Effectiveness of treatment for dissociative identity disorder
Faculty Advisor
Date
1998
Keywords
Dissociative Identity Disorder, Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory, Treatment Effectiveness Evaluation, test validity, defense mechanisms, dissociative disorders, follow-up studies, humans, personality inventory, treatment outcome
Abstract (summary)
In a study by J. W. Ellason and C. A. Ross (1996), patients with Dissociative Identity Disorder reported a decrease in symptoms on the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory–II over a 2-yr follow-up period. Patients judged to have achieved integration of their personalities rated themselves as more substantially improved on the Millon–II than did patients judged not to have achieved integration. Ellason and Ross suggested that this improvement reflected the influence of treatment; however, for several reasons, their findings are open to alternative interpretations. First, in the absence of proper control conditions, one cannot rule out the contribution of other factors to the over-all improvement of patients such as regression of symptoms toward the mean following the initial assessment. Second, patients' self-reported improvement was less substantial when data were reanalyzed using more appropriate statistical criteria. Third, the greater improvement observed among integrated patients relative to nonintegrated patients may reflect influences other than differential responsiveness to treatment, such as less severe pathology prior to treatment. More systematic research is needed to clarify the effect of treatment on Dissociative Identity Disorder.
Publication Information
Powell, R. A., & Howell, A. J. (1998). Effectiveness of treatment for dissociative identity disorder. Psychological Reports, 83, 483-490.
Notes
Item Type
Article
Language
English
Rights
All Rights Reserved