- Although I am fond of saying that DSM-5 is still a “good enough guide for clinical work,” Essentials of Psychiatric Diagnosis is a sort of guide to that guide. Perhaps the book is in the same vein as the APA DSM-IV Guidebook—which Allen Frances co-authored in 1995 in his role as DSM-IV chairperson. This time, however, Dr Frances writes as a DSM-5 critic rather than an insider. This easy-to-read manual represents his concise views on how to achieve “more accurate” diagnoses with DSM-5, as well as when to avoid DSM-5 altogether.
- Dr Frances also offers black box cautions for those diagnoses he believes represent the greatest risk for overdiagnosis. For example, he favors still using the bereavement exclusion for major depression that was removed from DSM-5 and warns against conflating normal childhood behavior with bipolar disorder and ADHD. Elsewhere, he recommends using ICD criteria for substance abuse and dependence rather than the unified definition of addiction in DSM-5, and advises abandoning the use of disorders that he believes should not have been included in DSM-5 at all (eg, mild neurocognitive disorder, dissociative identity disorder). These black box warnings represent areas of controversy that are clearly stated as Dr Frances’ personal recommendations; it will be up to clinicians to decide whether it is practical or useful to follow his advice in boycotting entire sections of DSM-5.
- Reading this book may very well help temper overzealous diagnosis and intervention, and it is a pity that this kind of clinical guidance is not offered within the pages of DSM-5 itself.
- After years of allegedly living with Multiple Personality Disorder, Hannah Montana has died at the age of 20.Doctors say she perished after an overdose of twerking and bad fashion choices after last week’s MTV Video Music Awards.
- Hannah Montana was a tween sensation from 2006 to 2011 with a successful TV show, an album, sold out concerts, a clothing line, and two movies under her belt before she was 18.Sadly, Montana had been lying low in recent years while the other side of her, Miley Cyrus, has been sucking away her innocence.
- On Wednesday, during his party's Central Standing Committee meeting, Su said that the DPP cannot evade its responsibility to engage in a debate, and that the debate will help expose the pact as a backroom deal.Wait a minute. Why didn't the DPP realize what its responsibility was and what sort of opportunity the debate would present in the first place?
- On the day that the DPP apparently made an about-face, Su said, “(My) only concern is that Ma is afraid (to engage in a debate).”Hold on. Wasn't it the Presidential Office that reacted positively to the proposition, whereas the opposition said that a debate was unnecessary in the first place?
- These little paradoxes seem to have been lost along on the way as both camps gear up for the upcoming event.Those who actually paid attention to what was said, when it was said, and what was said by whom, however, will have observed that the DPP apparently suffered a temporary bout of multiple personality disorder.
- Speaking of multiple personality disorders, will the DPP eventually come to the decision, like it did with regard to the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement, that the trade pact is not so objectionable after all?
- GRAY, Georgia — A middle Georgia woman who said her alternate personality killed a businessman has been sentenced to life in prison without parole.The Telegraph of Macon (http://bit.ly/17oA7vZ) reports a jury took about half an hour to return a guilty verdict against 55-year-old Pamela Moss Thursday.
- A psychologist hired by Moss' attorney said she has dissociative identity disorder, and that he met on of her personalities named "Caroline."
- Prosecutors said references to "Caroline" bludgeoning Coker didn't come to light until the third day of the trial, and another psychologist found no evidence of an identity disorder.
- Herschel Walker, a 1982 Heisman Trophy recipient and mixed martial arts fighter, is undoubtedly a tough man.But the renowned football player also has been diagnosed with multiple personality disorder, and has written a book about it to tell his story to others.His message? It’s OK to ask for help when struggling with some of the risk factors that can lead to suicide.
- Walker will be a guest speaker at Fort Leavenworth from 9-10 a.m. Sept. 24 at Eisenhower Auditorium at the Lewis and Clark Center in conjunction with the Army’s Suicide Prevention Month. September’s theme is “Shoulder to Shoulder Standing Ready and Resilient.” The event is free and open to the public.
- Kevin Wharton, risk reduction program coordinator for the Army Substance Abuse Program, said the Army hopes that soldiers struggling with the idea that there is some sort of stigma attached in reaching out for help will realize that the opposite is true.“Even though we discuss stigma in our training, this will be someone telling their personal story about how they asked for help,” Wharton said about Walker’s appearance on post. “Mr. Walker is our effort to address the stigma for asking for help. It is not a sign of weakness to ask for help, rather a sign of strength.”
- GRAY, Georgia (41NNC/WMGT) - Day three of the Pamela Moss murder trial was a battle of the mental health experts. A psychologist on the stand testified one of Moss' alter egos admitted Wednesday morning to killing Henry County businessman Douglas Coker.
- After prosecutors rested their case, Hogue called his one and only witness, clinical psychologist Dr. Anthony Levitas, who diagnosed Moss with dissociative identity disorder (DID), also known as multiple personality disorder. He explained people who suffered from DID were usually abused as children, most likely sexual abuse, and are more likely to commit suicide. Moss told him her step-father sexually abused her as a child, Levitas testifed.
- During his own evaluation of Moss, Levitas told jurors he spoke to an alter ego named Carol, who was more authoritative and matter of fact compared to the shy and reserved Pamela. Levitas testified Carol told him she and Pam did not kill Coker.Moss was not present in the courtroom during the proceedings. Before court began, Levitas met with Moss and was introduced to a third alter ego he had never met before named Caroline, he testified. He told jurors Caroline confessed to killing Coker.
- "She had a clear state of mind and knew exactly what she was doing, not only in killing Mr. Coker by beating him with that hammer at least five times, according to the medical examiner, but everything she did afterwards to hide the body, the lime, the bleach, the paint, feeling from the scene, throwing out his phone," Bright said. "The case is saturated with evidence that she knew exactly what she was doing."
- Hogue is seeking a not guilty by reason of insanity verdict. He says he does not dispute the state's case that Moss killed Coker. He must prove Moss was under a delusional compulsion when she committed the allegedly committed the crime, meaning if the delusion had really happened then her actions would be justified—for example, if she felt her life was in danger and killed Coker in self defense. Hogue believes the jury could come back with a guilty but mentally ill verdict.
- In Jones County, the third day of the Pamela Moss murder trial shifted to testimony about her alleged multiple personalities.Moss is accused of killing Henry County businessman Doug Coker in March 2012. Prosecutors say he came to her home wanting repayment of $85,000.
- The defense opened up today with testimony from a clinical psychologist, Anthony Levitas.He said other doctors have diagnosed Pamela Moss as having at least five personalities, all women, some young and some old.Levitas said the disorder causes gaps in memory and function.
- Moss' lawyer argues that she is not guilty by reason of insanity. But prosecutors are trying to prove that Moss knew what she was doing when she committed murder.Assistant District Attorney Keagan Waystack commented that it's unusual that the only time Moss' other personality comes out is when she's on trial.
- Waystack says Moss knew what she was doing the entire time because investigators found her attempts to clean up the murder."The paint, the bleach, the lime, the cleaning supplies, the gloves, the lights, the matches," she says. "We know she knows right from wrong."
- "The delusional compulsion she had which came down to the form of an alternate personality, which a doctor will call alter ego or for short just an alter. It's actually a person with a name, an identity, some of the features you would expect one person to who inhabits one body to have," he says.
- Just before the trial started, Moss was crying when she asked the judge to waive her right to be present during the trial.Judge Trent Brown said, "Do the best you can to hold yourself together."
- During the 2013 NHL season, the Washington Capitals' special teams seemed to be suffering from multiple personality disorder at times.The power play was dominant. The Caps had the best power play in the NHL with a 26.8 percent success rate. Not even the mightyPittsburgh Penguins could match that as they were a full two percentage points behind the Caps at 24.7 percent.The penalty kill, however, was an exercise in futility more often than not. The Caps PK ranked 27th in the NHL with a penalty kill success rate of just 77.9 percent.
- So what gives with the Caps' special teams? Is the power play really that good? Is the penalty kill really that bad, or was the performance in the playoffs indicative of an improving and underrated aspect of the team?
- Debating against the existence of the controversial issue of multiple personalities in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychology, 1995, author Paul McHugh concludes that the DSM's (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) current diagnosis of Multiple Personality Disorders (now referred to as Disassociative Identity Disorder) should not, and he predicts will not, survive long enough to make it into future editions.
- McHugh's major points of argument are that the DSM is flawed because Multiple Personality Disorder isn't a legitimate disorder; rather it's an "individually and socially created artifact". He isn't denying the existence of the patient's emotional troubles, but he believes that they have been misdiagnosed and led down the wrong therapeutic path. McHugh urges us to learn from a past analogous historical example-Hysteria, and even goes as far as to challenge the contenders of Multiple Personality Disorder to test the null hypothesis, as did Babinski in the referenced historical example.
- McHugh's first major premise is the therapist's responsibility regarding the power of labeling vulnerable and emotionally suggestible patients. The first subpremise is that patients such as these tend to live out the label; a phenomenon known as "The Pygmalion Effect", in which people live out others expectations of them, especially expectations of them that are held by others in positions of authority. The second subpremise is that such an extreme diagnosis allows patients to assume and exploit the sick role for its potential benefits, such as special treatment, attention, and relief from responsibility. The third subpremise is that the mistaken diagnosis obscures the patient's real problem and wastes the patient's time and money.
- McHugh's second premise is that we shouldn't waste the lesson that was learned nearly a century ago when Jean-Martin Charcot's student, Joseph Babinski, brought the null hypothesis regarding Charcot's misdiagnosis of Hysteria, asserting that the women in question instead had behavioral disorders. McHugh's subpremise is the example of how Babinski found that once the women were removed from the conditions fostering the misdiagnosis, and treated with "isolation and countersuggestion", their real problems could finally be addressed.
- McHugh's third premise, based on his own replication of Babinski's "isolation and countersuggestion" technique at John Hopkins with Multiple Personality Disorder patients sent there as a last resort, is that we should apply what we learned from history and give up the psychological fad of multiple personalities. The first subpremise is to change the Multiple Personality Disorder label to "abnormal illness behavior", remove the patients from therapy with prior Multiple Personality Disorder supportive therapists, and disregard attempts of communication by "alter" personalities. Only in this case can the patients genuine issues be treated. McHugh's second subpremise is his challenge to Multiple Personality Disorder proponents to reject his null hypothesis.
- McHugh makes valid and coherent observations in his argument that Multiple Personality Disorder, as a clinical diagnosis, is an individually and socially constructed phenomenon that is not helping the afflicted. The main premises interdependently relate to one and other, and the premises relate to and support the conclusion.
- Yes, MDD or DID is somewhat controversial, as noted in your article from 18 years ago, and yet it is included in new DSM-V released in May this year.
- In my 36+ years of clinical practice, 29+ at my present job, I have only "seen" 3 clients who legitimately met the criteria for, and whom I diagnosed with DID. That is probably in keeping with the projected nationwide rate of 1/2 of 1 percent of the US population. At the same time though, I've also "seen" it mis-diagnosed frequently. Hope that helps some. tc mctavish23 (Robert)<!-- / message -->
- London, August 11 (ANI): A woman, who is suffering from Dissociative Identity Disorder, also known as Multiple Personality Disorder, has not one, not two, but an incredible 22 personalities.
- Taylor, who cannot recall what happens when another personality takes over, told the publication that she feels like she has spend half of her life drunk.
- Each personality has its own voice, traits and mannerisms. They can come and go up to 10 times a day, changing without warning in a split second.They include brothel keeper Madam Taylor, five-year-old schoolgirl Daisy, PC World worker Mary, 60, and aggressive teenager Lashes.There are also a millionaire, Scottish sandwich shop owner, Cornish farm girl, German speaker and a gangsta rapper.It is Tiger-Lou, a woman about Dawn’s age, who greets us for our interview. But within 30 minutes Dawn is back.
- “At the time I think I am in control. To me, I am just me, whether that’s Daisy, Mary or even Madam Taylor. But when I wake up and can’t remember a thing the terror sets in.”
- Dawn – who takes sedatives, mood stabilisers and anti-depressants Quetiapine, Carbamazepine and Paroxetine to control her condition – is used to people laughing at her and tries to be philosophical about it.
- “Now I ignore her because the doctors think the more you interact with the other personalities, the stronger they get. Some are far stronger than others and emerge much more regularly.
- “But what about when I go to bed with a brothel madam, then part way through she switches to a five-year-old child? I’m lost. I love Dawn but what we have isn’t a relationship any more, it’s a way of life – survival.
- Analytical psychotherapist Remy Aquarone, who has treated people with Dawn’s condition for 25 years, said: “Less than one per cent of the population suffers from DID but many are misdiagnosed with depression or other conditions”.
- Detroit is a city with multiple personality disorder. Burned-out buildings are next door neighbours with trendy bars where there's a two-hour wait for a thyme and smoked bourbon cocktail that will be $12, please and thank you. Streets that have been mostly reclaimed by nature are just a few blocks away from streets that are so gridlocked on game night, you can't get your car out of the parking garage.
- A lot of you already know this. For many Windsorites, the border is just a few minutes, a toll and some annoying questions away from all the perks of living next to a major American city - great concerts, great sports, some of the world's greatest art.
- Nobody wants to get mugged, or be creeped out, or feel depressed. But I'm hoping to show you that one, you don't need a police escort and an armoured car to explore Detroit, and two, you're really missing out if you let yourself get scared off.
- I'm planning to spend the next seven days in the D, with the goal of showcasing the positive changes, the challenges that remain and the bizarre contrasts that happen when the two interact. I'm going to show you places you could take your timid mother-inlaw, your party animal brother and your sister the organic gardener.
- "www.ruthzandstra.com."
- Ruth Zandstra insists she is not lying. Nor is she crazy.The 62-year-old Highland woman has been insisting this for decades, even though at times it felt as if she was making up such unimaginable acts of abuse during her childhood. And similar acts of domestic and churchly terror against her sister, too.
- Cruelty. Incest. Intimidation. Sexual abuse. Psychological torture. Animal sacrifice. Bloodletting. And allegations of satanic ritual abuse at the hands of her father and grandfather under the guise of strict Christian doctrine, a controversial claim she still stands behind to this day.“I know how all this sounds, but it’s true, sadly true,” she told me at the Portage Riverwalk, an oddly picturesque setting to discuss such ugly subject matter.
- Zandstra, who can be shy as a shadow, chronicled all this and more in her 2010 self-published book, “Am I Alive?,” which is available on Amazon. It’s a sad, disturbing yet intriguing book about her tormented yet outwardly idyllic childhood while being raised in Highland. She tells it through a series of chronologically arranged recollections.
- In another chapter, she writes: “I see the toes of his shoes against my toes, and look up just enough to see both his open hands in front of my face. In one hand there are small, bloody eyes in the palm of his hand. I know that I have to swallow them, so that Satan can see inside me and know what I’m thinking.”
- Her book was written in part by the 100 or so personalities she created in her head as a kid to cope with the abuse. Clinically it’s called dissociative identity disorder or multiple personality disorder. Zandstra simply calls them “the others,” and each one had a name, such as Luke her big brother protector, Martha the grandmotherly nurturer, and Thaddeus, who kept mental notes on everything.
- She’s been in therapy for nearly 30 years, mostly with Norm LeClercq, a clinical supervisor with New Leaf Resources in Lansing. Their first meeting was April 3, 1987, and they’ve met for hundreds of hours ever since.“I totally believe Ruth and what she’s gone through as a child,” LeClercq told me. “She suffered obvious trauma showing me early on that something horrendous happened to her. Ruth doesn’t lie. She’s not crazy. And she’s honest to a fault.”
- “I was repeatedly told that nobody needs to know about this,” Zandstra said.But then she started receiving letters and emails from readers who had similar experiences involving sexual abuse, ritual abuse and other childhood abuse. It convinced her that writing the book was all worth it.
- I spoke to two other church members from that time period, and both say there are too many strange coincidences in Zandstra’s book to call her allegations flat-out lies or a form of false memory syndrome.
Tuesday, September 17, 2013
This section was curated from A Google NEWS search on Dissociative Identity Disorder/Multiple Personality Disorder 9-6-13 to 9-7-13. Items and red are not complimentary to multiplicity
