Dissociative Identity Disorder: An analysis of the behaviors and contingencies

Abstract

This manuscript argues that dissociative identity disorder (DID) can be thought of as a label for specific behavior changes, and behaviors of this disorder are likely controlled by social contingencies of positive and negative reinforcement. The evolution of the relevant concept of multiple personality disorder, now referred to as dissociative identity disorder, through various editions of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (the DSM) is reviewed. This manuscript proposes that DID primarily consists of changes in the verbal behaviors of tacting, intraverbals, and the prosody of speech, which resembles a descriptive autoclitic. In addition, this paper reviews the two competing models of the behaviors given the diagnostic label of dissociative identity disorder, the Post-Trauma Model (PTM) and the Social-Cognitive Model (SCM). A review of published treatments that employed behavioral methods is discussed, as well as recommendations for the means to conceptualize disorders such as DID better.