The focus of the organization has broadened over the years. In the 1980s, the ISSMP&D, the International Society for the Study of Multiple Personality and Dissociation, grouped clinicians and researchers primarily interested in Multiple Personality Disorder. Dissociative Identity Disorder had been called MPD since the 19th century, and was still called MPD in DSM-II and DSM-III. In the 1990s, DSM-IV changed the name of MPD to DID, and so the ISSMP&D simplified its name to the ISSD - the International Society for the Study of Dissociation, broadening its interest to include the other dissociative disorders. By the 21st century, the ISSD had broadened its interest to include chronic developmental traumatic disorders, and so the name was lengthened to ISSTD: the International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation. Editors of the book Dissociation and the dissociative disorders: DSM-V and beyond describe the ISSTD as "The principle professional organization devoted to dissociation". The ISSTD has published guidelines for the treatment of dissociative identity disorder in both adults and children through its peer-reviewedJournal of Trauma & Dissociation, published five times per year. These guidelines are often referenced in the field as a basic starting point for psychotherapy with highly dissociative clients. The ISSMP&D's official journal, Dissociation: Progress in the Dissociative Disorders ceased operation after 39 issues, though its full-text contents have since been made available online.
Controversies
In the 1990s, controversies surrounding repressed memory and the possible connections between child abuse, traumatic events, memory and dissociation arose. Some mental health professionals who used hypnosis and other memory recovery techniques now known to contribute to the creation of false memories found their patients lodging bizarre accusations - including of satanic ritual abuse, sacrificial murder, and cannibalism - against their parents, family members and prominent community members. This era is now considered a moral panic, typically referred to as the “Satanic Panic.” The ISSTD has been accused by groups such as The False Memory Syndrome Foundation and The Satanic Temple of propagating Satanic Panic-era conspiracy theories. In 1995, ISSTD's founder and former president, Bennett Braun, was sued by a former patient who claimed that Braun had falsely convinced her that she'd engaged in Satanic rituals, cannibalism, and infanticide. The patient received a $10.6 million dollar settlement. Braun's medical license was temporarily suspended by Illinois state officials in 1999. In 2004, another former patient of Braun’s, Elizabeth Gale, filed a lawsuit against Braun and Roberta Sachs, another ISSTD founder, alleging that they and their colleagues convinced Gale “that her family indoctrinated her as a child so she would make babies for sacrifice in a satanic cult.” The settlement in the malpractice suit amounted to $7.5 million. Another ISSTD founder, Richard Kluft, wrote in 2014, “t is undeniable that satanic elements are employed at times by those who wish to exploit the power of such materials for the purposes of intimidation and/or to pursue nefarious purposes. Satanic elements remain problematic realities in many situations. I remain troubled about the matter of transgenerational satanic cults.” Former ISSTD president Colin Ross has also been accused by former patients of implanting false memories, including of satanic ritual abuse. Roma Hart accused Ross of convincing her, among other things, that she was forcibly impregnated by aliens and later gave birth to a half-alien, half-human hybrid. Another former patient, Martha Ann Tyo, sued Ross and others in 1998, alleging that the defendants’ methods led her to believe her family was part of an “extended, transgenerational satanic cult.”
History
The US-based ISSTD was officially formed in 1984 under the name of the International Society for the Study of Multiple Personality and Dissociation but changed to the International Society for the Study of Dissociation in 1994 and then to its current name in November 2006. The organization was resolved to be founded by Myron Boor, Bennett Braun, David Caul, Jane Dubrow, George Greaves, Richard Kluft, Frank Putnam and Roberta Sachs, a group of physicians and psychologists. Its first annual conference was held in December of the same year. By the end of the 1980s, membership approached 2,000.
