Lesson 2: Unique Disorders

Do People Actually have Multiple Personalities?

Yes and no. One of the reasons for the decision by the psychiatric community to change the disorder’s name from multiple personality disorder to dissociative identity disorder is that “multiple personalities” is somewhat of a misleading term. People diagnosed with DID feel as if they have within them two or more entities, or personality states, each with its own independent way of relating, perceiving, thinking, and remembering about themselves and their lives. If two or more of these entities take control of a person’s behaviour at a given time, a diagnosis of DID can be made. These entities previously were often called “personalities” although the term did not accurately reflect the common definition of the word as the total aspect of our psychological makeup. Other terms often used by therapists and survivors to describe these entities are: alternate personalities, alters, parts, states of consciousness, ego states, and identities. It is important to keep in mind that although these alternate states may appear to be very different, they are all manifestations of a single person.