a lot of controversy

surrounding the disorder, psychiatrists all
agree that

And like anyone else, they should be shown
compassion,

Thanks for watching this episode of SciShow Psych.

If you want to learn more about the psychology
of trauma,

you might be interested in our episode on how trauma can be inherited.