re now available and can be used to confirm a clinician’s diagnosis”. Such interviews are the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV, which helps the therapist “evaluate and document the severity of specific…symptoms”(www.religioustolerance.org), and the Dissociative Disorder Interview Schedule that is a detailed interview to diagnose MPD. The problem with the diagnosis of Multiple Personality Disorder is that it takes such a long time to actually diagnose, the average is six years to eight years but it can take up to twenty. The reason for this is the disease is often hidden behind other disorders that have stemmed from MPD such as depression and/or anxiety. Those persons who use MPD for attention or to justify abnormal behaviors are looked at closely. In truth, genuine MPD persons “conceal their awareness of the problem”(www.menninger.edu).The “personalities” in Multiple Personality Disorder are different within the person. Each personality can have separate memories, behaviors, physical attributes, and even a different gender than the patient. For example, when remembering child abuse, a patient may have a personality to just remember those memories of abuse and will act violent or withdrawn even if the patient is someone who it outgoing. The personalities serve different purposes. The self-help personality acts as the self-confidence of the patient and gives the person self-esteem in high stress situations involving confrontation. The persecutory personality acts on the hate within the person with MPD. For example, if someone tends to self-mutilate it is the persecutory personality acting on the person’s behalf. The hate within the person can be so great they relieve the stress with the persecutory personality. Switching is the term used when a person goes between one personality and the other. Co-consciousness refers to the ability of the personalities to know each other...
