Am J Psychiatry 1987; 144:19-24
Copyright © 1987 by American Psychiatric Association
Experiential sampling in the study of multiple personality disorder
RJ Loewenstein, J Hamilton, S Alagna, N Reid and M deVries
The authors describe the application of experiential sampling, a new
time-sampling method, to the assessment of rapid state changes in a woman
with multiple personality disorder. She was signaled at random intervals
during study periods and asked to provide information on alternate
personality switches, amnesia, and mood state. The alternates displayed
some characteristics that were as different as those occurring between
separate individuals studied previously with this method. There were
notable discrepancies between the self-report study data and information
reported during therapy hours. The authors conclude that the phenomenology
of multiple personality disorder is frequently more complex than is
suspected early in the course of treatment.
