Editing Dissociative identity disorder (section)

==Definitions==
[[dissociation (psychology)|Dissociation]], the term that underlies [[dissociative disorder]], has been defined as a "compartmentalization of psychological functions such as identity and memory that are usually integrated",<ref name=boysen2024/><ref name="Nijenhuis-2011">{{Cite journal |last1=Nijenhuis |first1=Ellert R. S. |last2=van der Hart |first2=Onno |date=2011-07-01 |title=Dissociation in Trauma: A New Definition and Comparison with Previous Formulations |journal=Journal of Trauma & Dissociation |volume=12 |issue=4 |pages=416–445 |doi=10.1080/15299732.2011.570592 |issn=1529-9732 |pmid=21667387|s2cid=6870369 |doi-access=free }}</ref> with a resulting symptomatic criteria characterized by "unbidden intrusions into awareness and behavior, with accompanying losses of continuity in subjective experience" and/or "inability to access information or control mental functions".<ref name=DSM5 /> Critics have argued that the term lacks a precise, empirical, and generally agreed upon definition,<ref name = Hersen2012>{{cite book |author1=Lynn, S.J. |author2=Berg, J. |author3=Lilienfeld, S.O. |author4=Merckelbach, H. |author5=Giesbrecht, T. |author6=Accardi, M. |author7= Cleere, C.  |year=2012 |chapter=Chapter14 - Dissociative disorders |editor=Hersen, M. |editor2=Beidel, D.C. |title=Adult Psychopathology and Diagnosis |publisher=[[John Wiley & Sons]] |isbn=978-1-118-13882-3 |pages=497–538 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FeDHhTVZ5yMC&pg=PA497}}</ref> proposing to define it instead as an impairment in "meta-consciousness".<ref name=lynn2022/>

Many diverse experiences have been termed dissociative, ranging from normal failures in attention to the breakdowns in memory processes characterized by the dissociative disorders.<ref name="Nijenhuis-2011" /><ref name="Wiley-2008">{{Cite book |title=Psychosis, trauma, and dissociation emerging perspectives on severe psychopathology |date=2008 |publisher=Wiley |editor=Andrew Moskowitz |editor2=Ingo Schäfer |editor3=Martin J. Dorahy |isbn=978-1-119-96522-0 |location=Chichester, West Sussex, England |oclc=1162597423}}</ref>{{rp|style=ama|p=|pages=19–21}} It is therefore unknown whether there is a commonality among all dissociative experiences, or whether the range of mild to severe symptoms is a result of different etiologies and biological structures.<ref name=Hersen2012/> Other terms used in the literature, including [[personality]], personality state, [[Identity (social science)|identity]], ego state, and [[amnesia]], also lack agreed upon definitions.<ref name=Kihlstrom/><ref name=pmid15560314/> Multiple competing models exist that incorporate some non-dissociative symptoms while excluding dissociative ones.<ref name=Kihlstrom/>

Due to the lack of consensus about terminology in the study of DID, several terms have been proposed. One is ''[[Alter ego|ego state]]'' (behaviors and experiences possessing permeable boundaries with other such states but united by a common sense of self). Another is ''[[Alter ego|alters]]'' (each of which may have a separate [[autobiographical memory]], independent initiative and a sense of ownership over individual behavior).<ref name = Gillig/><ref name="Rieger">{{cite book |last1=Rieger |first1=Elizabeth |title=Abnormal Psychology |date=2017 |publisher=McGraw-Hill Education Australia |isbn=978-1-74376-663-7 }}{{page needed|date=April 2023}}</ref>