Actress Shares Her Multiple Personality Disorder Diagnosis

  “You’ll see me just show up with a black wig and a new personality. I was this tough little baddy, and then I’d be the Bohemian flower child.” That’s how actress AnnaLynne McCord, perhaps best known for her work on Nip/Tuck and 90210, described her history with multiple personality disorder in a session with Daniel Amen, MD, a psychiatrist, neuroscientist, and founder of Amen Clinics.   In an effort to destigmatize mental health problems, AnnaLynne agreed to let her session with Dr. Amen be filmed and talked candidly about having a split personality, which is currently referred to as dissociative identity disorder.

COMMON SYMPTOMS OF DISSOCIATIVE IDENTITY DISORDER (DID)

In her session with Dr. Amen, AnnaLynne openly talked about her experiences with multiple personalities, including gaps in her memory, which is one of the most common dissociative identity disorder symptoms. In general, common symptoms of dissociative identity disorder include:

• Gaps in autobiographical memory (everyday events and past traumatic events)
• Inability to recall certain personal information
• The existence of two or more distinct identities (know as “splits,” “alters,” or “personality states”)
• Headaches
• Loss of time
• Trances
• Out-of-body experiences

The distinct identities may have different names, temperaments, and self-image. These distressing symptoms tend to cause problems in other areas of life, including in relationships and at work or school. AnnaLynne had been diagnosed with DID prior to her visit to Amen Clinics. She thinks that being an actress played a role in her ability to split. “All of my roles were splits, but I didn’t even realize I was doing it at all until I did a project 90210,” she says of the show she was on for 5 years. For that role, she played a popular high schooler. During a hiatus from the series, she acted in an independent film call Excision, where she played a very different character. “I played a very cerebral, disturbed, strange little girl that was very close to who I feel I am on the inside. It was very exposing, very confronting, probably a bit retraumatizing without realizing it,” she says. “The crazy thing about it was that I wrapped that film at 2 AM on a Tuesday and had to be happy, crazy Beverly Hills blonde bombshell on Wednesday at noon. I couldn’t find her, she was not accessible. I was dark, I was very deep into this character Pauline and I couldn’t get [out].” For many people who struggle with dissociative identity disorder, they remain unaware of their alters or splits. Not so for AnnaLynne. She recalls times when she was “co-conscious” of her true self and the split she was at age 13 that she calls “little Anna.” “She was a balls to the wall, middle fingers to the sky, anarchist from hell who will stab you with the spike ring that she wears, and you’ll like it. Then she’ll make you lick the blood from it,” she says. “She was a nasty little creature, but I have so much gratitude to her because she got me out of the hell that I was in.” That hell was childhood sexual trauma.

WHAT CAUSES DISSOCIATIVE IDENTITY DISORDER?

Prolonged childhood trauma—physical, emotional, or sexual abuse—is believed to be the primary cause of dissociative identity disorder. Childhood sexual abuse is commonly seen in people with a dissociative identity disorder. In a Canadian study on 102 cases of multiple personality disorder, researchers found that 90% of the individuals had been sexually abused as children, 84% had been physically abused, and 95% had been subjected to one or both forms of abuse. Over half of those abused said their initial sexual or physical trauma started prior to the age of 5. Prolonged childhood trauma—physical, emotional, or sexual abuse—is believed to be the primary cause of dissociative identity disorder (aka multiple personality disorder).

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AnnaLynne has said publicly that being raped at age 18 triggered memories of child sexual abuse. “I don’t have anything until around 5. Then from 5 to 11, I recount incidents throughout,” she says. “Then when I was 13, I have a singled-out memory that was one thing, but I don’t have the sense of anything else at that time.”

MULTIPLE PERSONALITIES AND THE BRAIN

According to Dr. Amen, the brain is the key to the development of dissociative identity disorder. Low blood flow to the front part of the brain, which AnnaLynne’s brain SPECT scan revealed, is involved. The frontal lobes are the brain’s brake. When activity is low in this region and you’ve had intense childhood sexual trauma, people may split as a way to manage it. Head trauma can also be a contributing factor. AnnaLynne experienced a couple of car accidents that caused whiplash. As Dr. Amen has explained to tens of thousands of patients at Amen Clinics, head trauma is one of the primary causes of mental illness, but few people know it because traditional psychiatry doesn’t look at the brain. Functional brain SPECT imaging changes that. AnnaLynne’s SPECT scan showed low activity in the back of her brain too, which is commonly seen in people who have experienced whiplash. Healing the brain with natural therapies, such as hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT), nutraceuticals, and a brain healthy diet can help.

OVERCOMING STIGMA RELATED TO MULTIPLE PERSONALITY DISORDER

There are many myths about multiple personality disorders, which increase stigma and prevent people with this misunderstood mental health issue from seeking treatment. AnnaLynne is determined to change that. “I am absolutely uninterested in shame,” she says. “There is nothing about my journey that I invite shame into anymore, and that’s how we get to the point where we can articulate the nature of these pervasive traumas and stuff, as horrible as they are.” By sharing her session with Dr. Amen, she is hoping to increase awareness about dissociative disorder and childhood sexual trauma so other people don’t need to suffer in silence. Dissociative identity disorder, childhood sexual trauma, and other mental health issues can’t wait. During these uncertain times, your mental well-being is more important than ever and waiting until life gets back to “normal” is likely to make your symptoms worsen over time. At Amen Clinics, we’re here for you. We offer in-clinic brain scanning and appointments, as well as mental telehealth, remote clinical evaluations, and video therapy for adults, children, and couples. Find out more by speaking to a specialist today at 888-288-9834 or visit our contact page here.