The objective assessment of amnesia in dissociative identity disorder using event-related potentials

Assessment of amnesia in Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) typically rel ies on self-report, the veracity of which cannot often be independently ver ified. Memory in DID was therefore assessed using an objective method that involved event-related potentials (ERPs) as well as indirect behavioral mea sures of memory, and that provided statistically supported assessments for each participant. Four participants who met DSM-IV criteria for DID partici pated in an ERP memory assessment task, in which words learned by one ident ity (identity A) were then presented to a second identity (identity B). All four participants - tested as identity B - produced ERP and behavioral evi dence consistent with recognition of the material learned by identity A. Wh ile it would be premature to generalize all cases of DID, the results sugge st that there may be reasons to question the veracity of reports by individ uals who meet diagnostic criteria for DID on the basis of a structured clin ical interview. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.