Title: Hoax and reality : the bizarre world of multiple personality disorder /
Authors: Piper, August.
Publisher: J. Aronson,
Year: 1997
Subjects: Multiple personality; Dissociative Identity Disorder
Abstract: Multiple Personality Disorder (MPD) has become a fad. It was once so uncommon that investigators had discovered barely 200 cases by 1980. No longer. After that year, the number of cases exploded as therapist after therapist began to report seeing dozens, scores, hundreds of MPD patients. However, Dr. August Piper asserts that the surge in MPD cases is largely generated by the doctors themselves, by their over-inclusive diagnostic criteria and self-fulfilling therapeutic techniques.
Contents: Foreword / Paul R. McHugh -- 1. Contorted Logic, Contradictory Definitions, Conceptual Muddiness: A First Look at the Landscape of Multiple Personality Disorder -- 2. Imprecision and Overinclusiveness of the MPD Diagnostic Criteria -- 3. Invasion of the Body Snatchers -- 4. Partners in a Tango of Suggestion: MPD Patients and Their Therapists -- 5. The Peculiar Evolution of a Peculiar Condition -- 6. Weaknesses of the Theory of MPD Etiology -- 7. Outcome of MPD Treatment: Proof of the Pudding or Fly in the Ointment? -- 8. Malpractice Concerns, Moral Questions, and Legal Problems Posed by the Diagnosis -- 9. Conclusion.