Community and Media
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Dissociative Identity Disorder
Community And Media
Dissociative Identity Disorder has misconceptions and controversies. The general public believes the myths about people with DID presented to them through media. Most of DID characters in entertainment are not realistically portrayed. On the other hand, psychologists debate whether or not DID is an actual disorder. Theoretically, this statement could be why DID is considered to be overdiagnosed1
The world of fiction has a bunch of characters who have split personalities. A website called TV Tropes has numerous examples of such characters. In a few seasons of the animated series Total Drama has a character named Mike who has four different alters. Danganronpa, a Japanese horror visual novel video game, has Toko Fukawa sharing a body with a serial killer named Genocide Jack. Steven King’s The Dark Tower’s Odetta Holmes unknowingly has a dangerous personality named Detta Walker. Most classically, a gothic horror novel named The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is about doctor who induces a evil ego. Recently, a new horror flick had been released where a DID character named Kevin holds a woman hostage (TV Tropes) Steve Ross uses the movie as a basis topic in his article Split to Psycho. He discusses how good fictional characters show drama through how they behave, conflicts they deal with, and being surrounded by mystery. Characters with Dissociative Identity Disorder are intriguing because they have these dramatic traits. Unfortunately, the general public’s knowledge of DID is based on horror books, movies, TV shows and plays. Often, characters with DID are the insane and violent antagonists of their story. Real life DID patients are misfits in hiding because of the inaccurate portrayals of them. (The Guardian).
An additional stigma that surrounds the DID community questions the existence of the disorder. Elzinga Bernet argues and refutes evidence pointing to DID being made up. DID is a mental disorder that is iatrogenic. (14) Iatrogenic conditions are induced by medical experts and/or their treatments. Psychologists convince their patient has DID using subtle cues. However, their cueing could influence individuals to create new alters. Patients are aware of having DID, and are subconsciously encouraged create alters during therapy. (14) Therefore, therapists do not pressure their patients into being somebody else on purpose. (20) Consciously forgetting abuse and then randomly remembering such incidents of childhood abuse is questionable. (17) Past research had proved implantation of false memories is possible2. Currently, there has not been studies of people who suddenly recall child abuse (20). Finally, the list of criteria on the DSM-IV is vague. Criteria for DID fits in with other mental disorder criteria (16) When diagnosing, experts should use additional sources other than DSM-IV3 ( Elzinga Bernet 20)3
This page of the website is intended to educate the public on how the media portrays DID and bring awareness to what the medical community thinks about the disorder.
Endnotes:
- 1. Statement borrowed from the Basic Information Page as an original thought based on the information covered in Phelps, Brady J. "Dissociative Identity Disorder: The Relevance of Behavior Analysis.
- 2. Bernet refers to the implanted memory study conducted by Garry and Loftus in 1994. They convinced subjects that they got lost inside a mall as a child, and the subjects could recall many of the false details of the memory.
- 3. Bernet’s information is based on DSM-IV, the outdated edition of the DSM text.
- Elzinga, Bernet M., et al. "Three Controversies about Dissociative Identity Disorder." Clinical Psychology & Psychotherapy, vol. 5, no. 1, Mar. 1998, pp. 13-23. EBSCOhost, libraries.maine.edu/mainedatabases/authmaine.asp?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=cookie,ip,uid&db=a9h&AN=11820222&site=eds-live.
- Rose, Steve. “From Split to Psycho: why cinema fails dissociative identity disorder.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 12 Jan. 2017, www.theguardian.com/film/2017/jan/12/cinema-dissociative-personality-disorder-split-james-mcavoy.
- Split Personality.” TV Tropes, tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SplitPersonality.