Repressed-Memory Therapy and Dissociative Identity Disorder: The Facts and Fiction

Ultimately, this Disorder is a way of expressing distress. Richard J. McNally, a

professor of psychology, has begun dissecting the many layers of Dissociative Identity Disorder,
formerly known as Multiple Personality Disorder. Neuroscience has taken steps in recent years to
prove and disprove many of the tropes of this disease, as well as many of the previously
presumed treatments. McNally and others are on the search for the truth in a field that has seen
its fair share of fiction. The fact of the matter is Repressed-Memory Therapy is an inferior
method that harms the patient and that traditional therapy is far more successful.
What we have shown is that the fundamental idea behind the concept of DID-that there
is amnesia between identities-theres no convincing evidence for that, McNally states in an
article for the Harvard Gazette. His sentiment sees as much support as it does opposition, after
all, talk show personalities such as Dr.Phil, Oprah Winfrey, Geraldo Rivera, and countless others
have cemented the stereotype that those with DID suffer periods of time that they simply cant
recall without the use of Repressed-Memory Therapy, a dangerous and reckless technique that
uses various forms of hypnosis, and induction that at times has included heavy barbiturate use.
These techniques, when compared to traditional therapy, not only run the risks of addiction,
memory fabrication, and most dangerously, compound the disease that is supposedly being
treated, engulfing the patients in their own fantasy world.
Twenty-Two Faces by Judy Byington is one of the latest collections of fantasy shipped
as non-fiction. The book makes highly implausible and at times supernatural claims, dismissing
the actions of the case study, Judy Hill, as being rational. The fact of the matter is that patients of
diseases like Dissociative Identity Disorder and Borderline Personality Disorder need treatment
for their irrational behavior if they are to function properly in society, and not be held back by
placating and dangerous techniques.
I Hate You, Dont Leave Me by Jarold J. Kreisman and Hal Strauss provides multiple
case studies within its pages and shows not only that proper treatment is needed for DID and
BPD, but that the ideas of successful treatment in our culture has been jaded by psychological
mythology. The largest complaint that can be found online about I Hate You, Dont Leave Me
is that the book does not offer closure or the happy supernatural ending of Twenty Two Faces,
and this is because for sufferers of these diseases, the road of treatment is long and arduous. Just
as an alcoholic always suffers from their disease, sufferers of DID and BPT continue to have the
disease. The only cure is proper treatment.
The reasons Repressed-Memory Therapy comes under fire in the medical community is
because the treatment only further inhibits the patient to function in society. But the myth that
DID and BPD are in nature posttraumatic. This claim, when compounded with RMT, has been
shown to help create further symptoms and behavioral patterns within patients. (The
Sociocognitive Model of Dissociative Identity Disorder: A Reexamination of the Evidence by

David H. Gleaves. P.42) By creating a fictitious background for the disease to come out of, the
patients issues with instability in affect regulation, impulse control, interpersonal relationships,
and self-image go untreated. Instead the trip to the therapist becomes more of a brainstorming
session of what went wrong and when and why the patient cant remember. Greater
understanding of these diseases is coming from neurological data, mostly from modern MRI.
The opposition claims that the media and medical communities have stated that these
diseases, particularly DID, are not real diseases. (Dispelling Myths About Dissociative Identity
Disorder by Margarita Tartakovsky) but this statement is false. It is merely being argued that
DID may be an advanced form of BPD that has gone untreated, and has been manipulated by
RMT, and that by telling patients they dont remember what other personalities have done, hey
are engaging the patients into a fantasy life, without traditional consequence, and in doing so,
harming the patient further.
By analyzing the data given, we come to the conclusion that it can be argued that BPD is
at times being misdiagnosed as DID, and that sufferers of DID are not receiving quality
treatment. The fact of the matter is Repressed-Memory Therapy is an inferior method that harms
the patient and that traditional therapy is far more successful.
Sources
Byington, Judy. Twenty Two Faces: Inside the Extraordinary Life of Jenny Hill and Her Twentytwo Multiple Personalities, a Biography. Mustang, OK: Tate, 2012. Print.
Kreisman, Jerold J., and Hal Straus. I Hate You--don't Leave Me: Understanding the Borderline
Personality. New York: Avon, 1991. Print.
Relationship of Dissociation to Self-mutilation and Childhood Abuse in Borderline Personality
Disorder." American Journal of Psychiatry AJP 152.12 (1995): 1788-792. Web.
"A Story That Doesn't Hold Up." Harvard Gazette. N.p., n.d. Web
Gleaves, David H. "The Sociocognitive Model of Dissociative Identity Disorder: A
Reexamination of the Evidence." Psychological Bulletin 120.1 (1996): 42-59. Web.
Dispelling Myths about Dissociative Identity Disorder." Psych Central. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Oct.
2015.