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What Shyamalan's 'Split' gets wrong about dissociative identity disorder

By Michael Nedelman, CNN

Updated 2132 GMT (0532 HKT) January 23, 2017

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Many films and TV shows feature characters with dissociative identity disorder. Mental health advocates have criticized many of them for sensationalizing a diagnosis, often in horror movies and thrillers, that affects many people. In "Split," an M. Night Shyamalan film, James McAvoy plays a murderous villain with 24 personalities. Click through our gallery to see more examples of characters with multiple personalities.
Photos: TV and movie characters with multiple personalities
Many films and TV shows feature characters with dissociative identity disorder. Mental health advocates have criticized many of them for sensationalizing a diagnosis, often in horror movies and thrillers, that affects many people. In "Split," an M. Night Shyamalan film, James McAvoy plays a murderous villain with 24 personalities. Click through our gallery to see more examples of characters with multiple personalities.
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Brad Pitt, left, is Edward Norton's alternate personality, Tyler Durden, who launches a destructive anarchist organization in "Fight Club."
Photos: TV and movie characters with multiple personalities
Brad Pitt, left, is Edward Norton's alternate personality, Tyler Durden, who launches a destructive anarchist organization in "Fight Club."
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Anthony Perkins as Norman Bates in Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho." He takes on the alternate personality of his mother after killing her.
Photos: TV and movie characters with multiple personalities
Anthony Perkins as Norman Bates in Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho." He takes on the alternate personality of his mother after killing her.
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Toni Collette played a suburban mother with multiple personalities in Showtime's "United States of Tara."
Photos: TV and movie characters with multiple personalities
Toni Collette played a suburban mother with multiple personalities in Showtime's "United States of Tara."
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In the 1976 film "Sybil," Sally Field plays the title character, who has 16 personalities.
Photos: TV and movie characters with multiple personalities
In the 1976 film "Sybil," Sally Field plays the title character, who has 16 personalities.
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The power of the ring created alter-ego Gollum from hobbit Smeagol, who argue between themselves in "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers" and other films in the franchise.
Photos: TV and movie characters with multiple personalities
The power of the ring created alter-ego Gollum from hobbit Smeagol, who argue between themselves in "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers" and other films in the franchise.
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