Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, 2022, Philosophy, Applied

This dissertation asserts we have prima facie reason to believe that at least sometimes, two or more moral persons can share a single brain and body. Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID), formerly known as Multiple Personality Disorder, is a disintegration of memory, consciousness, and experience. This gives the impression of multiple personalities who alternate control of the body, only to eventually change to another personality who often has no memory of the events that transpired, or even any other personalities supposedly sharing the body. While many philosophers agree that a body can house only one person with moral rights and duties, DID cases challenge this assumption. Derek Parfit believes that to be a person is to be a continuity of causally connected mental states, including memories, intentions, experiences, and personality traits. If an alternate personality qualifies as a person, then, there exist cases in which two or more persons can share a single brain and body. Some real-life cases, then, should also be considered as examples of multiple personhood. Given that we have prima facie reason to believe some alternate personalities (“alters”) are persons, some alters may then have a right to life. Treating DID with reintegration therapy involves something like killing an alter. As such, reintegration therapy is only sometimes morally permissible, due to the asymmetric claims to the body between the original personality and an alter.

Committee: Sara Worley Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Lisa Handyside Ph.D. (Other); Christian Coons Ph.D. (Committee Member); Michael Weber Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Ethics; Metaphysics; Philosophy; Psychology

Doctor of Philosophy, Miami University, 2009, Psychology

This case study examined the psychological changes shown by Kristen, a female client diagnosed with Dissociative Identity Disorder, across four years of psychotherapy. A team of eight (six coinvestigators, myself as the primary investigator and former therapist, as well as my dissertation advisor) tracked Kristen and her alters' shift in experience from internal fragmentation at therapy intake to dramatically increased communication among her alters at termination. This change process included the gradual reduction of Kristen's internal amnesic barriers as she actively engaged in therapy. Her experience of “pulling one brick out at a time” was examined using the assimilation model, a theory of psychological change. We analyzed therapy notes, psychological reports, audio-tapes, video-tapes, transcribed therapy sessions, client-produced emails, drawings, and letters to further an understanding as to how change occurs in therapy for those who experience fragmentation. This was a theory-building study, informing the assimilation model as well as evaluating its account of Kristen's extreme experiences of internal multiplicity.

Committee: Willam B. Stiles PhD (Committee Chair); Roger M. Knudson PhD (Committee Member); Larry M. Leitner PhD (Committee Member); Paul V. Anderson PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Psychology; Psychotherapy

Master of Arts, Miami University, 2005, Psychology

As a child, Kristen constructed a complex, imaginal world. As an adult, she continued to struggle with a fragmented sense of self and was diagnosed with Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID). Although written about extensively, our understandings of DID have been limited by a lack of theoretically diverse conceptualizations. In this paper, in addition to a discussion of the DID diagnosis, the therapist's theoretical influences, and the clinical case study, Kristen's dissociative experiences will be used to elaborate one non-reductionistic understanding of DID, Experiential Personal Construct Psychology (EPCP). Kristen's results on the Dissociative Experiences Scale (DES), Sentence Completion, House Tree Person, Robert's Apperception Test for Children, sand tray work, and the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-Adolescence (MMPI-A) will be discussed. An elicitation of construct pictures and the Diagnostic Axes of Human Meaning Making will also be presented in support of EPCP as an alternative lens for viewing dissociative experiences.

Committee: Larry Leitner (Advisor) Subjects: Psychology, Clinical