Somatic symptoms in multiple personality disorder.

A structured interview, the Dissociative Disorders Interview Schedule, was administered to 20 patients with multiple personality disorder, 20 with panic disorder, 20 with eating disorders, and 20 with schizophrenia. The frequencies of somatization disorder and of individual somatic symptoms in the four groups were compared. The multiple-personality patients reported more somatic symptoms than the other groups. Of the 20 multiple-personality patients, seven met the criteria for somatization disorder. The average number of somatic symptoms per multiple-personality patient was 13.5.