by Dan Black
According to some, Herschel Walker is the greatest college running back of all-time. Playing for the Georgia Bulldogs, he set the record for most rushing yards as a freshman and later went on to win the Heisman trophy in his junior year. When his teammates remember his winning disposition, they think of his “even-keeled” personality and the seriousness with which he approached the game.
In his new memoir, however, Walker revealed that he has suffered from Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID), a disorder in which two or more distinct personalities control a person’s actions at different times. These alters—of which, Walker says he has twelve—are thought of as being different elements of a personality that would come together more cohesively in some one who did not suffer from DID.
While the disorder is thought to arise out of childhood abuse or trauma and cause problems later in life, in Walker’s case, it seems to have helped him succeed in some ways. For instance in 1980, he had his shoulder dislocated during a game. After the trainer placed it back into the socket, Walker returned to the game to rush over 160 yards—an amazing feat that he claims was made possible by using one his alters to block out the pain.
To some critics, however, DID has no psychological basis as a condition and Walker’s diagnosis is a sort of scapegoat. Walker, for example does not remember choking or holding a gun the head of his wife. He claims this was one of his “alters.” Whether the diagnosis is a farce or not, Walker has begun psychotherapy.
References
Academy of Achievement. (2008, April 16) Gridiron Greatness. Retrieved from: http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/wal0bio-1
Falco, Miriam. (2008) Herschel Walker reveals many sides of himself. Retrieved April 20, 2008 from: http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/conditions/04/15/herschel.walker.did/index.html
Glier, Ray. (2008, April 20) Walker Now Carries a Psychological Burden. New York Times, SP7. Retrieved from: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/20/sports/football/20walker.html?ref=sports
“Herschel Walker: Greatest College Football Running Back Ever.” ESPNU Video. Online Video Clip. Retrieved April 20, 2008 from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KyKLeXP2XOU
National Alliance on Mental Illness (2008). Dissociative Identity Disorder. Retrieved April 20, 2008 from: http://www.nami.org/Content/ContentGroups/Helpline1/Dissociative_Identity_Disorder_(formerly_Multiple_Personality_Disorder).htm
[...] Bartek Sikorski wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerpt“Herschel Walker: Greatest College Football Running Back Ever.” ESPNU Video. Online Video Clip. Retrieved April 20, 2008 from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KyKLeXP2XOU. National Alliance on Mental Illness (2008). … [...]
Pingback by CNN Breaking News » Blog Archive » Herschel Walker is more than you think — May 2, 2008 @ 5:39 am
While this news about Herschel Walker is certainly very interesting, it is important to take into account the concerns about diagnosing Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) mentioned in the end of the post. In the article linked at the end of my comment, Reny J. Muller, Ph.D., discusses some of the implications and difficulties of diagnosing patients with DID.
Muller explains that DID is regarded among psychiatrists and psychologists as a highly controversial diagnosis, and that many people in the profession doubt that it even exists. Some have hypothesized that acting out in such a way so as to seem to be suffering from DID is actually an (unconscious) attention seeking behavior. At the time of publication of this article, it was an almost universally accepted theory amongst critics of DID that DID was in fact a socially-learned behavior.
The article linked at the bottom of this comment then goes into a specific case study about an individual named Nadine. If you are interested in reading more about this, please click on the link.
While it is difficult to find any conclusive evidence about the truths of Dissociative Identity Disorder, that diagnosing the disorder is extremely controversial and that id disputed whether it even exists should not go unconsidered while evaluating the Walker story.
Source: http://www.psychiatrictimes.com/display/article/10168/55196?pageNumber=4
Comment by Sarah Cohen — May 6, 2008 @ 7:06 pm
I think this post de-emphasizes the controversial nature of this disease. As with many psychological disorders, it is hard for psychologists to identify how legitimate a patient’s symptoms truly are, because they are generally internally manifested. As Dan mentioned, some critics believe that Walker may have used the disease as a “scapegoat” for his unacceptable behaviors. This is a concern with a disease like DID; do some people pretend they have it or exaggerate mild symptoms in order to be let off of bad behavior? Diagnoses of DID have increased, possibly because patients are being led by their psychologists to believe they have the disease.
While there is evidence to suggest that DID may very well be a legitimate disease, the combination of psychologists’ persuasive suggestions and the potential to use the disease as a “scapegoat” has made DID a controversial diagnosis, to say the least.
Source: http://psychologytoday.com/conditions/did.html
Comment by Yasmin Roberti — May 6, 2008 @ 7:57 pm
Those Walker critics mentioned make an interesting point: Hershel Walker’s DID makes a neat cover story for choking his wife and holding a gun to her head. It’s also a convenient announcement for a celebrity to make if he is about to release a book. Hershel Walker has reasons to fake it, and so these critics may next examine how realistic Walker’s story is. Is Walker a candidate for DID? According to the article cited by Dan Black, DID is “caused by physical or sexual abuse in childhood.” But Walker was not a victim of childhood abuse. The critics’s case looks good, but they don’t have the whole story.
According to Merck.com, dissociative identity disorder is a widely accepted mental disorder. A fairly common disorder, it can be found in a sizable minority of people hospitalized for other mental health disorders and in drug abuse treatment facilities. Childhood abuse is cited as a major cause of dissociative identity disorder. However, DID may not be caused by abuse alone as previously thought, but by the interaction of several factors, including overwhelming stress, abnormal psychologic development, and insufficient protection and nurture during childhood.
While in fact about 97 to 98% of adults with DID report having been abused during childhood, not all the specific alleged abuses really happened. DID can be attributed to only the 85% of adult cases and 95% of the child and adolescent cases for which abuse is accurately documented. In addition to inaccurate reports of abuse, some people were not abused at all, but rather, suffered an important early loss, such as the death of a parent, a serious physical illness, or some other very stressful experience. So Walker critics will have to look elsewhere to find a way to back up their suspicions.
Reference
Dissociative Identity Disorder (2003). Retrieved May 9, 2008, from
http://www.merck.com/mmhe/sec07/ch106/ch106d.html.
Comment by IntroToPsych — May 9, 2008 @ 4:58 pm
Although Walker may not fit the exact profile of an individual suffering from dissociative identity disorder (DID), he did suffer from childhood abuse. In an interview, Walker stated, “When I was a kid I had a speech impediment and I used to get teased all the time.” He was not a victim of physical abuse or parental abuse, but verbal abuse from his peers. The presence of DID is very closely related with repetitive physical, sexual and/or emotional abuse throughout one’s childhood. Thus, Walker’s continuous verbal abuse from his peers on a probably sensitive subject is enough to cause emotional trauma. Additionally, DID patients often experience a disconnection from thoughts, emotions, actions, and reality as a whole. Hershel Walker experienced several blatant out-of-body experiences such as his violent episode with his wife, which he had difficulty recollecting. While DID patients often suffer from lack of sleep, Walker also suffers from insomnia because, “There is too much noise in his brain. There are too many thoughts.” Walker fits the profile of a DID patient, but like Sarah Cohen stated in a previous response, dissociative identity disorder has a highly controversial diagnosis.
Sources:
http://www.startribune.com/sports/vikings/16686526.html
http://www.webmd.com/mental-health/dissociative-identity-disorder-multiple-personality-disorder
Comment by Matt Pearce — October 26, 2008 @ 7:43 pm
According to Merck’s online medical library (http://www.merck.com/mmpe/sec15/ch197/ch197e.html) description of Dissociative Identity Disorder, sufferers of D.I.D. often suffer from depression and depersonalization that can lead to tragic results. In fact, “Suicidal ideation and attempts are common, as are episodes of self-mutilation.” In an interview with ABC Nighline, Herschel Walker claimed that suffered such thoughts. According to ESPN (http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=3346240), Walker reported that in 1997 he played Russian roulette alone with a loaded pistol, and could have died if he wasn’t lucky. In the same interview, his wife claims that he put a gun to her head after he told her that she didn’t marry him, but one of his alter-egos who was particularly sweet.
Sources:
http://www.merck.com/mmpe/sec15/ch197/ch197e.html
http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=3346240
Comment by Jimmy McCumber — December 7, 2008 @ 8:49 pm