Dissociative Identity Disorder in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 5th Edition

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Dissociative identity disorder (DID) is a mental health condition that has caught the imaginations of many due to movies and television shows exploiting it to make money. Most people are completely ignorant of the realities of DID, and even those who have been diagnosed with it can get lost in the molasses of disinformation.

There is one instrument; however, that outlines and legitimizes dissociative identity disorder, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the fifth edition (DSM-5).

This article shall focus on the DSM-5 criteria for dissociative identity disorder and what each category means.

A Brief History of the DID in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders

In 1990, the name of multiple personality disorder was changed to dissociative identity disorder. To understand a name-change, and how DID has evolved as a diagnosis, one must first look at the history of its listing in the DSM published by the American Psychiatric Association.

The DSM-1. Mental health professionals in the United States found themselves in a quandary. There were too many different diagnostic systems…