What does the Bible say about dissociative identity disorder?
The Bible does not specifically address dissociative identity disorder (DID), formerly known as
multiple personality disorder (MPD). These are medical terms for a very rare dissociative
disorder characterized by a severe lack of connection in a person’s thoughts, memories, feelings,
actions, or sense of identity. The result is that various distinct identities or personalities emerge
one at a time to control the victim’s behavior. The disorder was renamed from multiple
personality disorder to dissociative identity disorder in 1994 and is now thought to be more of a
fragmentation of identity than a proliferation of separate personalities.
According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, dissociative disorders such as DID “most
often form in children exposed to long-term physical, sexual or emotional abuse”. Modern
research indicates that dissociative identity disorder is likely caused by a person’s response to
repeated, strong interpersonal and environmental stress, especially when that stress comes during
the early developmental years of childhood.
The appearance of multiple “personalities” is common in dissociative identity disorder. “Each
identity may have a unique name, personal history and characteristics, including obvious
differences in voice, gender, mannerisms and even such physical qualities as the need for
eyeglasses. There also are differences in how familiar each identity is with the others”. Some
who suffer from DID report feeling they are “possessed” when one of their identities takes
control. They might even experience themselves in a sort of out-of-body state. It’s this
characteristic of DID, along with the tendency to self-harm, that causes some people to see a link
between DID and what the Bible calls demon possession.
Demon possession is not something Western culture today typically addresses except indirectly
through horror movies. We tend to provide medical evaluations and look for scientific
explanations for all disorders. Sometimes this is helpful, and we should pursue medical
treatments in every case, but we should also address the possible spiritual root of mental health
problems.
The Gospels and the book of Acts talk of people having “evil spirits” and “demons,” with Jesus……………….