hild and Adolescent
Apart from classifying symptoms and prescribing psychoactive drugs, modern psychologists have made little progress in solving the intractable mysteries of mental illness. Multiple Personality Disorder is a topic where the overwhelming lack of knowledge has resulted in controversy about whether the syndrome even really exists.
McHugh basically dismisses the syndrome as a socially created disorder in which the alleged sufferers are simply following the therapists" leading questions ("Have you ever felt like another part of you does things that you can"t control?"). He suggests that what used to be called "hysteria" until the advent of DSM-III be renovated because of its usefulness in helping us understand patients "displaying [behavior] that attract[s] medical attention and provide[s] the privileges of patienthood".
He cites the pioneering psychological studies of Jean-Martin Charcot and Joseph Babinski in France more than a century ago concerning "hysteroepilepsy". Babinski felt that the seizures of the women patients were induced by the suggestion of the psychologists, who betrayed intense curiosity in the syndrome, and were in a sense encouraging it. He reasoned that a counter persuasion would reduce the symptoms, and found his hypothesis validated when the women's hysteroepilepsy was ignored and they were returned to normal wards to deal with their underlying problems.
Whether true or not, McHugh provides a rare moment of common sense in the wilderness of psychobabble in which the study of human behavior is mired. His willingness to buck the fads of his profession and ask "Where's the beef?" is salutary. Like Babinski, he dares to suggest "the null hypothosis" " that in fact there is no intrinsic MPD syndrome.
Like the previous article summarized, his observations remain purely anecdotal, since he cites no statistically valid studies to back up his assertions.
Lerner, Maura. (June 6, 1999). "...