Thigpen and Cleckley (1954) A Case of Multiple Personality

Background

Multiple Personality Disorder (MPD) is a dissociative disorder in which two or more distinct personalities coexist within one and the same individual. It is a neurotic disorder.

It is not a form of schizophrenia – type of psychotic disorder where contact with reality and insight are impaired. Other symptoms are hallucinations and delusions.

Aim

To give an account of the psychotherapeutic experience of an individual who was considered to have multiple personalities.

Method

Sample:

• 25-year-old married mother with a 4-year-old daughter – Eve White
• Employed as a phone operator.
• Referred to Thigpen for therapy for severe and blinding headaches – experiencing blackouts after migraine.

Design and procedure:

Case study – 14 months and gathered around 100h of interviews. Some under hypnosis to draw out different personalities.

Background information obtained through interviews with family members and husband.

Quantitative measures taken Eve White and Eve Black – IQ and memory psychometric tests.

Underwent two projection tests – drawing human figures, interpreting Rorschach ink blocks.

When third personality “Jane” appeared – all personalities under EEG.

Results:

Eve White (EW)

• Therapists reported slight progress on EW’s symptoms after discussing emotional problems – thought to be suffering from personal frustrations and difficulties with separated husband.
• Not able to recall recent trip she made – hypnosis used to restore memory
• Letter received from EW – written in her handwriting except last paragraph.

       First indication that something was unusual.

• Next session, she denied sending the letter – distressed and agitated
• Asked if hearing a voice would indicated she was “insane”.
• Her manner changed and turned into EB.
• IQ was 110, excellent memory.

Eve Black (EB)

• Appeared mischievous, light-hearted and playful during interview.
• Existed independently since EW childhood. Different views but had access to EW life when she was absent.
• She had little sympathy for EW – missed and loved daughter who she was separated with – EB was not concerned of suffering. Denied daughter.
• Attempts to call out both personalities were unsuccessful and disturbing to EW.
• Wood story – EW run in forbidden woods when EB took over her. Parents whipped her when she came back, EW did not understand why.
• Shopping incident – EW spent a large sum of money when EB took over. Husband abused her for being so careless and indulgent. EW was very apologetic about incident.
• Characteristics – drinking in excess, hooking up with strange men and committing to prior secret marriage.
• IQ of 104, poor memory.

Jane

• Session when headaches restarted, EW discussing painful childhood memory – dropped her head back and closed eyes.
• New personality came out – Jane – and was very distinct from EW and EB.
• She was aware of the behaviour of both personalities but could not access their memory prior to emergence.

EGG results:

33 minutes of recording – 5 minutes’ intervals between personality and transitions between individual.

Tests	EW	EB	Jane
IQ	110	104	Not done
Memory test	superior	inferior	Not done
EEG	11 per second (normal)	12.5 per second (psycho-phatic?)	11 per second
Drawing of human figures	Healthier than EB, some anxiety, OCD traits, rigid and hostile	Less healthy than EW Hysterical tendencies	No test
Personality(Rorschach)	Repressive, anxious, unable to deal with hostility	Regressive, Hysterical, far healthier than EW	No test

Conclusion:

Despite the debate over the existence of MPD, Thigpen and Cleckley concluded that they had not been tricked by a skilful actress but had observed the existence of three distinct personalities in one individual.

They argue that what they witnessed was genuine because the length of time they spent with EW, EB and Jane meant that at some mistakes or inconsistencies would have been noticed.

Strengths:

• Case study method: it gathered a lot of in-depth rich qualitative data, like interviews and hypnosis. This makes sure that we gain a holistic view of the phenomenon and reveals the origins of abnormal behaviour. Only focused on one person, therefore the researchers are likely to form a bond – increasing validity of data as participants will act more natural.

• High ecological validity: a real-life patient was studied using real life methods for therapy. Therefore, the findings are more likely to be generalizable to real life situations.
• Quantitative and qualitative data: the results from the psychometric tests and EGG can be easily analysed and allows for a simple comparison between the personalities.Data obtained by interviews, hypnosis and projective tests provide in-depth data giving insight of the personalities.Independent experts – family members – increases reliability and reduces observer bias.

Weaknesses:

• Low generalizability: the results and conclusions cannot generalise to the populations due to single cases, such as EW, being too small and unrepresentative. There is no way of assessing how typical the behaviour is to people with MPD – it might be a unique case.
• Close bond: since the case study was based on one person only. The researchers may have formed a close relationship with the participants, which may introduce bias. This is because the researchers wanted to find differences between the personalities.
• Subjectivity: The interviews and projective tests required interpretation from the therapists. This may have been subjective since everyone has different views. Also, they may have only reported data that confirmed what they believed in.