Research Report On Application Of Memory Malingering Test To Identify Individuals With Dissociative Identity Disorder
Table of Contents
Dissociative identity disorder
Participants
Quantities
Original: Calculations
Paraphrased: Computations
Methodology
Examining
The outcome was
Discussion and conclusion
This study investigates the possibility that students who have been taught DID malingering can be identified by the Memory Malingering Test.
Memory loss is an important symptom for DID. Analyses have shown that TOMM ratings accurately classified medical DID subjects from those who were malingering. Simulators could not be used to misrepresent DID. This research confirms TOMM as a quick test for persons with dissociation and complex trauma. It is essential to accurately diagnose and treat DID because of the severe symptoms it causes and its high cost.
Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID). Diagnoses for DID have been increasing exponentially in the past thirty years. Many psychologists question the existence of this disorder. DID, however, is a real psychological disorder according to the DSM-IV-TR. It’s most commonly caused by early childhood sexual abuse. Researchers have been studying dissociative identities since the Paleolithic Age, however it wasn’t till the late 18th Century when reports of a ‘changed identity” began to appear.
Dissociative Disorder can be traced back to Paleolithic time, however the first documented case of an ‘exchanged persona’ did not occur until the late 18th Century. In 1791, an aristocrat from France and a southern German woman of twenty years old switched personalities. She even learned to speak French fluently. The woman, who had two nationalistic identities (French & German), refused to acknowledge or remember the other when asked.
Participants Participants with DID. Thirty-one DID patients were recruited from Mid-Atlantic hospitals or regional private outpatient practices. The medical staff is specialized for trauma diagnosis and treatment. This includes DDs. Announcing the recruitment of participants at community events, they were encouraged to reach out to their respective treatment teams (i.e. If they are interested, doctors and therapists can be contacted.
Measures SCIDD-R has good to excellent reliability and validity for discrimination. The SCID D is a reliable and valid measure for discrimination. The simulators were used to screen experimental DID participants for dissociation.
The TOMM measures the cognitive effort required to perform memory tasks. Each trial starts with 50 line-drawn pictures that are shown for three seconds each. This set of 50 photos were accompanied 50 panels with a mix of previously shown images and new ones. The participants receive points for every time they identify an object from their previous experience. The present study used only the 100 items from the first two trials, which were deemed to be sufficient for detecting malingering. In previous research, the TOMM has been shown to be highly effective in separating real commitment from feigned one. It correctly classified 95% cases. The internal reliability was 0.98.
The study findings were collected in a larger system of evaluation focusing on treatment of both clinical and faked DID. The clinical review boards at the sponsoring university and the psychiatric facility that specialized in traumatized patients accepted the research. Participants read and signed informed consents before they began their participation. These consents detailed the research procedure, its risks and advantages, as well as the voluntariness of participation. DID’s members were responsible for a number of interviews and evaluations that took approximately 3-5 hrs to complete. DID received two $20 Gift Cards at both the beginning and the end. The evaluation period allowed members to take breaks and offer the option to stop the assessment at any time.
DID simulations providers were asked to complete their assessment packages within 90 minutes in small groups. Participants gave consent for additional credit, and a chance at winning a $50 Gift Card if their DID image was the most accurate over a six-month period. The questionnaire asked them to get a 70% score or higher in order to show DID-like symptoms. Each simulator passed the test of knowledge. The simulators were instructed to fill out the TOMM as though they had already completed as much of it as possible. Simulators received a $50 gift card at random after they completed the majority steps. This was to ensure that the DES responses would remain anonymous.
Analysis The research was conducted using IBM SPSS version 23. Discriminant Function Analysis(DFA) was employed as a classification method for detecting clinical and simulation DID, based upon TOMM ratings (including Trial 1, Trial 2 or full scores). DFA was chosen over methods such as logistic regression because of the small sample size. Models with three predictors would have been too sparse to detect statistical effect. The DFA data-analytical assumption have all been met.
Results Results were statistically significant for the omnibus-discriminant method. That is, the TOMM overall score of each participant in Trials 1&2 defined the DID status. The trial 1 results were classified as DID. The predictors were responsible for 59%. The TOMM Trial 1 score correctly classified 81 percent, and achieved the strongest utility scores. TOMM Trial 1 score was 78 per cent adaptive, 87 per cent general, 94% positive predictive, and 63% negative. TOMM Trial 2 also provided appropriate utility scores and classified 73% correctly. TOMM Trial 2 score had 64% sensitivity with 97% specificity. 98% positive value and 53% of negative value.
Discussion and conclusion DID is often misdiagnosed in clinical settings. Scientists will be able test more effectively for DID when they can distinguish between DID that is real and DID that is imagined. There are validated tools and literature to help diagnose malingered DID or clinical DID. It helps us better understand DID and how to diagnose it.
