Identity (2003)
Starring: John Cusack, Ray Liotta, Amanda Peet, John Hawkes, Alfred Molina, CleaDuVall, Jake Busey, Rebecca DeMorney, William Lee Scott, John C. McGinley, Bret Loehr, Pruitt Taylor Vince
**There are major spoilers 
for this film in the discussion below.**
Ten strangers are stranded at a remote motel in Nevada by the weather. When someone starts murdering them, tensions flare and accusations are exchanged as they try to figure out who's responsible and why.
Media Portrayals and Real Psychology
Without going into an extensive discussion of the film, the "twist" revealed near the end is that all of the characters are part of Malcolm Rivers (Vince), a single individual who has multiple personalities. The "motel" is an elaborate experimental treatment intended to remove the personalities considered extraneous. In the real world, a midnight meeting shows us Rivers' psychiatrist's attempt to convince a judge that Rivers is insane (unable to understand that what he was doing when he committed the crime was wrong) and would not be executed.
- Excerpt 1: Dr. Malik refers to his client as having a disassociative identity disorder.
- Real Psychology: You disassociate yourself from people you no longer want to be connected to, but you dissociate (no "a") when you have a split in consciousness. Most dissociation is normal, since it happens to just about everyone. For example, when you drive to the store and have been thinking about something else, you realize as you get out of the car that you don't remember the drive. You dissociated (had a split in consciousness or attention) during the drive. Part of you was doing the driving, and part of you was focused on your thoughts.
- Excerpt 2: The people in the meeting are informed that Rivers has "an Axis IV dissociative disorder."
- Real Psychology: All disorders (except for two types: personality disorders and mental retardation) are diagnosed on Axis I. Axis IV refers to psycho-social stressors. While the axes can be confusing, this is kind of like telling someone your canoe is a Ford Taurus (though I suppose you could name your canoe Ford Taurus!).
