Suicide and parasuicide in multiple personality disorder

Multiple personality disorder (MPD) has been diagnosed with increasing frequency in the 1980s: according to one estimate 6,000 cases have now been diagnosed in North America (Coons 1986). The diagnosis of MPD can be difficult because patients usually present in a polysymptomatic fashion, and the specific features of their dissociative disorder may be difficult to elicit (Kluft 1985a, 1987). One of the most common presenting features consists of suicidal ideation and suicide attempts. Putnam et al. (1986), for instance, noted suicidality as a presenting symptom in nearly 70% of 100 cases of MPD reported to them by 92 clinicians throughout North America. We have collected a series of 236 cases of MPD reported to us by 203 clinicians throughout North America. Our results show that 72% of the patients attempted suicide. The purpose of this report is to compare 48 cases of MPD from this series with no previous suicide attempts to 167 cases that have attempted suicide to determine features that differentiate the patients who attempt suicide from those who do not.