Professional skepticism about multiple personality.
Therapists who have treated patients with multiple personality disorder (MPD) were surveyed about professional skepticism regarding the existence of MPD. Of these therapists, 78% reported that they had encountered intense skepticism from fellow professionals. Much of this skepticism appears to be explainable in terms of a) the lengthy decline of psychiatry's interest in dissociation, b) underappreciation of the prevalence of individuals with dissociative ability, and c) misconceptions about the natural clinical presentation of patients with MPD. These factors, however, could not explain the behavior of those skeptics who deliberately interfered with the clinical care of patients and who engaged in repeated acts of harassment against the patient and/or therapist. Half of the survey respondents reported that they had encountered these latter forms of extreme skepticism.
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Eastern Virginia Medical School, Norfolk 23501.
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D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D002648:Child; D002649:Child Abuse / Q000523:psychology; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D009105:Dissociative Identity Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000628:therapy; D006791:Hostility; D006801:Humans; D006990:Hypnosis; D007400:Interprofessional Relations; D011570:Psychiatry; D011613:Psychotherapy; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States