blog
media download page
Essay / An Argument About Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) as Fictional Dissociative Identity Disorder, or DID, is fictitious. It first analyzes historical trends of the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries, demonstrating the influence of sensationalism on this condition. In the following section, the essay uses credible articles and quotes from various knowledgeable individuals to argue that the accepted source of DID, childhood trauma, is not a valid cause of the disorder. By a logical appeal, the article concludes that the lack of a factual, definitive source for DID reinforces the claim that the condition is fabricated. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay Additionally, it states that medical professionals' subjective diagnostic tools could result in misdiagnosis of DID. For this reason, DID may simply be a misdiagnosis of other, more credible mental health conditions; the paper evaluates a legitimate diagnostic report and the expert opinions of university advisors to support these claims. Finally, the article counters two common arguments used by proponents of DID to argue that this condition is scientifically based. Once again, the article reveals that Dissociative Identity Disorder is a condition fabricated by historical trends, the discrediting of childhood trauma as the source of this disorder, and the analysis of diagnostic tools defective. An analysis of dissociative identity disorder The year 1976 marked a turning point in the field of psychiatry. A nonfiction miniseries, Sybil, was televised during this period, depicting patient Sybil Dorsett's constant struggle with a medical disorder. This condition, dissociative identity disorder, is primarily defined by the development of multiple psyches in a single individual, usually helping them cope with past childhood abuse. The show's bizarre plot focused on Sybil's sixteen different personalities, gaining a large following while educating the public about this condition. In fact, the number of reported cases of dissociative identity disorder skyrocketed in subsequent decades, from fewer than a hundred cases per year. to thousands. Currently, as more and more patients are diagnosed with IDD, there is a need to ensure that this disorder is a scientifically substantiated condition. Indeed, a detailed analysis of the DID reveals its fictitious nature. Thus, as illustrated by historical trends, lack of factual information about the causes of the disease, and possible misdiagnosis due to faulty procedures, dissociative identity disorder is a manufactured affliction. Historical Trends Since the symptoms associated with DID were less dramatic before the launch of Sybil, historical trends reveal the spurious essence of this condition. In the recently added introduction to the primary source "Psychological Consultation Report: Mrs. White and Miss Black" (2006), psychiatrists Corbett Thigpen and Hervey Cleckley provide a brief overview of the history of DID. They claim that the first known case was reported during the year 1791, in which psychologist Eberhardt Gmelin described a young German woman who imitated a French aristocrat (para. 10). This patient reveals the most commonly accepted symptoms of DID in the 18th century. , simply containing two psyches of the same sex and age.Similarly, in the article "Essay Review: Multiplying the Multiplicity...", professors Ivan Leudar and Wes Sharrock (1999) describe patient Mary Reynolds, who was diagnosed with DID in the year 1815. Reynolds had tendency to alternate between a pious and shy psyche and a more extroverted and childlike personality (para. 3). Clearly, during the 18th and early 19th centuries, patients with DID contained two distinct personalities of the same gender and age. These signs were much less severe than the symptoms associated with Sybil, who contained sixteen different personalities. Since the indications for DID differ significantly in intensity between Sybil and previous cases, the condition is defective overall. Due to the currently increased potency of DID symptoms, particularly following Sybil's release, historical trends continue to reveal the condition's fictional elements. . Shortly after this show first appeared, patients diagnosed with DID began suffering symptoms matching Sybil's. Five years after the miniseries first aired, patient Billy Milligan was diagnosed with DID, containing twenty different psyches of different ages, genders, and sexual tendencies (Leudar & Sharrock, 1999, para. 5). Milligan's DID symptoms were incredibly intense, being more dramatic than any other documented case before Sybil's release. Therefore, the sensationalism surrounding DID influenced Milligan's diagnosis, proving that the disease is fictitious. Similarly, in the late 1990s, patient Kim Noble was found to maintain nearly a hundred distinct psyches (Leudar & Sharrock, 1999, para. 5). As Noble's harsh diagnosis amidst Sybil's controversy and fame highlights, the currently intense symptoms associated with DID simply stem from sensationalism. Therefore, the disabling symptoms reported after the release of the film Sybil, exemplified by patients Milligan and Noble, reveal the fabricated basis of this condition. In addition to historical trends, an analysis of the proclaimed causes of DID also reveals the fictitious nature of this disorder. Childhood Trauma Since the established source of DID, a history of childhood abuse, fails to parallel the signs of the illness, this failure to delineate a precise cause further exposes the fabricated core of the disorder. It is assumed that a patient develops many personalities to cope with painful memories of adolescent abuse. However, as the article "Remembrance of Traumas Past" (2017) argues, previous studies of people who have "endured prolonged trauma consistently show that their distress comes from their inability to forget, their inability to remember." (para. 8). , previous abuse generally results in the victim's inability to erase these painful memories. Therefore, childhood trauma could not logically induce DID, in which patients are unable to remember their supposedly traumatic experiences unless properly treated, illustrating the fallacious core of the disorder. Additionally, victims of childhood abuse tend to experience a wide range of symptoms, including physical and mental health complications (“Remembrance of Traumas Past,” 2017, para. 23). However, symptoms associated with DID tend to remain constant, including a splitting of consciousness and development of multiple personalities. It is therefore unlikely that victims of childhood maltreatment are particularly susceptible to DID, thereby revealing the generally fictitious elements of the disorder. In general, since theChildhood trauma is not a likely source of DID and as the accepted source of this condition is unknown, the disorder as a whole is fabricated. In fact, the inability to define a valid cause of DID leads to fear that memories of childhood abuse come from treatment sessions, emphasizing the fabricated basis. On "The Real 'Sybil' Admits Many Personalities Were Fake" (2011), author Debbie Nathan reinforces the claim that distressing memories of childhood abuse are generated during treatment sessions. Nathan specifically mentions Sybil, who admitted to fabricating her traumatic childhood and DID symptoms early in the therapy process. However, after months of hypnosis and sodium pentothal injections, which increase an individual's susceptibility to suggestions, the therapist's constant discussion of traumatic experiences persuaded Sybil to remember these events (para. 6) . Thus, Sybil illustrates the ability of therapeutic methods to produce false memories of childhood trauma in treated patients, thus confirming the theory that memories of adolescent abuse are not the cause of DID and that whole disorder is manufactured. Similarly, after nine years of therapy, DID patient Cathy Kezelman developed traumatic memories of being "raped and tortured by a cult led by her grandmother" (Remembrance of Traumas Past, 2017, para. 28). . Kezelman's inability to recall such abhorrent memories before undergoing therapy implies that the numerous sessions of hypnosis and drug treatment generated these memories, maintaining the assertion that DID is fictitious. Accordingly, the memories generated by Sybil and Kezelman's therapy demonstrate that the supposed source of DID, memories of childhood trauma, arise through treatment. Since the generally accepted source of DID is false, the overall disorder of DID appears to be fabricated. MisdiagnosisDue to the subjective tools used to diagnose a patient with IDD, this disorder may simply be a misdiagnosis of other medical problems, demonstrating the fictitious nature of the disease. nature. In the primary source, “Psychological Consultation Report: Mrs. White and Miss Black” (2006), psychologist Leopold Winter describes the equipment he uses to correctly diagnose a patient with IDD. Winter assumes that an IQ test, administered to each of an individual's delineated personalities, coupled with baseline observations, can accurately determine whether the person suffers from IDD (para. 10). IQ tests and baseline observations are incredibly subjective and, therefore, we are unable to definitively prove that a patient has this disorder. The subject, for example, might simply lose interest by taking a second IQ test, resulting in a lower score than the first test. This variation in scores could be falsely interpreted as evidence that a patient contains multiple personalities. Ergo, the subjective tools used could cause an individual with IDD to be misdiagnosed, thus illustrating the fabricated basis of the disorder. Unfortunately, more recently developed diagnostic tools fail to eliminate the subjective nature of DID examinations. In fact, college counselors Benjamin Levy and Janine Swanson (2008) discuss these advances in the article “Clinical Assessment of Dissociative Identity Disorder Among College Counseling Clients.” Counselors say the commonly implemented Dissociative Experiences Scale, or DES,is unable to distinguish between symptoms of DID and PTSD (para. 4-9). Thus, the modern DES tool could misdiagnose DID by misinterpreting the true mental state. health problem related to PTSD. This uncertainty supports the claim that DID is nonexistent, simply being a misdiagnosis of other conditions. Again, academic counselors Levy and Swanson (2008) directly argue that the accepted symptoms of PTSD match the signs of DID (para. 12). Due to the extreme similarities between DID and PTSD, it could be argued that the former is simply a technology-based misdiagnosis of the latter. Therefore, faulty IQ tests, subjective observations, and unreliable DES could lead to misdiagnosis of DID in place of other medical conditions, implying that DID is spurious. Assessing the Claims of DID Proponents Despite claims by some therapists that DID's placement in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Health, or DSM, validates the authenticity of the illness, there is widespread community disapproval. medical opinion regarding DID invalidates this belief. In the introduction to the article “Remembrance of Traumas Past” (2017), the anonymous author refers to the 2015 convention of the International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation. At this meeting, speaker Peter McClellan states that the credibility of DID is reflected in its placement in the DSM (para. 13). McClellan illustrates a common assumption among proponents of DID, namely that the condition is supported by its inclusion in the DSM. “bible” of psychologists’ diagnosis. However, on the show "Therapists Split on Multiple Personalities" (2009), psychiatrist Dr. Numan Gharaibeh uses a previously conducted study to support his arguments about DID. He claims that only twenty-one percent of the three hundred certified psychiatrists surveyed believed in the existence of DID (para. 6). Thus, despite the classification of DID in the DSM, most psychiatrists continue to consider this disorder to be scientifically invalid. Therefore, based on the many professionals who view DID as a fabricated condition, the inclusion of DID in the DSM fails to refute the fictional essence of this mental illness. Nonetheless, proponents of DID continue to validate the disorder in other ways. Although proponents of DID use reports of successful patient treatments to verify the existence of this disorder, all such favorable results are reported by the therapist and not the patient and are therefore unreliable. . On the show "Exploring Multiple Personalities in 'Sybil Exposed'" (2011), Professor Bethany Brand, a proponent of DID, and author Debbie Nathan, an opponent of DID, debate the existence of this disorder. Brand first cites a study in which 280 selected patients with a diagnosis of IDD achieved significant improvements in all aspects of life through therapy (para. 32). Brand uses this statistic to support the claim that DID is a real, treatable condition that can be alleviated. through treatment sessions. In response, Nathan argues that, regardless of diagnosis, all individuals who undergo therapy tend to improve ("Exploring Multiple Personalities in 'Sybil Exposed'," 2011, para. 33). Through this statement, Nathan implies that correct diagnosis of the 280 patients did not directly result in their improvements; instead, the commonly used therapeutic methods included in the experimental treatment sessions induced progress in the areas tested. By.
Navigation
« Prev
1
2
3
4
5
Next »
Get In Touch