The new psychological thriller Split puts us into the mind of someone with dissociative identity disorder (DID).
M. Night Shyamalan’s latest film stars James McAvoy who plays a violent kidnapper with 24 personalities. He abducts three girls and tortures them in an underground, windowless shelter. DID is the important factor of this movie because this is something that really happens to people in life. This disorder which is formerly referred to as Multiple Personality Disorder, is a condition wherein a person’s identity is fragmented into two or more personalities (alters) says Psychology Today. The site also states that sufferers of this rare condition are usually victims of severe abuse.
We do see this in the film, especially when McAvoy’s character has a flashback. In it, he's a child where his mom yells at him and threatens him with a wire hanger. However, someone with DID is not always bad or violent.
“The different personalities can vary drastically from one another; including being violent. There can also be different ages, genders, likes/dislikes,” Alicia Wagoner a Wright State Psychology professor said.
In the film, we see many different identities, or 'alters', to his character and they all seemed to know each other.
“The host is unaware of the alters, but the alters are aware of one another. They changed the name to DID, because not all of the alters are different people (personalities), some can be memories or animals,” Wagoner said.
There are twenty-four alters throughout the movie, and they range from a nine-year-old boy to a 50-year-old British woman.
It is possible for someone to have twenty-four personalities, but it is rare to have twenty-four different alters. About 50 percent of people with DID have ten alters, Wagoner said.
“Prevalence rate is between 0.1-1 percent in the general population. To put this in perspective, depression is about seven percent, anxiety is about 18 percent percent and schizophrenia is about one percent.”
Even though there is no cure for McAoy’s character, he does seek help from a therapist. However, the therapist is unsuccessful.
“Treatment is to try and unify the different alters. One theory for the development of DID is trauma and the alters are a way to deal with the trauma. Another theory is a highly suggestible client is led by a therapist asking leading questions.”
“Psychotherapy is going to be the best option. If there is trauma history, that needs to be addressed,” Wagoner said.
This movie is disturbing, but it is also very important for people to see and it will leave you thinking and feeling deeply.
Even though it may not capture what a person with DID is really like or going through, it still has elements that people will enjoy for the thrill.
