Running Head: DEVELOPMENTAL EFFECTS OF DID

The impact of multiple personality disorder on child development and parent-child

relationships
John Eric Roper
Westminster Choir College
Of Rider University

DEVELOPMENTAL EFFECTS OF DID

The Impact of Multiple Personality Disorder on child development.

Multiple Personality Disorder (MPD), informally called Dissociative Identity
Disorder (DID), has been one of the more perplexing psychopathologies to date. There
are a myriad of ways the disorder affects different people. While there are many
similarities between patients with MPD, the most striking statistic is that nine out of ten
patients of MPD are female (Nathan, 1994). The symptoms and effects between cases
are similar; however the extremities they reach differ greatly. Almost all modern-day
MPD patients claim to have been subject to horrendous abuse (Eich, Macaulay,
Loewenstein, & Dihle, 1997). According to the diagnostic material there are four key
points to recognizing MPD.
A. The presence of two or more distinct identities or personality states (each
with its own relatively enduring pattern of perceiving, relating to, and thinking about the
environment and self). B. At least two of these identities or personality states recurrently
take control of the person's behavior. C. Inability to recall important persona information
that is too extensive to be explained by ordinary forgetfulness. D. The disturbance is not
due to direct physiological effects of a substance (e.g. black outs or chaotic behavior
during Alcohol Intoxication) or a general medical condition (e.g. complex partial
seizures) (Sinnott-Armstrong & Behnke 301).
MPD is not merely a neurotic maladjustment to life from these traumas because it
acts as an incredible protector for extraordinary psychological challenges (Roberts 1990).
Statement: In what ways does MPD affect development? To answer this, an interview
with the parent of a child who suffered MPD will be examined in regards to the process
for assessing, discovering, and resolving this psychopathology.

DEVELOPMENTAL EFFECTS OF DID

Method
Information: An informal telephone interview with both the victim of child abuse
who developed MPD and her mother were able to provide a detailed description of the
events. The information is limited to as much as they were able to recall or through
transcripts at points in the psychotherapy process. For purpose of this interview, the
mother will be referred to as Barbara and the child will be referred to as Amy. The abuser
will be referred to as Reece. The interviewer was able to ask very detailed questions at
the discretion of the subjects.
Procedure: In contrast of articles written about multiple personality disorder, a
psychology scholar matched up distinctive parts to validate the interviewers comments.
In addition, comparisons in key developmental stages will be examined to assess any
effects that MPD had on development.
Discussion
Interview: Barbara began with disclosing that Amy had been abused sexually and
mentally at a very young age. She was around three years old when the first notable
abuse took place, Barbara said, From what I can remember there were approximately
150 different fragmented personalities, though only three or four had fully developed.
Amy was able to provide the names of the personalities she remembered. The strongest
ones were named as follows: Amy: a personality with the functionality of a three-yearold; Leigh: a quiet and reserved personality who was not very active or outgoing aging
around seven or eight years old; and Jennifer: also seven or eight years old but, the most

DEVELOPMENTAL EFFECTS OF DID

dominant personality but also the most destructive personality. Two additional names
were mentioned but no concrete actions or information could be recalled on either.
The full effects of the personality disorder began to surface for Amy when she
was seven. Usually a personality switch occurs from a tell. This tell can be anything
from a cough or twitch to a distinct physical tick. Barbra commented that Amy,
fortunately, had a tell to indicate a switch between personalities. She would close her
eyes and nod her head and when she opened them, someone else could be in control.
Amy had difficulties with public education and struggled with appropriate classroom
behavior and following directions. As a result, she was removed from public schooling
and sent to the Achievement School: an un-stimulating and calm school environment in
the hopes that she would still attend formal school. The Jennifer personality proved
problematic for that aspiration as she caused violent trouble on a regular basis. It was
difficult to educate Amy as a victim of MPD. Her memory had major lapses in content as
certain personalities learned different things. There was no clear way to assimilate or
reconcile all the information without effective psychotherapy.
When Amy began to disassociate personalities, home life became extremely
difficult. When Jennifer would have a tantrum, Barbara remembered that it would
usually take two adults to restrain her as well as heavy medication to help sedate her.
Habits included destruction of windows with rocks, ruining memorabilia, or destroying
portions of the house. Barbara and Amys abuser were divorced when Amy was three.
Reece, Barbaras first husband, was believed to also have Dissociative Identity Disorder.
There was never a distinction or tell that was recognized, but it was revealed through his
therapy that this was a possibility. Though Reece and Barbara were divorced, they shared

DEVELOPMENTAL EFFECTS OF DID

joint custody of Amy, which allowed for the abuse to continue. Amy was able to
comment that the abuses, both mental and sexual in nature, still affected her years later.
As a small example, she is no longer able to be alone during thunderstorms because a
very significant event in her abuse took place during a thunderstorm.
After the parental separation, Barbara unfortunately had to travel for work and
could not give Amy her full and undivided attention, so the abuses continued. This was
the point that started to show the differentiation in personality. After a two-and-a-half
week period, Barbara remembered coming home to almost an entirely different child.
When Barbara began to notice this differentiation, she took Amy to a therapist and she
was able to diagnose her with MPD. The therapist was able to begin opening windows in
Amys mind in order to bring awareness of the other personalities. She was eventually
able to elicit the original trauma of the three-year-old Amy. With this Amy was able to
begin to re-fuse her personalities. At this point, Barbara had remarried and Reece had
disappeared. Without the presence of her abuser, Amy was able to recover and return to a
single, dominant personality.
Interviewing both Barbara and Amy gives an interesting insight into the
relationship of parents and children where MPD is involved. The relationships that Amy
shared with both of her parents, including Barbaras new husband Martin, were very
different after Amy recovered. Barbara mentioned that she had a difficult time
connecting or bonding with Amy when the psychopathology was resolved and that, She
didnt feel like her baby girl anymore. Additionally Amy said, I remember having a
great relationship with Martin before Martin and Barbara were married, but when they
got married initially I took that to mean new husband equals new daddy. Unfortunately

DEVELOPMENTAL EFFECTS OF DID

after the ceremony, Reece was there to take me with him as Martin and Barbara were
going on their honeymoon. Amy finished by saying their relationship was rocky
afterwards but has since recovered greatly.
As with any abusive case, Amy suffered several developmental problems. The
most arresting impairment in patients with MPD is interpersonality amnesia (Eich, et al,
1997). Attempts to teach Amy were fraught with problems from both personality
disruption as well as lapses in memory where one personality would learn something that
another would not recall. I would be learning something and wouldnt remember that I
had learned it at all. Id say I never learned that; Jennifer must have, Amy said in
response to a question about education. This is a very common occurance in all MPD
patients. Barbara spoke also the difficulties her teachers in both schools she attended as
an MPD patient, with both her erratic speech and personality behvaiors. Socially and
cognitively, she was eventually able to recover from her disorder and remains well and
healthy to this day.
Limitations: The nature of this information was purely based upon a single-casebias of events that took place to outline MPD. Much of the research shows that MPD
cases are strongly underrepresented in philosophy of mind and in the discussion of
personal identity (O'Brien, 1993). Additionally, due to Reeces possible diagnosis, there is
no confirmation as to whether or not he also had MPD, which would open up another
question basis for parenting as an individual with MPD. Furthermore, the information
regarding this case is no longer recent as it dates back to the mid-1980s, making certain
portions difficult to track or receive information due to lapse in memory or lack of

DEVELOPMENTAL EFFECTS OF DID

documentation. The ability to study more recent cases would be more beneficial to future
research.
Future directions: Combined with an interview and several sources, a conclusion
was drawn from this case alone. In the future, more cases in youth or adolescent
development would be beneficial. Additionally comparing or contrasting the possibility
of genetic predisposition for developing MPD could aid for future research. There is
some debate in the psychology community saying, specialists in the area hold sharply
differing opinions on the credibility of claims, their ecological significance, and cognitive
causes (Eich, et al 417). Additional information regarding those arguments to compare
to psychology data in favor of the psychopathologys existence would be advantageous.

DEVELOPMENTAL EFFECTS OF DID

References
Eich, E., Macaulay, D., Loewenstein, R. J., & Dihle, P. H. (1997). Memory, Amnesia, and
Dissociative Identity Disorder. Psychological Science , 8 (6), 417-422.
Nathan, D. (1994). Dividing to Conquer? Women, Men, and the Making of Multiple
Personality Disorder. Social Text , 40, 77-114.
O'Brien, L. (1993). Review . The Philosophical Quarterly , 43 (171), 272-273 .
Roberts, M. (1990). Building A Life. British Medical Journal , 300 (6740), 1651.
Sinnot-Armstrong, W., & Behnke, S. (2000). Responsibility in Cases of Multiple
Personality Disorder. Nos , 34, 301-323.