Cognitive abuse within the incestuous family as a factor in the development of dissociative identity disorder

The polarized nature of the ongoing controversies surrounding the genesis and validity of dissociative identity disorder pit advocates who see and work with dissociative identity disorder sufferers against skeptics who claim it to be an artificial iatrogenically produced phenomenon. This paper suggests that such a dichotomy is unwarranted and that, in fact, both sides of the argument have merit. A short description of the controversy that rages among professionals is followed by a personal-experiential review of the development of dissociative identities in the author. Using sociocognitive conceptualizations and describing the iatrogenic intrafamilial processes that led to the "choice" of dissociation as a strategy for coping with a traumatic reality, this paper shows how both sides of the conflict complement each other and suggests a new way of understanding the developmental pathway of dissociative identity disorder.