Canadian and American psychiatrists' attitudes toward dissociative disorders diagnoses.

OBJECTIVE

To compare the opinions of Canadian psychiatrists regarding dissociative disorder diagnoses with those of previously surveyed American psychiatrists.

METHOD: We sent a 1-page questionnaire to a stratified representative sample of 550 Canadian psychiatrists.

RESULTS

Eighty percent of Canadian psychiatrists responded. Fewer than one-third replied that dissociative amnesia and dissociative identity disorder should be included without reservations in the DSM-IV; fewer than 1 in 7 felt that the validity of these diagnoses was supported by strong scientific evidence. French- and English-speaking Canadians had similar opinions. Overall, Canadians were significantly less accepting than Americans.

CONCLUSION

Both Canadian and American psychiatrists show little consensus regarding the diagnostic status or scientific validity of dissociative amnesia and dissociative identity disorder.