Checklist for finding a suitable DID therapist - Treating dissociative identity disorder (DID) requires special skill and experience

By: Tom Cloyd (Published: 2025-06-03:1729; reviewed: 2025-06-03:1735 Pacific Time (USA))

While dissociative identity disorder (DID) is not rare, psychotherapy professionals qualified to treat it are. This is particularly true in more rural regions of the country. Beyond that obstacle is the problem of finding these psychotherapists and determining that they are appropriate for your needs.

Getting started

Begin your search by getting a list of possible therapists, following the tips in the article on Finding a good therapist. Your next step is to contact them - usually by telephone - and see how suitable they are.

If you are the person seeking treatment, and you already have a DID diagnosis, your situation is rather clear. If you are uncertain about your diagnosis (this is not uncommon), or if you are trying to find a therapist for friend or family member, then your situation is a bit different, but the basic problem is the same.

Therapists become involved with treating DID in several different ways. Some suspect or discover that a client has DID, study DID psychotherapy using books and articles, and acquire decent basic skills. Ongoing client work soon becomes a major source of developing knowledge. It is not at all uncommon for clients to assist therapists new to this work in getting a basic understanding of the disorder. A surprising number of clients have done significant study on their own.

Therapists also can lean much from professional trainings offered by ISSTD - the International Society for the Study of Traumra and Dissociation.

Specific empirically validated trauma treatment skills are needed. The easiest way to validate that therapist is reasonably qualified in this area is to seek one who has EMDR training, including specific training in treating DID.

Regardless of what you may know about a therapist prospect prior to contacting them, each of them must be interviewed carefully to determine their appropriateness. You should seek some specific information, detailed in the checklist below. I developed this checklist several years ago and have shared it with a number of people, all of whom found it distinctly helpful. You may as well. It is intended to be a guide, and should be freely adapted to your situation.

Introducing yourself

Here is a possible script you might use, written from the point of view of a family member seeking help for a relative:

“I have a relative with a grave trauma-related psychological disorder. I have excellent reason to think it’s dissociative identity disorder. I’m developing a small list of qualified therapists who could work with her. I think you might be such a therapist, and I’d like to ask you some specific questions to learn more about you.”

(This tells them that their potential client is going to be unusual and seriously challenging. Be assured that if your prospect is NOT reasonably experienced in workng with DID, they will usually decline to be a prospect for you, at this point or early in the checklist beelow.)

The checklist

[ ] Do you work with complex trauma - trauma which has resulted from chronic or repeated childhood sexual abuse?
If yes to #1: [ ] Do you work with dissociative identity disorder?
If no to #1: [ ] Can you recommend to me anyone in this region who you know does work with DID?
If yes to #2:

[ ] Briefly, what is your treatment approach for people with DID? (The best-validated approach involves a) stabilization - reduction of symptoms, then b) trauma memory processing and grieving, then c) “habilitation”, learning to live a positive, fulfilling life. Integration occurs automatically, and gradually, after there has been some trauma processing. They should be familiar with this model, which is widely discussed and approved of.)
[ ] How did you learn your DID treatment approach? (This is critical, as some therapists I have talked to are distinctly unqualified. We are looking for someone with advanced EMDR training and/or training with ISSTD - the International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation.)
[ ] When did you start working with DID? (Ideally, they have at least 2 years experience.)
[ ] About what percentage of your practice has involved treating clients with DID? (Pure DID specialists are rare. Much more common aare trauma-focused therapists who have 10% or more of the practice focused on DID.)
[ ] How successful is DID therapy, from what you know? (This is a bit of trick question. What it is looking for is knowledge of Bethay Brand’s published research which indicates that outpatient therapy, over time, results in very significant reduction of symptoms, including suicidality in almost all DID clients. Well-informed therapists will know of her work.)

5. [ ] When might you be able to start with my relative? (They likely will have a waiting list. Find out how big it is and their best estimate of when an opening would come up in their practice.)

6. [ ] What are your fees, for initial and ongoing sessions? (Explain that the state will - hopefully - be paying for this. This may matter, if the state has limits on what it will pay, as they may not accept those limits.)

If you have suggestions for improvement of this checklist, or would like to report your experience with it, please feel free to contact us.

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