It's Not Just a Movie: The Damaging Impact of Misportrayals of Dissociative Identity Disorder in the Media

Hollywood has demonstrated an incessant fixation on dissociative identity disorder (DID). Countless films and television series have depicted DID in the interest of creating a captivating storyline or plot twist at the expense of individuals living with the condition. However, film-based media representations of DID are often stigmatizing, stereotypical, and inaccurate. We conducted a qualitative research study with 377 individuals diagnosed with DID to explore the potential impact of media portrayals on patients’ views of themselves and their treatment. Of the 151 participants who reported that media portrayals of DID had an impact on their mental health treatment, 85.4% (n=129) reported negative or detrimental experiences when asked to describe the impact, and 7.3% (n=11) reported positive or facilitating experiences. Five themes to summarize the data were created using reflexive thematic analysis: 1) portrayals are inaccurate and perpetuate myths among clinicians, 2) portrayals impact patients’ experience of themselves and access to treatment, 3) lack of clinical training leads to negative outcomes, 4) portrayals lead to inadequate or even harmful treatment by clinicians, and 5) importance of specialty treatment. In this presentation, these themes and subthemes within each category will be discussed. Implications for clinical practice and community advocacy will be discussed.