Therapeutic Challenges in the Diagnosis and Treatment of Clients with Identity Confusion

Abstract
Purpose
In the last few years, the number of clinical cases who are firmly holding on to diagnostic labels to explain their discomfort to others, has greatly increased. Many of the cases who introduce themselves as Mutiple Personality Disorder or DID and show florid clinical pictures are teenagers who have had problems fitting in with a group during puberty-adolescence. Clinicians are presenting cases for consultation that are extremelly challenging to understand and address.

Findings
When one's own identity does not feel enough to be liked by others, it generates an internal conflict that can lead to the search for one's own imitated or created aspects that may help to be seen, liked, accepted, or valued by others. It has also been observed that the excess of information found in social media can increase the sense of confusion in those cases who already have issues with identity. Most of these young people may come to believe that they have a DD or DID diagnosis.

Goals
Presentations of people with DID and those with identity confusion who believe they have DID can be markedly different. Learning how to differentiate them will be very important, given that if we do not intervene in due time, the construct that they end up developing can become chronic, making them losing opportunities in therapy and in life.

Methods for Teaching
Clinical case examples and videos will be shown to illustrate diagnostic differences, choice points and how to adapt treatment to the various presentations.The presenter selected clinical cases that present a challenge both in diagnosis and treatment. Cases will be described clinically, presenting symptoms and difficulties, goals, challenges in diagnosis and treatment.

Conclussions
Distinguishing true DID cases from identity confusion makes a huge difference regarding treatment efficacy and prognosis avoiding chronic presentations from developing.