Multiple Personality Disorder

[Exordium] When children are little, they often play pretend, acting as the doctor and the patient at the same time, or the student as well as the teacher. Although children switch their roles voluntarily for their pretend world to carry-on smoothly, people with multiple personality disorder suffer with multiple role inside of their mind. [Thesis] Despite some psychologists’ belief that multiple personality disorder (MPD) does not exist, and is a made-up disorder that is similar to already established disorders, the differences in the symptoms of MPD to other disorders as well as scientific studies and history of the disorder prove that multiple personality disorder, also known as dissociative identity disorder, is a valid disorder. [Statement
People with MPD are often misinterpreted as being “depressed because the primary… personality is subdued or withdrawn” ("Multiple personality disorder, 2015). This misdiagnosis could lead to ignoring the true problem, the disorder, allowing it to fester more. One of the reasons MPD is misdiagnosed is because patients may genuinely meet the criteria for panic or somatization disorder. The most common misdiagnosis of multiple personality disorder schizophrenia. This occurs because patients may hear the alters speaking inside of their head, which could be considered as hallucinations. To differentiate between the two disorders, the doctor can, “use a screening test called the Dissociative Experiences Scale (DES). If the patient has a high score on this test, he or she can be evaluated further with the Dissociative Disorders Interview Schedule (DDIS)… The doctor may also use the Hypnotic Induction Profile (HIP) or a similar test of the patient’s hypnotizability” (“Multiple personality disorder”, 2015). Nonetheless, the most distinguishing characteristic of multiple personality disorder is the presence of alters, which concretely differentiates between MPD and other
They claim that the disorder is invalid because of the overwhelming similarities between post-traumatic stress disorder and MPD. Once of the main developing factors of MPD is childhood trauma, which leads doctors to, “think it may be a variation of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)” (“Multiple personality disorder”, 2015). As aforementioned, schizophrenia is another disorder with which multiple personality disorder is often confused. However, both of these claims have been disproven by studies that show the differences between MPD, PTSD, and schizophrenia that put multiple personality disorder in a class of its own. For example, while multiple personality disorder reports “early-onset, severe chronic childhood trauma...[as well as the] highest hypnotizability of any clinical group on standard scales” ("Dissociative disorders: an overview of assessment, phenomonology, and treatment."), schizophrenia is less likely to have trauma and has low hypnotizability. These are only a few differentiating factors of MPD and other similar disorders, yet this shows despite claims that MPD is simply a variation of other disorders, there are characteristics of multiple, personality disorder that make it a unique, valid