the early history of dissociative identity disorder

The Early History of Dissociative Identity Disorder

In 1791, the first detailed account of "exchanged personality" was written about a 20-year-old German woman who began to speak perfect French, behave like a French aristocrat and spoke German with a French accent. When she was the "French Woman" she remembered everything she did but as the "German Woman" she denied any knowledge of the "French Woman."

DID was focused on for study between 1880 and 1920 and in 1944, 67% of all known cases had been reported during that time. Case reports of dissociative identity disorder then fell off dramatically perhaps due to the increased diagnosis of schizophrenia and due to the rise of Freud.

The 20th Century History of Dissociative Identity Disorder

In the 1970s, the diagnosis of dissociative identity disorder rose dramatically after the publication of the extremely popular book, Sybil, in 1973 (Dissociative Identity Disorder: I’m Not Sybil). In the 1970s alone, it is thought that more cases of DID were reported than in all of history since 1816 and the famous case of Mary Reynolds. Between 1991 and 1997, over 500 cases of DID were admitted to a single dissociative disorders treatment center in Dallas, Texas.

Additionally, as more and more cases of DID were reported, more and more alternate personalities (alters) were reported in each case. The majority of cases noted by 1944 manifested with only two personalities, while there was an average of 15.7 alters noted in cases reported in 1997.
In current day, controversy still rages around DID, its diagnosis and whether the disorder even exists.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  suraj kumar,osh state university,group-10 b