Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research, volume 631

Proceedings of the 2021 International Conference on Social Development and Media Communication (SDMC 2021)

Analysis of Dissociative Identity Disorder Presented in

Popular Movies and the Possible Impacts on Public
Stereotypes
Suqi Chen1,*
The Affiliated High School of Peking University, Beijing, China, 100086
*Corresponding author. Email: [email protected]

ABSTRACT
Dissociative identity disorder (DID) is often presented in movies with the impression of danger, and its patients
constantly acted as madness and crazy. With the rise of the internet, movies have become an essential communication
channel, exerting a significant impact on people’s understanding of the outside world. Thus, some scholars believe
that movies may negatively influence people’s impressions of DID since its figures have o ften been distorted.
However, they failed to analyze in a more up-to-date and rigorous setting. Therefore, this study examined the
connection between movies and DID, using questionnaires, movie analysis, and experiment in a more objective way.
The paper concludes that DID is portrayed in distorted and biased ways in popular movies, and it influences the
audiences to form and worsen the negative impressions toward DID and its patients, proving the expected hypothesis.
Specifically, through movie analysis, the study found that movies still dramatize and associate the DID characters
with violent behaviors, despite the movies give out some correct information in terms of the symptoms for DID.
Moreover, by looking at the differences between pre- and post-screening surveys, people’s impression of DID is
generally negative. The willingness to get in touch with DID patients has gone down after watching DID-related
movies. However, because the study only specifically examined nine participants in Dalton Academy, it is still a
crucial task to extend such related research in a greater context, including a more diverse and generalizable
population, further helping to understand and find ways to improve the social environment for DID patients and other
mental disorders.

Keywords: movie, media, mental disorder, dissociative identity disorder, stereotype

1. INTRODUCTION and practically significant since it builds a comparison

model for DID figures that appeared in movies with the
DID is a prolonged psychopathological state actual symptoms, identifying the stereotypes
commonly triggered by a traumatic event [1]. The surrounding it. Moreover, it conducts an experiment to
negative reinforcement of DID in the movies, as the understand how movies may impact the viewers'
commonly misunderstood mental disorder, may further perceptions in reality. These will help people realize the
mislead the public's beliefs and worsen DID patients' differences between the movie images and the actual
living conditions. Dissociative identity disorder (DID) conditions of DID, eliminates some public stereotypes
often appears in movies with prominent characteristics. and misconceptions.
However, the DID patients' images often connected with
violence. With the lack of accurate and objective 1.1. Dissociative Identity Disorder
knowledge of DID, these stereotypes might become a
stigma which may negatively influence the life of DID Diagnostic Criteria. According to the diagnostic
patients. criteria in DSM-5 [2], DID has the characteristics of: 1.
At least two distinct personalities exist. 2. Amnesia
This paper mainly studies what images presented in occurred recurrently in everyday events, personal
films about DID are stereotypes and how these stigmas information, or traumatic experiences. 3. Severe
impacted viewers. This research topic is theoretically distress or dysfunction due to the disorder in at least one

Copyright © 2022 The Authors. Published by Atlantis Press SARL.

This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC 4.0 license -http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/. 542
 Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research, volume 631

central living area must be present. 4. The disturbance 2. METHODOLOGY

does not belong to the regular religious or social
practices, such as imaginary friend for a child is not a 2.1. Research design
necessary indicator of DID. 5. The symptoms do not
result from the direct physiological effects of a The collection of primary data is mixed with the
medication. 6. There would be no significant “gains” quantitative and qualitative methods, including
from having the disorder or had no history of excessive questionnaires, movie analysis, and experiment. This
attention-seeking behavior. study expected to see movies distorted DID figures and
negatively promote public stereotypes.
Most studies state the prevalence of DID is between
0.1% to 0.2%, though some estimates as high as 3% to The study’s primary indicator is the DID chapter in
5% [3]. Impacts and Suicide Risks. According to DSM- the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental
5 [2], the impacts of DID vary widely. There are above Disorders 5th Edition (DSM-5), which gives detailed
70% of DID outpatients have attempted suicide. information about DID's diagnostic criteria.
Moreover, it is common to have multiple suicide
The questionnaire was designed and released to all
attempts or other self-injurious behaviors.
populations through WeChat, QQ, and Sina Weibo. All
participants would have to complete the same survey to
1.2. Film Industry determine the individual's prior knowledge on DID and
According to Kamal, El-Gabalawy, Zhao, & screen for any potential prejudices that might be held
MacLeod [4], the movie is an essential part of U.S. toward the mentally ill in general.
culture. In 2019, the domestic box office total exceeded The movie analysis will focus on the DID figures’
$11 billion. characteristics in the movies, Split and Shutter Island,
Movies that Depict Mental Illnesses. From the film which have been selected from credible movie rating
producers’ and consumers’ viewpoints, there is an websites, and compare with those listed in DSM-5. A
increasing interest in depicting mental illnesses in films qualitative method of pre-survey examines people's first
[4]. The average gross of films portraying mental impressions, understanding, and their opinions toward
disorders was generally more significant than the DID. This survey helps to set the foundation for the
average gross of all films each year. Furthermore, the further research.
average IMDB rating for this kind of film freed each In the experiment, the participants will be randomly
year was better than that for all movies. Therefore, some selected from Dalton Academy, the Affiliated High
are concerned that films created a negative association School of Peking University, in China. Then they will be
of mental illnesses since they may depict the images randomly assigned to two groups. Participants in group
incorrectly [4]. A will view a scene in the movie Split from 1:21:00 to
1:40:00. For group B, besides the same video clip, they
1.3. Stereotypes will also watch a video that includes an informative and
educative view of DID.
General Overview. Stereotypes refer to the
overgeneralization of beliefs about certain groups' After the experiment, a post-screening survey that
personalities, behaviors, and attributes [5]. attempts to measure the participants' overall perceptions
and understanding of DID will be assigned. The
Stereotypical Portrayals of Mental Illnesses in responses from pre-screening survey and the post-
Mass Media. Despite the broader perceptions toward screening survey will be compared to get more objective
the idea of DID, there was still almost twice as likely results about the changes in public opinions.
that people in 1996 related mental disorders with
violence [6]. Many used the descriptions of 2.2. Questionnaire Analysis
“dangerous”, “crazy”, “worthless”, and “insane” to
represent mental ills. It is reasonable to infer that people generally know a
Impacts. Mental illnesses’ stigma may prevent the little about DID since 56.86% of the participants are not
patients from seeking help. More significantly, the familiar with the concept of DID. Moreover, when
stereotypes worsen their living conditions. According to asking people’s ways of gaining information about DID,
Beachum [7], nearly 70% of participants indicated an the most mentioned way by the participants is the
unwillingness to get in touch with a person who had a internet, further convincing the significance of
mental illness. The stigmatization of mental health analyzing and researching how movies may influence
issues adds to the discrimination against the patients, public opinion.
further negatively influencing their self-perceptions. Furthermore, the most frequent mentioned words of
“horrible”, “pain”, and “dangerous” in the question of
asking the general impressions toward DID and the top

543
 Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research, volume 631

mentioned words of “insane”, “burst”, and “dangerous” (DSM-5). Moreover, in the movie, all personalities seem
in the question of asking their opinions toward DID to be sure of whom they are, exaggerating the chances
figures presented in the movies show that people of such circumstance. More apparently, the movie
generally hold a negative impression toward DID and its directly linked the DID patient with kidnap and
patients. murders, the illegal and violent actions. However,
according to Webermann and Brand [9], they found out
Then, in the question about participants’
that there is a low connection between the DID
understanding of the ways DID portray in the movies,
symptoms with criminal behavior, only “3% reported
only eight participants thought that the movies present
having been charged with an offense”. Therefore, the
DID positively, demonstrating that people generally
direct linking of criminal behaviors with the DID patient
believe that movies portray DID in a biased way. When
significantly produces a biased connection to the
specific portrayals were asked, the most mentioned
audiences.
word is “plot” in the participants' responses. For the
word “plot”, the participants' answered that DID The authenticity of patients, where Kevin formed a
presents such a picture mainly due to the need for new personality of the beast, is also distorted in the
dramatic twists and disturbances in the movies, further movie. The immediate changes of the body's physical
demonstrating the negative association that appeared in capabilities, the increase of muscles and the size of the
the movies. body, are the most biased part of the movie. The primary
purpose of building such a character may be that the
Overall, through the responses in the questionnaire,
directors want to add the intense effect of the movie to a
it is reasonable to infer that the public generally holds
new level, deepening the despair of the girls.
little knowledge toward DID and has a negative
understanding of DID and its images which showed in Therefore, the movie Split presents some accurate
the movie. information about DID, yet the public image of DID
present in the movie is distorted into a criminal and an
2.3. Movie Analysis abnormal person with supernatural power. It may further
encourage the audiences to form a negative association
Split and Shutter Island will be examined between DID and violent behaviors.
since Split is the most mentioned movie by the
participants from the questionnaire, and Shutter Island is 2.3.2. Shutter Island
the top movie on both the rankings
from IMDB and Douban by typing the keyword Shutter Island was filmed in 2010, introduced as
“dissociative identity disorder”. “during 1954, a U.S marshal investigated a killer who
had escaped from a hospital” [10]. It was categorized as
2.3.1 Split a horror and mysterious film.
Split was filmed in 2016 and is about “three girls are
kidnapped by a man with a diagnosed 23 distinct Resonating with DSM-5, Andrew showed two
personalities. They must try to escape before the distinctly different personalities in his body. Specifically,
apparent emergence of a frightful new 24th” [8]. It is Andrew had a severe post-traumatic stress disorder of
categorized as a thriller and horror film. war (PTSD), resonating with the comorbidity possibility
of DID. However, he did not receive any treatment and
Even though Kevin has 24 personalities, only some failed to properly fulfill his family responsibilities,
of the characters are introduced to the audiences with which led to his wife’s mental disorder and killed their
apparent interactions with other characters. For example, three children. Andrew collapsed after discovering
Dennis, who kidnapped the girls and trapped them into children’s bodies and killed his wife. Unwilling to face
the basement of a zoo, is a pervert with obsessive- the cruel reality, Andrew produced another righteous
compulsive disorder. Resonating with the DSM-5, personality of Teddy.
Kevin showed at least two distinct personalities in his
body, from Dennis to Hedwig and over a dozen others. Even though the description for Andrew fits with
Each character has his or her unique personalities, some symptoms presented in DSM-5, Shutter Island is
experiences, and memories. They are acknowledged still present DID patients exaggeratedly. First of all,
about other personalities’ existences and able to Teddy’s amnesia is not a usual type: Whenever he
communicate with each other. finally realized his real identity, he will begin another
loop of forgetting his real-self. Moreover, the film
Even though the characters resonate with some of stressed “dangerous and violent” impressions with
the DID symptoms, the movie failed to reveal other mental illness patients throughout the film since the
essential characteristics, and it distorted and exaggerated setting was at an island with prisoners who were
the symptoms of DID. First of all, Kevin seems to be mentally ill, which gives the viewers an impression of
able to function normally in his daily life "without DID patients as being violent.
severe distress or dysfunction due to the disorder”

544
 Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research, volume 631

Overall speaking, Shutter Island presented some making the information not objective enough.
accurate information about DID. But in the movie, the Additionally, the limited amount of time makes the
impressions of DID patients were frequently related research only includes the analysis of two DID movies.
with violence and danger, which creates a misleading However, film styles vary from director to director, and
association. a high degree of generality cannot be reached without a
comprehensive study of the genre of DID. Furthermore,
2.4. Experiment only nine participants from Dalton Academy agreed to
participate in the research. The limited participants
For group A, despite no participant believe that the make the result unable to generalize to the whole
movie conveys accurate information about DID and its population. Also, the time limit makes the screening
patients, stating the movies exaggerating the reality and survey only contain one clip from one movie, which is
the physical capabilities of a human being, the number not representative of all movies with DID.
of participants who have negative impressions toward
DID goes up after they watched the movie from 0% to 4. CONCLUSION
40%. Moreover, the willingness to get in touch with the
DID patients had decreased from 80% to 60%. For Ultimately, the paper concludes that DID is
group B, the participants generally believe that the portrayed in biased ways in popular movies, and it
movie distorted the figure of DID, accounting for 70% influences the audiences to form the negative
of the overall population. However, the participants still impressions toward DID and its patients, proving the
believe the images presented in the movie are expected hypothesis. Specifically, through movie
correspond with what they believe a DID patient should analysis, the study found that movies dramatize and
be and the number of participants who are willing to get associate the DID characters with violent behaviors,
in touch with the DID patients had decreased from 75% despite the movies give out some correct information in
to 25%. Furthermore, even though the participants think terms of the symptoms. Moreover, by looking at the
that the educational video shows the accurate side for differences between pre- and post-screening surveys,
DID and its patients, there are still 75% participants who people’s impression of DID is generally negative. The
are not willing to get in touch with them, which willingness to get in touch with DID patients has gone
demonstrate that the educational videos are less down after watching DID-related movies. However,
influential than the movies. because the limited samples, it is still a crucial task to
extend such related research in a much greater and more
In conclusion, even though the participants
rigorous context to further help to eliminate the
understand there are stigma and stereotypes exit in the
stereotypes that DID patients have to face.
movie, they still have a negative impression toward DID
mainly due to the lack of channels of understanding this
mental disorder in an much more influential way as the
AUTHORS’ CONTRIBUTIONS
movie did to them. This paper is independently completed by Suqi
Chen.
3. DISCUSSION
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The research concludes that the popular DID-related
movies promote negative association and stereotypes for I would like to take this opportunity to express my
DID through using questionnaire, movie analysis, and great gratitude to Mr. Vaughan for his constructive
the comparisons of the participants’ responses before advice and encouragement during the research. His
and after watching the DID-related movies’ clips. This suggestions were of immense help as well as motivation
research provides a more up-to-date investigation on the throughout the semesters. Lastly, thanks to all
association since it focused on the movies that have participants for their willingness to participate in the
been most mentioned by the participants and occupied research. This research could not be done without their
the top recent ranking among two popular websites in cooperation.
2021. Moreover, this study provides more objective and
reliable results using experimental techniques, such as REFERENCES
random selection and random assignment.
[1] Ashraf, A., Krishnan, R., Wudneh, E., Acharya, A.,
However, limitations still exist. Firstly, since the & Tohid, Hassaan. Dissociative Identity Disorder:
questionnaire was released on Wechat, QQ, and Sina
A Pathophysiological Phenomenon. Journal of Cell
Weibo, the primary participants are teenagers on those
Science and Therapy. 2016, 7. 251. 10.4172/2157-
platforms, others’ opinions were ignored and weakened
7013.1000251.
in the research, making the result unable to generalize
into a wider population group. Also, participants may
respond in a biased way because of the response bias,

545
 Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research, volume 631

[2] American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and feared? Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 41,
statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.), 2013. 188-207.
https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.books.9780890425596
[7] Beachum, L. The Psychopathology of Cinema: How
[3] DID Research. Prevalence, 2016. Retrieved from: Mental Illness and Psychotherapy are Portrayed in
https://did-research.org/did/basics/prevalence Film. Honors Projects. 56, 2010.
[4] Kamal, S., El-Gabalawy, O., Zhao, N., & MacLeod, [8] IMDB (2016). Split (2016) - IMDB. Retrieved from:
J. Depiction of Mental Illness in Film and https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4972582/
Association with Financial and Critical Success,
[9] Webermann, A. R. & Brand, B. L. Mental illness
2020. Doi:
and violent behavior: the role of dissociation.
https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.10.20.20215707
Webermann and Brand Borderline Personality
[5] Nittle, N. K. What Is a Stereotype? 2020. Retrieved Disorder and Emotion Dysregulation 2017, 4:2.
from: https://www.thoughtco.com/what-is-the- DOI 10.1186/s40479-017-0053-9.
meaning-of-stereotype-2834956
[10] IMDB(2010). Shutter Island (2010) - IMDB.
[6] Phelan, J., Link, B., Stueve, A., & Pescosolido, B. , Retrieved from: https://www.imdb.cn/title/
2000. Public conceptions of mental illness in 1950 tt1130884/
and 1996: What is mental illness and is it to be

546