Aaron Carter Says He Has Schizophrenia and 'Multiple Personality Disorder'

In a sneak peek video of an upcoming episode of “The Doctors” obtained by TMZ, Aaron Carter, 31, revealed his multiple mental illness diagnoses. You can view the full video here.

“The official diagnosis is that I suffer from multiple personality disorder, schizophrenia, acute anxiety. I’m manic depressive,” Carter said.

The teaser also features Carter, known for his childhood hits “I Want Candy” and “Aaron’s Party (Come Get It),” holding up a Ziplock bag full of his prescription medications.

“This is my reality,” he says. “Hi. I have nothing to hide.”

The term “multiple personality disorder” is no longer used diagnostically. Instead clinicians refer to the diagnosis as dissociative identity disorder (DID).

According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), DID is characterized by the presence of two or more distinct personality states or an “experience of possession” and recurrent episodes of amnesia. The “personality states” or “alters” characteristic of DID typically develop in the aftermath of childhood trauma as the brain’s adaptive way of protecting itself.

Mighty contributor Abbi Hirschfeld, who lives with DID, wrote about what it’s like to live with different personality states after trauma in her piece, “The Unexpected Way Childhood Trauma Affected Me“:

The trauma in my childhood was so profoundly terrifying, that at some point, my mind began to shatter. By the time I was 16, I wasn’t just me anymore. I was made up of separate people, or alters, that each served a purpose to protect me and keep me alive. A cheery 7-year-old who held onto hope, an angry 8-year-old who took every opportunity to be self-destructive. For several years, I floated on the ceiling watching my life from afar while my body was inhabited by 15 different personalities that were working to keep me from completely losing it and disappearing permanently.

In the segment, Carter revealed he was diagnosed both with schizophrenia and “manic depression” (an outdated term used to describe “bipolar disorder”). Schizophrenia is a condition that affects perception of reality, while bipolar disorder is characterized by mood ranges that typically alternate between extremely “up” (mania) and extremely “down” (depressive episodes).

Though these two conditions are distinct, both people with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder can experience psychosis, a mental health experience commonly referred to as a “break with reality.” To read more about nine types of hallucinations and delusions people with psychosis can experience, head here.

This isn’t the first time Carter has spoken up about his health. In 2017, he revealed he was diagnosed with a hiatal hernia when he was 19 that caused him discomfort and weight loss.

For more information about schizophrenia, dissociative identity disorder and bipolar disorder, check out the following stories from our community: