Incest and the multiple personality

Satanism, ritual abuse, and multiple personality disorder: a sociohistorical perspective

During the past decade in North America, a growing number of mental health professionals have reported that between 25% and 50% of their patients in treatment for multiple personality disorder (MPD) have recovered early childhood traumatic memories of ritual torture, incestuous rape, sexual debauchery, sacrificial murder, infanticide, and cannibalism perpetrated by members of clandestine satanic cults. Although hundreds of local and federal police investigations have failed to corroborate patients' therapeutically constructed accounts, because the satanic etiology of MPD is logically coherent with the neodissociative, traumatic theory of psychopathology, conspiracy theory has emerged as the nucleus of a consistent pattern of contemporary clinical interpretation. Resolutely logical and thoroughly operational, ultrascientific psychodemonology remains paradoxically oblivious to its own irrational premises. When the hermetic logic of conspiracy theory is stripped away by historical and socio/psychological analysis, however, the hypothetical perpetrators of satanic ritual abuse simply disappear, leaving in their wake the very real human suffering of all those who have been caught up in the social delusion.

Psychiatric disorders in sexually abused children

OBJECTIVE

This study was designed to compare the prevalence of psychiatric disorders in a clinical sample of sexually abused children referred for outpatient evaluation. Two a priori hypotheses were tested: (1) the sexually abused group would have more post-traumatic stress disorder than the non-sexually abused group and (2) non-sexually abused children referred for evaluation would have more diagnoses than the sexually abused group.

METHODS

Twenty-six sexually abused children and 23 non-sexually abused children referred for psychiatric outpatient evaluation at a medical school center were matched by age, sex, race, and socioeconomic status and compared to determine differences in prevalence of Axis I, DSM-III-R disorders. The Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia for School-Age Children-Epidemiologic Version was used for systematic diagnosis.

RESULTS

Groups did not differ significantly in the number of diagnoses and, in both groups, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder was the most frequent diagnosis. However, the prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder among sexually abused children was significantly greater (p < .02), with 42.3% of sexually abused children and 8.7% of non-sexually abused children meeting full criteria. There were no significant differences between groups in other diagnostic categories.

CONCLUSIONS

This study, using structured interviews and comparison groups, confirmed earlier findings suggesting that sexually abused children are at heightened risk for the development of post-traumatic stress disorder.

The diagnosis of multiple personality disorder. A critical review

Recently, there has been a dramatic rise in the number of case reports of multiple personality disorder (MPD). The phenomenology of the disorder is described and theories on aetiology are discussed. A review of the recent literature reveals a poverty of information on reliability of diagnosis, prevalence, or the role of selection bias. It is argued that iatrogenic factors may contribute to the development of the syndrome. There is little evidence from genetic or physiological studies to suggest that MPD represents a distinct psychiatric disorder. It is assumed that MPD is an hysterical symptom, and an attempt is made to catalogue the predisposing factors and influences that may lead to the clinical presentation.

Multiple personality disorder in childhood

Multiple Personality Disorder (M.P.D.) has been diagnosed in adults and adolescents at an almost exponential rate over the last 10 years in contrast to the previous 100 years. Childhood M.P.D., a more recently recognized entity, has been identified both by retrospective patient reports and actual child case reports, of which we were able to note 12 in total, 4 of which may be more accurately described as "incipient M.P.D." Given the apparently rapid response to treatment compared to adults and the high morbidity caused by the adult form of the disorder, the authors recommend a "high index of suspicion" and the use of screening questionnaires to detect cases of M.P.D. in high risk populations of children. Although the natural history of M.P.D. is not known, early identification and treatment could lower the number of cases of childhood M.P.D. that become established as adult cases and decrease the associated morbidity of the disorder in both children and adults. More research is needed to establish prevalence, etiology and effective treatment methods.

Initial and follow-up psychological testing on a group of patients with multiple personality disorder

The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) and Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) were administered to the host personality of 18 patients with multiple personality prior to therapy. The MMPI was readministered a mean of 39 mo. later. The MMPI appears to be a valuable aid in diagnosing multiple personality. Characteristic MMPI protocols include (1) high F and Sc scales, (2) technically invalid profiles, (3) numerous critical items, (4) critical items indicating dissociation, (5) a poly-symptomatic picture, (6) wide discrepancy between obvious and subtle scores, (7) lack of blatant psychosis, (8) and infrequently elevated Hs scales. Individuals with borderline to superior IQs may have multiple personality.

Cognitive behavior therapy in the treatment of multiple personality

The case of Audrey H. represents the first successful cognitive behavioral treatment of a multiple personality reported in the literature. In this article the construct of multiple personality is briefly reviewed from various theoretical perspectives. The therapeutic approach chosen involved first the analysis of the emotions and behaviors of each subpersonality and then the process of integrating each alternate by cognitively developing in Audrey the realization that her various alternates all were facets of the same individual. Various specific behavioral procedures were employed, all within a generally orchestrated program of cognitive restructuring. Five years after the completion of therapy, this patient was experiencing no dissociation whatsoever and only moderate levels of anxiety.

Multiple personality in the human information-processor: a case history and theoretical formulation

A case of multiple personality is presented, which details the roles of the "executive" and "destabilizer" personalities in the functioning of the overall system, and in treatment. A neo-associationist model of personality, affect and cognition, previously presented by the author (Andorfer, 1980) and applied to schizophrenia (Andorfer, 1984), is here extended to multiple personality. This model is used to account for the mechanisms and clinical phenomena of dissociation and reintegration and the role of the "executive" personality in each. Strategies for treatment are recommended.

Rape and post-traumatic stress in multiple personality

An increased incidence of childhood physical and sexual abuse has previously been demonstrated in patients with multiple personalities. This disorder in women is also associated with an increased incidence of forcible rape during adolescence and adulthood by strangers or acquaintances. In a series of 17 women with multiple personality, 6 had been raped. A control group of non-dissociative disorder patients matched for age and sex yielded no instances of forcible rape. This high incidence of rape is thought to be related to the masochistic character traits which are common in multiple personality. The relationship of multiple personality and rape to post-traumatic stress disorder is explored. Treatment in group and individual therapy in which education and prevention were emphasized is described.

A comprehensive bibliography of literature pertaining to multiple personality

The reported incidence of patients with multiple personalities has increased dramatically during the 1970s. It has become important for therapists and researchers to have available a comprehensive bibliography of the literature pertaining to this increasingly important disorder, especially since much of that literature is in sources that are difficult to locate through typical procedures for literature search. This paper presents a comprehensive bibliography of 350 references relating to multiple personality. The articles, books, and paper presentations included in this bibliography are classified into 11 categories: reviews, general references, diagnosis and differential diagnosis, psychological testing, etiology, case reports, biographical and autobiographical accounts, treatment, experimental investigations, medico-legal aspects, and psychophysiological aspects. References that might be especially useful to the reader new to the multiple personality literature are identified.

Differential diagnosis of the multiple personality

The diagnosis of multiple personality is difficult and complicated. The differential diagnosis includes temporal lobe epilepsy, schizophrenia, borderline personality disorder, malingering, and other dissociative disorders. Psychometric research is needed to sharpen detection of multiple personality.