Canadian and American psychiatrists' attitudes toward dissociative disorders diagnoses

Objective: To compare the opinions of Canadian psychiatrists regarding diss ociative disorder diagnoses with those of previously surveyed American psyc hiatrists. Method: We sent a 1-page questionnaire to a stratified representative sampl e of 550 Canadian psychiatrists. Results: Eighty percent of Canadian psychiatrists responded. Fewer than one -third replied that dissociative amnesia and dissociative identity disorder should be included without reservations in the DSM-IV; fewer than 1 in 7 f elt that the validity of these diagnoses was supported by strong scientific evidence. French- and English-speaking Canadians had similar opinions. Ove rall Canadians were significantly less accepting than Americans. Conclusion: Both Canadian and American psychiatrist, show little consensus regarding the diagnostic status or scientific validity of dissociative amne sia and dissociative identity disorder.