Corroborating premorbid dissociative symptomatology in dissociative identity disorder

Clinicians are often cautious about making the diagnosis of Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID). The existence of corroborating evidence that symptoms of DID existed prior to assessment may address concerns about the genuineness of individual cases. The authors report the results of a survey of clinicians to determine the frequency of corroboration that clients' DID symptoms existed prior to being diagnosed or prior to therapy. On the basis of 446 cases of DID, clinicians reported some form of corroboration (e.g., reports from family, medical records) in 73% of cases for symptoms prior to diagnosis and in 67% of cases for symptoms prior to therapy.