20th Bill Cosby accuser, Cosby Sued, DID valid disorder found around the globe

[SMAR...@aol.com]

"Existing data show DID (dissociative identity disorder formerly called MPD) as a complex, valid and not uncommon disorder, associated with developmental and cultural variables, that is amenable to psychotherapeutic intervention....Because the aetiology of DID is associated with childhood relational trauma, the discomfort caused by studying DID may serve as a potent disincentive to its investigation.... to retain a comforting denial of both the occurrence of abuse and its disabling psychiatric legacy....affects approximately 1% of the general population."


- Bill Cosby Sued For Alleged Sexual Assault of Teenager in 1970s
- More women detail sex abuse claims against Bill Cosby
- Dissociative identity disorder: An empirical overview
- USC study challenges traditional data: points to higher rates of child abuse
"one in 20 children in California are victims of substantiated abuse or neglect before they reach their fifth birthday."

Bill Cosby Sued For Alleged Sexual Assault of Teenager in 1970s
By Maria Elena Fernandez and Andrew Blankstein  December 3, 2014

A 55-year-old woman sued comedian Bill Cosby on Tuesday in Los Angeles Superior Court claiming sexual battery and infliction of emotional distress for allegedly molesting her in a bedroom at the Playboy Mansion when she was 15 years old.

According to the complaint, Judy Huth and a friend, who was 16 at the time, met Cosby at an outdoor film set at Lacy Park in Los Angeles County in 1974 and accepted an invitation to socialize with him at a tennis club the following week. When they got together, the lawsuit alleges, they played billiards and Cosby served them alcoholic beverages....

"When Plaintiff emerged from the bathroom, she found COSBY sitting on the bed," the suit states. "He asked her to sit beside him. He then proceeded to sexually molest her by attempting to put his hand down her pants, and then taking her hand in his hand and performing a sex act on himself without her consent." ....

In recent weeks, 20 other women have come forward to accuse Cosby of sexual assault — charges which began to surface a decade ago when the former director of operations for Temple's women's basketball team sued him for drugging her and assaulting her in 2004.

The comedian has not been criminally charged and many of the claims are so old, they are barred by statutes of limitations.

Huth's lawsuit, however, contends that she became aware of the serious effect the abuse had on her within the past three years. California law allows victims of sex abuse when they were minors to bring a claim after adulthood if they discover later in life that they suffered psychological injuries as a result of the abuse....
http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/bill-cosby-scandal/bill-cosby-sued-alleged-sexual-assault-teenager-1970s-n260366
http://goo.gl/uOt22n

More women detail sex abuse claims against Bill Cosby
By Piya Sinha-Roy and Eric Kelsey, Reuters  December 3, 2014 Los Angeles

20th Bill Cosby accuser comes forward

Three women on Wednesday came together and detailed allegations that comedian Bill Cosby sexually abused and groped them decades ago, a day after Cosby was sued by a woman who said he molested her when she was a teenager in 1974.

More than a dozen women have publicly accused the comedian of sexual abuse as far back as the 1960s as the allegations have scuttled Cosby's television projects and led to cancellations of numerous comedy performances, including two gigs in suburban New York that were scheduled for Saturday.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/chi-bill-cosby-20141203-story.html
http://goo.gl/dTIjQ7

Dissociative identity disorder: An empirical overview 
Martin J Dorahy, Bethany L Brand, Vedat Sar, Christa Krüger, Pam Stavropoulos, Alfonso Martínez-Taboas, Roberto Lewis-Fernández, Warwick Middleton, Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry 2014, Vol. 48(5) 402–417  DOI: 10.1177/0004867414527523

Methods:
The overview is limited to DID-specific research in which one or more of the following conditions are met: (i) a sample of participants with DID was systematically investigated, (ii) psychometrically-sound measures were utilised, (iii) comparisons were made with other samples, (iv) DID was differentiated from other disorders, including other dissociative disorders, (v) extraneous variables were controlled or (vi) DID diagnosis was confirmed. Following an examination of challenges to research, data are organised around the validity and phenomenology of DID, its aetiology and epidemiology, the neurobiological and cognitive correlates of the disorder, and finally its treatment.

Results:
DID was found to be a complex yet valid disorder across a range of markers. It can be accurately discriminated from other disorders, especially when structured diagnostic interviews assess identity alterations and amnesia. DID is aetiologically associated with a complex combination of developmental and cultural factors, including severe childhood relational trauma. The prevalence of DID appears highest in emergency psychiatric settings and affects approximately 1% of the general population. Psychobiological studies are beginning to identify clear correlates of DID associated with diverse brain areas and cognitive functions. They are also providing an understanding of the potential metacognitive origins of amnesia. Phase-oriented empirically-guided treatments are emerging for DID.

Conclusions:
The empirical literature on DID is accumulating, although some areas remain under-investigated. Existing data show DID as a complex, valid and not uncommon disorder, associated with developmental and cultural variables, that is amenable to psychotherapeutic intervention....

Because the aetiology of DID is associated with childhood relational trauma, the discomfort caused by studying DID may serve as a potent disincentive to its investigation. Thus avoiding study of DID protects mainstream social institutions – at the expense of the children who are violated by them – as well as enabling researchers, clinicians and the public to retain a comforting denial of both the occurrence of abuse and its disabling psychiatric legacy. Hence avoidance of the central issues associated with DID operates not only in the patient, but in society at large....

Both universal and cultural processes influence the development and phenomenology of DID (Dorahy, 2001a). Dissociation and DD can be found in all cultural settings (e.g. Spiegel et al., 2013; Stein et al., 2013). DID has been documented in Turkey, Puerto Rico, Scandinavia, Japan, Canada, Australia, the USA, the Philippines, Ireland, the UK and Argentina, among many other cultural and geographical contexts (Rhoades and Sar, 2005)....

Every study that has systematically examined aetiology has found that antecedent severe, chronic childhood trauma is present in the histories of almost all individuals with DID....

It is important to consider health costs associated with DID. A Canadian treatment study of DID concluded that annual costs dropped from C$75,000 to C$36,000 in the 3 years after treatment for DID (Ross and Dua, 1993). This and other studies document considerable cost savings even for those who had been chronically ill before being appropriately treated for DID (Lloyd, 2011)....

Conclusion
The empirical literature on DID emerging over the past 30 years shows that, beyond the rhetoric and controversy, DID is a valid disorder characterised by amnesia, identity confusion and coexistence of dissociative identities which can be differentiated from other psychiatric disorders as well as from feigned presentations of DID. Characteristic features include a complex array of co-existing symptoms associated with psychosis, mood, anxiety, affect regulation and personality functioning. A mix of subtle and overt developmental, interpersonal and cultural drivers produce DID, with childhood attachment-based trauma appearing to be a universal factor, while social idioms of self produce components of cultural specificity.

DID is found around the globe in almost every culture in which researchers have carefully assessed for the range of dissociative symptoms. Orbitofrontal, cortico-limbic and temporal anomalies are evident in DID, with different neurobiological profiles found across identities than those in simulation....
http://anp.sagepub.com/content/48/5/402.full.pdf+html
http://goo.gl/e25JiV

USC study challenges traditional data: points to higher rates of child abuse
Andrea Gardner

New research from the University of Southern California's Children’s Data Network shows that approximately one in 20 children in California are victims of substantiated abuse or neglect before they reach their fifth birthday.

The study separately found that about 1 in 7 California children are reported to county Child Protective Services agencies over suspected abuse before they reach age 5....
http://www.scpr.org/news/2014/12/03/48447/usc-study-challenges-traditional-data-points-to-hi/
http://goo.gl/ppSE67