This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Submit an eLetter
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when eLetters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via CrossRef
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Right arrow Citing Articles via Scopus
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Merskey, H.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Merskey, H.

The British Journal of Psychiatry 160: 327-340 (1992)
© 1992 The Royal College of Psychiatrists

The manufacture of personalities. The production of multiple personality disorder

H Merskey
University of Western Ontario, London, Canada.

Unprecedented numbers of cases of MPD have been diagnosed, mainly in North America, since 1957. Widespread publicity for the concept makes it uncertain whether any case can now arise without being promoted by suggestion or prior preparation. In order to determine if there is any evidence that MPD was ever a spontaneous phenomenon, a series of cases of MPD from the earlier literature has been examined, with particular attention given to alternative diagnoses which could account for the phenomena reported and to the way in which the first alternate personality emerged. The earlier cases involved amnesia, striking fluctuations in mood, and sometimes cerebral organic disorder. The secondary personalities frequently appeared with hypnosis. Several amnesic patients were trained with new identities. Others showed overt iatrogenesis. No report fully excluded the possibility of artificial production. This indicates that the concept has been elaborated from the study of consciousness and its relation to the idea of the self. The diagnosis of MPD represents a misdirection of effort which hinders the resolution of serious psychological problems in the lives of patients.


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Current SociologyHome page
J. Pratt
From Abusive Families to Internet Predators?: The Rise, Retraction and Reconfiguration of Sexual Abuse as a Social Problem in Canada
Current Sociology, January 1, 2009; 57(1): 69 - 88.
[Abstract] [PDF]

Home page
 Theory PsychologyHome page
M. L. Manning and R. L. Manning
Legion Theory: A Meta-psychology
Theory Psychology, December 1, 2007; 17(6): 839 - 862.
[Abstract] [PDF]

Home page
 JAMAHome page
J. Kroll
Posttraumatic Symptoms and the Complexity of Responses to Trauma
JAMA, August 6, 2003; 290(5): 667 - 670.
[Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 BrainHome page
M. D. Kopelman
Disorders of memory
Brain, October 1, 2002; 125(10): 2152 - 2190.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Child MaltreatHome page
J. L. Silberg
Fifteen Years of Dissociation in Maltreated Children: Where do We Go from Here?
Child Maltreat, May 1, 2000; 5(2): 119 - 136.
[Abstract] [PDF]

Home page
 J Am Psychoanal AssocHome page
H. P. Blum
The Reconstruction of Reminiscence
J Am Psychoanal Assoc, August 1, 1999; 47(4): 1125 - 1143.
[Abstract] [PDF]

Home page
 Am. J. PsychiatryHome page
J. Paris
Comments on Review of Book on Hysteria
Am J Psychiatry, March 1, 1998; 155(3): 447- - 447.
[Full Text]

Home page
 Am. J. PsychiatryHome page
D. O. Lewis, C. A. Yeager, Y. Swica, J. H. Pincus, and M. Lewis
Objective Documentation of Child Abuse and Dissociation in 12 Murderers With Dissociative Identity Disorder
Am J Psychiatry, December 1, 1997; 154(12): 1703 - 1710.
[Abstract] [Full Text]

Home page
 Transcultural PsychiatryHome page
J. Paris
Review-Essay : Dissociative Symptoms, Dissociative Disorders, and Cultural Psychiatry
Transcultural Psychiatry, January 1, 1996; 33(1): 55 - 68.
[PDF]

Home page
 Transcultural PsychiatryHome page
L. J. Kirmayer
Taking Possession of Trance
Transcultural Psychiatry, January 1, 1992; 29(4): 283 - 286.