Documentation of Child Abuse and Dissociation in DID/MPD

Documentation of Child Abuse and Dissociation in DID/MPD
Alter Personality Physiological Differences in MPD

Objective Documentation of Child Abuse and Dissociation in 12 Murderers With Dissociative Identity Disorder
Am J Psychiatry 154:1703-1710, December 1997

RESULTS: Signs and symptoms of dissociative identity disorder in childhood and adulthood were corroborated independently and from several sources in all 12 cases; objective evidence of severe abuse was obtained in 11 cases. The subjects had amnesia for most of the abuse and underreported it. Marked changes in writing style and/or signatures were documented in 10 cases.

CONCLUSIONS: This study establishes, once and for all, the linkage between early severe abuse and dissociative identity disorder. Further, the data demonstrate that the disorder can be distinguished from malingering and from other disorders. The study shows that it is possible, with great effort, to obtain objective evidence of both the symptoms of dissociative identity disorder and the abuse that engenders it. (Am J Psychiatry 1997; 154:1703–1710)
http://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/full/154/12/1703


Visual function in multiple personality disorder
J Am Optom Assoc. 1996 Jun;67(6):327-34.

RESULTS:
Physiologic differences across alter personality states in MPD include differences in dominant handedness, response to the same medication, allergic sensitivities, autonomic and endocrine function, EEG, VEP, and regional cerebral blood flow. Differences in visual function include variability in visual acuity, refraction, oculomotor status, visual field, color vision, corneal curvature, pupil size, and intraocular pressure in the various personality states of MPD subjects as compared to single personality controls.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8888853


Optical differences in cases of multiple personality disorder.
J Nerv Ment Dis. 1989 Aug;177(8):480-6.

The results of these analyses showed that MPD subjects had significantly more variability across alter personalities than did their control counterparts on measures of visual acuity with correction, visual acuity without correction, visual fields, manifest refraction, and eye muscle balance. The data were also analyzed for clinical significance. Blind ratings of the data were performed by comparing the results of the individual dependent measures across the alter personalities of individual MPD and control subjects according to established ophthalmological criteria.

The ratings for clinical significance showed that the MPD subjects had 4.5 times the average number of changes in optical functioning between alter personalities of the control subjects, with a mean of 2.56 clinically significant changes for the MPD subjects and .55 clinically significant changes for the control subjects. This difference was also statistically significant (p less than .01).
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2760599


Optical differences in multiple personality disorder. A second look.
J Nerv Ment Dis. 1991 Mar;179(3):132-5.
In the present study, data from 20 patients diagnosed with MPD and 20 control subjects role playing MPD were analyzed for statistical and clinical significance. The findings from the present study appear to confirm results from the earlier study that individuals with MPD experience differences in some aspects of visual functioning between alter personalities. The results further confirm that MPD subjects experience more differences across visual measures than control subjects simulating the disorder.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1997659




Differential autonomic nervous system activity in multiple personality disorder.
Psychiatry Res. 1990 Mar;31(3):251-60.
The cardinal feature of multiple personality disorder (MPD) is the existence of two or more alter personality states that exchange control over the behaviour of an individual. Numerous clinical reports suggest that these alter personality states exhibit distinct physiological differences. We investigated differential autonomic nervous system (ANS) activity across nine subjects with MPD and five controls, who produced "alter" personality states by simulation and by hypnosis or deep relaxation.

Eight of the nine MPD subjects consistently manifested physiologically distinct alter personality states. Three of the five controls were also produced physiologically distinct states, but these differed from those of the MPD subjects. A habituation paradigm demonstrated carryover effects at the ANS levels from one state to the next for both groups.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2333357


The psychophysiological investigation of multiple personality disorder: review and update.
Am J Clin Hypn. 1992 Jul;35(1):47-61.
...psychophysiologic differences reported in the literature include changes in cerebral electrical activity, cerebral blood flow, galvanic skin response, skin temperature, event-related potentials, neuroendocrine profiles, thyroid function, response to medication, perception, visual functioning, visual evoked potentials, and in voice, posture, and motor behavior. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1442640


Brain mapping in a case of multiple personality.
Clin Electroencephalogr. 1990 Oct;21(4):200-9.
Brain maps were recorded on a patient with a multiple personality disorder (10 alternate personalities). Maps were recorded with eyes open and eyes closed during 2 different sessions, 2 months apart. Maps from each alternate personality were compared to those of the basic personality "S", some maps were similar and some were different, especially with eyes open.

Findings that were replicated in the second session showed differences from 4 personalities, especially in theta and beta 2 frequencies on the left temporal and right posterior regions. A rank ordering of the differences in the brain maps of the alternate personalities from S were similar to the rank ordering of the differences in personality characteristics, as judged by the psychiatrist dealing with this patient. Maps from S acting like some of her personalities or from a professional actress portraying the different personalities did not reveal significant differences.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2225470



Multiple personality disorder. A clinical investigation of 50 cases.
J Nerv Ment Dis. 1988 Sep;176(9):519-27.

To study the clinical phenomenology of multiple personality, 50 consecutive patients with DSM-III multiple personality disorder were assessed using clinical history, psychiatric interview, neurological examination, electroencephalogram, MMPI, intelligence testing, and a variety of psychiatric rating scales. Results revealed that patients with multiple personality are usually women who present with depression, suicide attempts, repeated amnesic episodes, and a history of childhood trauma, particularly sexual abuse. Also common were headaches, hysterical conversion, and sexual dysfunction. Intellectual level varied from borderline to superior.

The MMPI reflected underlying character pathology in addition to depression and dissociation. Significant neurological or electroencephalographical abnormalities were infrequent. These data suggest that the etiology of multiple personality is strongly related to childhood trauma rather than to an underlying electrophysiological dysfunction.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3418321


An examination of the diagnostic validity of dissociative identity disorder. Clinical Psychology Review 21(4) 577-608
(2001)

We review the empirical evidence for the validity of the Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) diagnosis, the vast majority of which has come from research conducted within the last 10 years. After reviewing three different guidelines to establish diagnostic validity, we conclude that considerable converging evidence supports the inclusion of DID in the current Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders.

For instance, DID appears to meet all of the guidelines for inclusion and none of the exclusion guidelines; proposed by Blashfield et al. [Comprehensive Psychiatry 31 (1990) 15-19], and it is one of the few disorders currently supported by taxometric research.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11413868
full text
http://leadershipcouncil.org/docs/gleaves2001.pdf