Growing Not Dwindling

The Journal of nervous and mental disease, 2013

Abstract This paper is a literature review of present-day instruments and evaluations that are used to diagnose dissociative identity disorder (DID). The paper examines current literature that evaluate different tests and evaluations for DID. Each article review contains the name of the test, what it is used for, a description of the test, the test’s validity and reliability, determination if the test is adequate for DID, ethical considerations in the research, and what the reviewers said, positive and negative about the test. The paper concludes with a synthesis of current scientific knowledge and informed clinical procedures from the measurements presented and provides recommendations for future research.

Psychiatric Clinics of North America, 2006

Journal of Trauma & Dissociation

Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment, 2017

We read the article "Is the Dissociative Experiences Scale able to identify detachment and compartmentalization symptoms? Factor structure of the Dissociative Experiences Scale in a large sample of psychiatric and nonpsychiatric subjects" by Mazzotti et al with great interest and would like to add our views in its support. 1 Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) states that dissociative disorders (DDs) are characterized by a disruption of and/or discontinuity in the normal integration of consciousness, memory, identity, emotion, perception, body representation, motor control, and behavior. 2 It further states that dissociative symptoms can potentially disrupt every area of psychological functioning. 2 DD is believed to be strongly associated with borderline personality disorder presenting with symptoms of dissociation and some overlapping features of posttraumatic stress disorder (various researchers are proving increasing number of patients who develop features of DD after encountering trauma), substance abuse, sexual abuse, depression, and somatoform conditions, which make the establishment of diagnosis very difficult even for a seasoned clinician. 3 As stated in DSM-5, the 12-month prevalence of dissociative identity disorder among adults in a small US community study was 1.5%. 2 The prevalence across genders in that study was 1.6% for males and 1.4% for females. 2 Two studies in North America demonstrated that 13.0%-20.7% of psychiatric inpatients had a DD. 3 Studies on DDs in Istanbul, Turkey, yielded the prevalence slightly above 10% among psychiatric inpatients and outpatients. 3 The choice of diagnostic instrument and cultural differences in interpretation of symptoms seem to be major explanations for differences in the prevalence of DDs and dissociative identity disorder (DID). 3 Research on DD is constrained by various obstacles atypical for those of other psychiatric disorders. 4 The impediments cover five areas: diagnostic concerns, cultural issues, posttraumatic avoidance, cost-benefit issues, and conceptual challenges. 4 This study provides hope to overcome these limitation barriers. The biggest limitation to this study is the lack of test-retest stability, which was not investigated and no other dissociative experience questionnaire was used. Despite this, the result shows Dissociative Experience Scale could be the most valid tool for evaluating the frequency of various types of dissociative experience. It provides physician with the additional information about dissociative experience as well as important treatment indicator.

The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 2013

The Australian and New Zealand journal of psychiatry, 2014

Despite its long and auspicious place in the history of psychiatry, dissociative identity disorder (DID) has been associated with controversy. This paper aims to examine the empirical data related to DID and outline the contextual challenges to its scientific investigation. The overview is limited to DID-specific research in which one or more of the following conditions are met: (i) a sample of participants with DID was systematically investigated, (ii) psychometrically-sound measures were utilised, (iii) comparisons were made with other samples, (iv) DID was differentiated from other disorders, including other dissociative disorders, (v) extraneous variables were controlled or (vi) DID diagnosis was confirmed. Following an examination of challenges to research, data are organised around the validity and phenomenology of DID, its aetiology and epidemiology, the neurobiological and cognitive correlates of the disorder, and finally its treatment. DID was found to be a complex yet vali...