Faking Dissociative Identity Disorder?
Recently a reader asked how to get over the feeling that her sister is faking dissociative identity disorder. If you doubt your friend or family member's diagnosis, I think it's important to identify why you're skeptical. What in particular has you questioning it? Write it down, and be specific. Now find out everything you can about each of those nagging suspicions. I'm willing to bet a healthy majority of them are based on common misconceptions about dissociative identity disorder. Of course, that doesn't necessarily mean you're wrong. Sometimes people who say they have DID don't have it at all. That could be because they're pretending for some perceived gain, e.g. sympathy. But I believe the discrepancy is more likely due to misdiagnosis and genuine confusion.
Faking Dissociative Identity Disorder Online
A few years ago I was in a chat room frequented by people with dissociative identity disorder when a regular visitor entered and made a dramatic announcement. She'd been driving a familiar route and arrived at her destination with no memory of the trip. She said she had DID, but was alarmed about highway hypnosis, a mild form of dissociative amnesia. Either she was newly diagnosed and still wrestling to understand herself and her life in this new context, or she didn't have DID at all.
Was she faking dissociative identity disorder? I don't know. I encountered her many times when I was visiting that chat room and got the overall impression that she - and some other regulars - didn't really have DID. But purposeful manipulation isn't necessarily the explanation. If she didn't have DID, my guess is she genuinely believed she did.
A Misdiagnosis of Dissociative Identity Disorder Isn't Faking
Therapists make mistakes. And unfortunately there are still clinicians who are fascinated with DID, but don't recognize their own lack of necessary education or experience with it. Take someone with PTSD or some other dissociative disorder 
who's desperate for answers, send them to one of these overconfident therapists with little to no experience diagnosing and treating DID, and you might very well end up with someone who believes she has the disorder even though she doesn't. That isn't faking dissociative identity disorder. That's a misdiagnosis, plain and simple.
Don't Assume Anyone Is Faking Dissociative Identity Disorder
Ask yourself how you know what you know about DID. If a movie, television show, or bestseller is one of your top three sources of information, you're in no position to judge whether anyone has dissociative identity disorder or not. Psychology Major, you say? No, you don't know nearly enough about DID to determine the legitimacy of someone's diagnosis. Ultimately no one but a skilled clinician with experience diagnosing and treating DID can make that call.
If a friend or family member tells you they've been diagnosed with dissociative identity disorder, give their doctor the benefit of the doubt. If you have reservations, that's understandable. Ask questions and do your own research. But don't just assume they're faking dissociative identity disorder. You're more likely to be wrong, I think, than right.
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APA Reference
Gray, H.
(2010, December 30). Faking Dissociative Identity Disorder?, HealthyPlace. Retrieved
on 2024, April 27 from https://www.healthyplace.com/blogs/dissociativeliving/2010/12/faking-dissociative-identity-disorder
Author: Holly Gray
Just as way of introduction, I'm an NB 17 year old, and I'm kinda scared. I honestly can't tell what I have but I have symptoms of DP/DR and either DID or OSDD and it's somewhat terrifying. I'm constantly terrified that I'm faking the symptoms, and it's been a struggle. If I had to go as far as list my concept of how many fragments there are I'd say there's probably about 6 including myself? I have past sexual trauma and homophobic trauma from as early as about 9 and I've had ongoing issues for years. I recently found old notes from years ago with the same names that are popping up now and I don't remember ever writing them. I also have a tendency to develop memory gs during anxiety attacks and find writing in a different but somewhat similar handwriting in my notebook. Actually, it's more than one set of handwriting. I know sometimes I just shut off and go into autopilot when I'm having one of my really bad anxiety attacks and continue semi-functionally but kinda in the back of my brain. I wouldn't exactly describe it as switching, more as channeling? But it's worrying and I've talked to my counselor about it several times. The reason I'm here is because another kid at my school who has been getting accused of faking the disorder... (who, I might add, based on literally all the research I've done in the past year, seems to exhibit clear symptoms of DID) When people nowadays ask me about the switches that they notice I usually just say that I don't have a diagnosis but that it seems similar to OSDD- Idk where exactly I was going with this but I'm really scared that I'm just faking it all subconsciously-
I’m actually currently going through a like, anxiety/panic attack as we speak because of who knows but I instantly got this weird, fuzzy and out of body feeling. I keep saying out loud ‘I’m real-‘ as in I wasn’t real before. Which is weird in total. I’m also NB ironically and I’ve been having symptoms of DID and/or some sort of disassociation and I’ve been thinking I’m faking it. Somehow you things are so similar to mine it’s insane. I found notes and things of ME talking to MYSELF but it was like ‘haha when you read this later you’re going to freak out.’ And ‘yes, that persons annoying’ then it would go back to ‘I know right, why do they do that’ and this was in sixth grade. I’m not fortunate enough of having a counselor or therapist and I’m positive I need one though. I just wanted to reply kinda to make myself feel better but also to kinda seek some sort of answer. I’ve disassociated at least 3+ times in a span of three weeks which is making me uneasy, each time I act different, feel different, and am watching myself do school/work. It’s sometimes like I’m driving a car but I’m being told what to do and where to go, other times it’s like I’m the passenger of the car while watching someone else drive. I’ve been having horrible anxiety due to me constantly thinking ‘I’m faking it. I’m freaking faking it!’ Because I’ve always had a sort of over lapped way of thinking, obviously me thinking it’s normal but then it’s gotten to the point where the other thoughts are sometimes ‘thinking’ when I am not or arguing with me. My mom always tells me to stop faking things even when I’m not, so this could be where the mindset came from, but it’s gotten to the point it’s becoming unbearable. I’ve never fully blacked out but like you said, I go on autopilot. I’m actually so confused how I’m currently even replying, but luckily it’s distracting me enough to not be in the state of mind I was in. I could have DID, I really could, but I’m constantly questioning myself and I never want to self diagnose. I’ve had emotional, mental, and physical trauma at a young age that could be the cause, I’ve experienced and heard things no child should hear, and I have been having amnesia of my childhood. The trauma I remember is hazy but just enough that I know it and my childhood is weird and there are things I don’t remember happening at all. I’m in the same boat as you except when I think I fake it I’m also thinking ‘I’m doing this for attention (smth my mom tells me) and that I’m just lonely and want to feel special, I’m faking it, I have to be.’ I just want answers to what’s happening to me and why I’ve had so many random thoughts, worrying ones at that. I recently saw this video on this guy saying ‘when you think you’re faking something, you most likely aren’t. I promise, I really wish I knew this as a kid.’ And even though I know this, it doesn’t help tbh. I know I’m just rambling but I have no trustworthy friends or friends I’m comfortable telling, so I’m basically all alone in this. I also compare my problems/things/symptoms to others so much it’s horrible. I truly hope it gets better for you and me. I know I’m not faking it but then again, I’m always going to question myself. Good luck to you and even your alters if you have them!
So I have recently found out that not one, but two of my friends are claiming to have DID. One of them I know has gone through some trauma as a child, so I want to believe them, but I am still iffy. The other has experience because their aunt works in psychology, so they might just think they have it. I don't want to assume anything, and I'm not saying they're lying, but I just don't know what to do. They're getting in trouble at school and they're blaming their "alters" and other people. One of my friends' alters gave his girlfriend a hickey, and instead of owning up to it when they got in trouble, they said "it wasn't me, it was some other guy. I feel really bad for my friend because she got in trouble, but the guy honestly just threw her under the bus. Also, my parents found out about my friends, and when they took my phone away, my other friend texted me saying "why are you trying to drag me into your drama? I don't have DID, you do." Anyway, just wanted to see if anyone could give me some advice, thank you.
Curious of how you feel about the situation now or what has changed.
I can't say for sure if they're faking or if they truly believe they have DID, but they do not have DID. It's become a social media trend lately and younger people are especially susceptible to it. I would suggest professional help for them both.