Most Surprising Finds

During my research, I found a few facts about the schizophrenia and the MPD myth that were the most interesting and surprising to me. A few articles I read pointed out the fact that there are many cultural differences centering on this fallacy. For instance, in “Dissociation or Culture Bound? A Malaysian Perspective”, the article emphasizes the fact that Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID or MPD) is believed to be a complete myth in certain Malaysian ethnicities such as the Latah and Amok (Jambunathan, 100).” People here with MPD are thought to be possessed by two demons or hypnotized by another person through witchcraft. Similarly, although not as extreme of a case, in even European countries today like Germany and Russia the term “schizophrenia” widely varies due to cultural misinterpretations of the disease (Schomerus, 780).

Other than the cultural misunderstandings of the two mental disorders, I was also surprised to find just how many people still misuse these two terms. If, “schizophrenia is probably the most misused psychological term in existence (McNally, 69)”, shouldn’t there be more motivation by the mass media to change the public’s perception of the disorder? Sadly, even up until 1980 MPD was considered rare with only 200 reported cases in the world because of the amount of misdiagnoses in the psychological field (Ross, 39). In one study conducted by two clinicians, it was found that, “just under 50% of MPD patients had a prior diagnosis of schizophrenia” in 1986. This information is baffling to me and at the same time saddening that so many patients suffering from MPD had been previously diagnosed with a completely different disorder. In fact, one of the most differentiating symptoms in schizophrenia is that people are born with it.

Resources:

Jambunathan, S., Gill, J., & Kanagsundram, S. (2008). Dissociation or Culture Bound? A Malaysian Perspective. (Cover story). Archives: The International Journal of Medicine,1(2), 100-104. Retrieved from Academic Search Complete database.

McNally, K. (2007). Schizophrenia as split personality/Jekyll and Hyde: The origins of the informal usage in the English language.Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences, 43(1), 69-79. doi:10.1002 /jhbs.20209.

Schomerus, G., Kenzin, D., Borsche, J., Matschinger, H., & Angermeyer, M. (2007). The association of schizophrenia with split personality is not an ubiquitous phenomenon. Social Psychiatry & Psychiatric Epidemiology, 42(10), 780-786. doi:10.1007/s00127-007-0235-7.

Ross, Colin A. "Multiple Personality Disorder Patients with a Prior Diagnosis of Schizophrenia." Dissociation 1.2 (1988): 39-42. UO Libraries. University of Oregon. Web. 16 May 2010. .

Why It Matters To Me

As a psychology major at Seattle University, this myth is first off important to me because it has to do with my field of study and much of the terminology included in the updated version of the DSM-IV. More personally, I especially find abnormal psychology to be a fascinating subject to study and it is my preferred area of research in my major. Last year I had the opportunity to work at day care facility for severely autistic, schizophrenic, and Down's syndrome patients who’s families did not have the money to take care of them during the work hours of the day. Through this experience I was very much touched by the people I helped and volunteered for and I wanted to know more about the differentiating abnormal mental disorders I observed there. What interested me most about this myth were the diagnoses of what people experience who have schizophrenia or MPD. Moreover, I believe psychological misunderstandings like this are important to correct because understanding an illness of any form is vital to understanding the person suffering from it.

Some Background History

Like stated in my blog post “A Better Way To Think About It”, schizophrenia was initially termed in 1911 when the Swiss psychiatrist Eugen Beuler defined it as a “split-mind” disorder. Really, Beuler meant more that a person with schizophrenia suffers from a separation of psychological functions and their emotions and cognitive abilities. The first misuse of the term schizophrenia was published in the Washington Post in 1916 (Lilienfeld, 191). A journalist interviewed then first president of the American Psychological Association Stanley Hall. Hall defined schizophrenia as a way to describe someone who has a split mind such as a Jekyll-Hyde personality. Ironically, Robert Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is probably the most famous case of split personality disorder in popular literature. The Washington Post’s article’s influence over the mass media with this popular misconception is unclear but by 1933 the myth had found it’s way into pop culture. Like the quote by T.S. Elliott, “For a poet to be also a philosopher he would have virtually two men: I cannot think of any example of this thorough schizophrenia (192).”

Today this misconception continues with movies like, Me, Myself, and Irene and even shows on NBC such as My Own Worst Enemy starring Christian Slater in 2008.

References:

Lilienfeld, Scott O. 50 Great Myths of Popular Psychology: Shattering Widespread Misconceptions about Human Behavior. Chichester, West Sussex: Wiley-Blackwell, 2010. Print.

A Better Way To Think About It

So this is pretty obvious for the psychological myth that people with schizophrenia have multiple personalities. When people misconstrue the definitions of schizophrenia or MPD, they often combine the two into one; this then creates a false definition of what schizophrenia is. Instead of thinking of the two disorders comparative properties such as paranoia, depression, and self-mutilation, it is easier to remember the symptoms that vary with the two diagnoses. One of the biggest symptoms that people with schizophrenia suffer from is auditory and visual hallucination. The “split-mind” term coined for schizophrenia stems from the Swiss psychiatrist Eugen Bleuler who defined the disorder in 1911 (Lilienfeld, 191). However, this terminology would be much more appropriate for MPD. Schizophrenia is rather a severance of auditory and often visual perceptions of reality. But schizophrenics only have one personality that is severed, not multiple ones.

References:

Lilienfeld, Scott O. 50 Great Myths of Popular Psychology: Shattering Widespread Misconceptions about Human Behavior. Chichester, West Sussex: Wiley-Blackwell, 2010. Print.

Key Misunderstandings

In this myth, the one key misunderstanding is that schizophrenics do not have split personalities. Instead, “they possess a single personality that’s been splintered or shattered (Lilienfeld, 191).” Most often, people don’t fully know the definition for what schizophrenia is or isn’t since the symptoms for the disorder are somewhat crossed with those of MPD. “When a person has schizophrenia, he experiences hallucinations and delusions, seeing things that aren’t there and believing things that are clearly not true (Madison, 1).” Schizophrenics tend to be extremely socially withdrawn as well; usually hearing voices they become very fearful. In multiple personality disorder, a person has on average ten different personalities. Depression and self-mutilation in this disorder is also very common. Perhaps one of the most misleading subjects in this myth is how the DSM-III prior to the DSM-IV had similar diagnoses of the two conditions. In fact, until 1980 Multiple Personality Disorder was considered rare because so many patients were misdiagnosed with schizophrenia (Ross, 39). In a recent finding, clinicians have documented that just fewer than 50% of MPD patient had a prior diagnosis of schizophrenia. This misunderstanding of psychological terminology is obviously not uncommon. It’s therefore important to understand the differences between a split personality and multiple personalities.

References:

Lilienfeld, Scott O. 50 Great Myths of Popular Psychology: Shattering Widespread Misconceptions about Human Behavior. Chichester, West Sussex: Wiley-Blackwell, 2010. Print.

Madison, N. "What Is the Difference Between Schizophrenia and Multiple Personality Disorder?" WiseGEEK: Clear Answers for Common Questions. 24 Apr. 2010. Web. 11 May 2010.

Ross, Colin A. "Multiple Personality Disorder Patients with a Prior Diagnosis of Schizophrenia." Dissociation 1.2 (1988): 39-42. UO Libraries. University of Oregon. Web. 16 May 2010.

Mind Traps

Like in all myths found in the psychological and scientific fields in general, there are usually multiple reasoning errors for why people believe a myth in the first place. In the case of people misinterpreting schizophrenics as having multiple personalities, the most notable error would have to be the misleading film and media portrayal followed by the terminological confusion of the two disorders (Lilienfield, 18). The first reasoning error pointed out in Thomas Gilovich’s section on “Motivational and Social Determinants of Questionable Belief” are distortions created in the service of “informativeness” and entertainment. Like in the previous post about movies that confuse or exaggerate the two disorders, schizophrenia has been misconstrued in the media since 1916 (Lilienfeld, 191). Another reasoning error is that is common with this myth is distortions due to probability. Like stated earlier, people have the simple tendency to not understand the medical terms talked about with schizophrenia and MPD. Distortion due to plausibility is the acceptance and spreading of a myth because it seems like it should be true. Schizophrenia has had a long history of being misconstrued for literally a “split-mind”. It is therefore easy to see why the public could mistake this coined term for multiple personality disorder. The last reasoning error prevalent in this myth is the “The Imagined Agreement of Others”. This fallacy mentions the false consensus effect in which someone believes a myth because they also think it is held as true by the majority of the population (113). In all three of these reasoning errors, there is a main theme of assumption through the mass media or other people. Knowing the variances between medical terminologies helps to prevent these false beliefs.

References:

Gilovich, Thomas. How We Know What Isn't So: the Fallibility of Human Reason in Everyday Life. New York, N.Y.: Free, 1991. Print.

Lilienfeld, Scott O. 50 Great Myths of Popular Psychology: Shattering Widespread Misconceptions about Human Behavior. Chichester, West Sussex: Wiley-Blackwell, 2010. Print.

Media Fascination With Mental Illness

So let's talk about something more interesting than the sources I used to gather my information. Through the cinema and various perceptions of schizophrenia and MPD, the truth about these disorders can be confusing and not entirely correct in evaluation.

Let's start out with some movies that portray these two disorders in different and a more accurate light. The plot for the movie Identity is a murder mystery about a man with multiple personalities. In the link of the clip, John Cusack's character Ed has just realized that his perception of who he thought he was is based on one of the personalities created in the serial killer Malcom River's mind. In Identity, the multiple personalities created by Malcom collide into each other's world when one identity begins to kill all of the others off. By the end of the movie viewers are left with another slasher film after discovering that the little boy Timmy is the identity committing the heinous murders. Although it may not be the best horror flick, the portrayal of Malcom River and his severe cas of MPD is fairly authentic.

Perhaps one of the most haunting movies about a true case of severe MPD is found through the story of Sybil Mason who was severely abused as a child. The movie Sybil starring Sally Field portrays the adolescence and adulthood of the psychologically troubled women with sixteen different personalities. Sybil is well directed and acted movie showcasing the affects and prominent tendencies with the disorder and although it is slightly exaggerated, it stays fairly true to the real story of the woman with MPD.

Of course there are many representation of MPD and schizophrenia in movies that aren't as well portrayed. In most cases, illnesses like schizophrenia and MPD are exaggerated or combined into an almost entirely new disease for a more interesting plot.

That's true in the case of Donnie Darko, a movie about a troubled teenager in high school who experiences both sign of schizophrenia, multiple personalities, and the ability to time travel with some clairvoyance about future events. Donnie also periodically stops taking his medication in the movie which allows him to see his friend Frank, a large grey rabbit who guides him into another dimension. Obviously, Donnie's psychosis is obviously extremely exaggerated, but it doesn't stop from making it a great story.

The movie Pi and A Beautiful Mind are both psychological thrillers sharing two themes: the presence of schizophrenia in the main characters and their fascination for numbers and math. A Beautiful Mind is based off of the real life of John Forbes Nash Jr., a math prodigy who also suffered with years of schizophrenia. While this movie gives a realistic portrayal of the disorder, Pi, a movie also about an incredibly talented numerical genius who suffers from schizophrenia, exaggerates the main character's illness to coincide with the psychological twists in the movie plot.

The media's fascination of portraying schizophrenia and MPD in popular culture is perhaps due to the still little known information there really is on multiple personalities since patient cases are can vary so much. A new popular Showtime series called United States of Tara even adds humor to the subject of MPD.