Often dissociative disorders are misdiagnosed by clinicians, or altogether missed. In seven separate studies of 719 clients with Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) formerly known as Multiple Personality Disorder, it was found that they spent an average of 7 to almost 12 years in treatment before being properly diagnosed.

Screening for Dissociative Disordered Clients

Some guidelines for recognizing the possibility of a dissociative disorder, according to Joanne Twombly, include:

• A complex child abuse history beginning at an early age, or a traumatic medical history
• History of a “wonderful childhood” in a person who is symptomatic
• Multiple prior treatment failures
• History of more than 3 diagnoses including one or more Axis 2 diagnoses
• Symptoms and functioning that comes and goes
• Multiple psychiatric and somatic symptoms, headaches, stomach and GYN problems with no underlying medical causes
• Mood swings, dramatic changes in behavior and appearance
• Time distortions, blank spells, amnesia
• Disremembered behavior
• Ability to block out pain