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The Flock: The Autobiography of a Multiple Personality
When Joan Frances Casey "awoke" on the ledge of a building ready to jump, she did not know how she had gotten there. And it wasn't the first time she had blanked out. She decided to give therapy another try. And after a few sessions, Lynn Wilson, an experienced psychiatric social worker, was shocked to discover that Joan had MPD--Multiple Personality Disorder. And as she came to know Joan's distinct selves, Lynn uncovered a nightmarish pattern of emotional and physical abuse, including rape and incest, that nearly succeeded in smothering the artistic and intellectual gifts of this amazing young woman.
303 pages, Paperback
First published June 4, 1991
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 112 reviews
August 27, 2012
Alas, boundary violations abound in this memoir of a psychotherapeutic journey! How does this occur? Let me count the ways! The therapist attends a client's housewarming party, involves her own husband in therapy, and invites her to live with them for the summer!
If I'm able to suspend my incredulity about the aforementioned, what remains is an amazing and beautiful story told by an alter of a woman with Dissociative Identity Disorder (formerly Multiple Personality Disorder, which was popularized by the story of Sybil). The story of how a totally disoriented woman with over a dozen "alters" or personalities was healed and eventually integrated through therapy was very exciting to read.
I would recommend this with caution to anyone wanting insight into this disorder... I say with caution because it's important to be aware that this is a very unconventional therapy and that this type of dual role relationship violates a ridiculous number of ethical and professional standards.
If I'm able to suspend my incredulity about the aforementioned, what remains is an amazing and beautiful story told by an alter of a woman with Dissociative Identity Disorder (formerly Multiple Personality Disorder, which was popularized by the story of Sybil). The story of how a totally disoriented woman with over a dozen "alters" or personalities was healed and eventually integrated through therapy was very exciting to read.
I would recommend this with caution to anyone wanting insight into this disorder... I say with caution because it's important to be aware that this is a very unconventional therapy and that this type of dual role relationship violates a ridiculous number of ethical and professional standards.
February 10, 2013
Amazing and compeling. A book you just can't put down, which i now have to say has joined my selective few 'favourite' books.
'The Flock' is a story about 24 seperate personalities,within the body of one woman, each with their own capable function or role to take over when another personality is unable to.
The story is told by "Renee" and delves mainly into the 'autonomous personalities' of Renee, Jo,Joan Frances and Missy. All of whom are fucntioning personalities who would be capable of their own life should they have total control of the body.
Other personalities include, Rusty, Little Joe, Josie, Isis and Kendra amongst others who each have their own story and reason for being.
What's so great about this book is that you are never questioning who is speaking- as it is so well written in such fine detail and you get to know and understand and admire so many of these personalities- as if they were in fact 'people' of their own being. You care for them all as induviduals.
Told by 'Renee' and psychotherapist Lyn- the lady who treated the multiples', it never leaves you wondering. any questions you may have are all answered and you truely almost dont want these personalities to intergrate- even though you know being multiple is a 'disease' and the entire point of the story is to help the physical person heal and understand her trauma in order to complete be aware and understand herself, her disorder and steadily keep her time.
I was very intrigued as to which personalities were aware they were a multiple,which ignored the suggestion completley, who was able to 'see' what the other personalities were doing and who completly lost time. All of them are very different.
The ending I found so sad ,I almost wanted to cry, probably because I became so invested in this story,and cared so much for 'the entity' (who finaly calls herself Joan) and therapists Lyn and Gordan.
It was sad in one of those emotionally beeautiful, but life's a bitch kind of ways.
The Flock also offers and explains with general understanding, the concept of multiple personalities (MPD multiple personality disorder, now known as DID disacosiative identity disorder.
An absolutely wonderful read, highly recomended for those who are interested in autobiographies in general and also of mental illness and medical/clinical true stories.
The Flock is a special book, full of heart and soul as well as sadness and an intreging interesting approach in treating MPD/DID.
Highly recomended. I would love to see who these people really are, read articles on them or see interviews with them.
Sadly Joan Frances Casey and Lyn Wilson are phseudnyms.
'The Flock' is a story about 24 seperate personalities,within the body of one woman, each with their own capable function or role to take over when another personality is unable to.
The story is told by "Renee" and delves mainly into the 'autonomous personalities' of Renee, Jo,Joan Frances and Missy. All of whom are fucntioning personalities who would be capable of their own life should they have total control of the body.
Other personalities include, Rusty, Little Joe, Josie, Isis and Kendra amongst others who each have their own story and reason for being.
What's so great about this book is that you are never questioning who is speaking- as it is so well written in such fine detail and you get to know and understand and admire so many of these personalities- as if they were in fact 'people' of their own being. You care for them all as induviduals.
Told by 'Renee' and psychotherapist Lyn- the lady who treated the multiples', it never leaves you wondering. any questions you may have are all answered and you truely almost dont want these personalities to intergrate- even though you know being multiple is a 'disease' and the entire point of the story is to help the physical person heal and understand her trauma in order to complete be aware and understand herself, her disorder and steadily keep her time.
I was very intrigued as to which personalities were aware they were a multiple,which ignored the suggestion completley, who was able to 'see' what the other personalities were doing and who completly lost time. All of them are very different.
The ending I found so sad ,I almost wanted to cry, probably because I became so invested in this story,and cared so much for 'the entity' (who finaly calls herself Joan) and therapists Lyn and Gordan.
It was sad in one of those emotionally beeautiful, but life's a bitch kind of ways.
The Flock also offers and explains with general understanding, the concept of multiple personalities (MPD multiple personality disorder, now known as DID disacosiative identity disorder.
An absolutely wonderful read, highly recomended for those who are interested in autobiographies in general and also of mental illness and medical/clinical true stories.
The Flock is a special book, full of heart and soul as well as sadness and an intreging interesting approach in treating MPD/DID.
Highly recomended. I would love to see who these people really are, read articles on them or see interviews with them.
Sadly Joan Frances Casey and Lyn Wilson are phseudnyms.
November 19, 2009
I was hoping for alot more with this book. After reading When Rabbit Howls and Sybil I think I was just expecting more. I did not like the style the author wrote this in. I had a very hard time believing it all to be true. I want to say that I am not sure if it is true or not just did not seem to be for me. I think this had alot to do with how it was written. It was a very fast read for me. The story had so many parts that it sounded like 10 differant books I have read all combined in one. Like the person had read alot of abuse and multi personality books and just took pieces from each one to write "her" story...Not sure I would reccommend this to anyone. I did not want to give this more than 1.5 stars but they do not offer that on here so I went with 2 because did not want to give it just 1.
November 16, 2014
This book has been on my wish list for a very long time. Finally bought a copy.
Update:
I have read more than 3/4th but am bored now. It is not hard to read but after a while I began to get a bit bored because it was quite repetitive and I am also not so sure if it is all true even though first reading Sybil I was really believing all of it.
Maybe it is the way it is written, maybe I just do not like the people in this book but I do not want to waste my time anymore.
Update:
I have read more than 3/4th but am bored now. It is not hard to read but after a while I began to get a bit bored because it was quite repetitive and I am also not so sure if it is all true even though first reading Sybil I was really believing all of it.
Maybe it is the way it is written, maybe I just do not like the people in this book but I do not want to waste my time anymore.
February 10, 2009
This is an interesting and useful book in understanding multiple personality disorder (now referred to as "DID" Dissociative Identity Disorder). The strategies used for treating this young woman are extraordinary, however highly unlikely to be repeatable with another client. What this truly is about is the strength and courage of the young woman with MPD, her therapist and HER husband as they traverse the dangerous path toward healing. It speaks to the power of human beings when they dedicate themselves to helping others.
February 23, 2015
When reading this book I wondered how it was that the main character had access to her own case file. As a person with DiD myself, I can tell you it is Most Unusual to have access to one's own medical files, let alone notes from therapy sessions etc. A responsible therapist does protect confidentiality, but their notes are confidential for their own use, not the patient's and I doubt she would have been "willed" them, either.
I just have serious doubts about this "true story." Like some others, it sounds heavily fictionalised, which does nothing for people with DiD who are trying to be taken seriously. (I had a therapist who was filling in while mine was on vacation ask me very snidely "how long I had believed myself to be a multiple." When I moved to Europe, a friend who was studying psych at college told me that her prof said it is "exclusively a US disorder" meaning he didn't believe it exists.)
I find it odd that the therapist "just happened" to die at the end of the book...why then would the name need to be changed? And, yeah--no comeback, no interviews post-publication. Hm.
If you like this sort of reading, it may be "a good read" but it feeds the Hollywood mindset and mythology of books, TV and movies like Sybil. It does people like us no service.
June 20, 2017
I loved this book. It provided so much information, and a real look into the mind of a multiple. There was so much I didn't understand until I read this book (though there's certainly much much more I could still learn, and still much more I could never understand!) The ending was very sad though, but I was expecting something bad to happen all along, so...
November 18, 2018
While I question the accuracy of much of this account, it was still an interesting read.
September 19, 2024
Probably one of the most controversial books I’ve read to date. I am all for intensive therapy, but the way Lynn Wilson goes about it may be a little too far over the line.
May 19, 2021
One of the best books I may have ever read, I have always loved learning about DID because I find it to be so incredible how the human brain works to protect itself, this book has given me insight I could have never imagined having on the disorder, and I am so incredibly glad to have read it.
January 2, 2010
Author Casey (a pseudonym to protect her privacy) is/was a person with Multiple Personality Disorder, a disassociative disorder. Many people are familiar with the disorder from ‘The Three Faces of Eve’ or ‘Sybil’. This book is unique in that it tells the story of her treatment and integration from the POV of one of the personalities.
Joan Frances Casey was abused terribly when she was a child, both sexually by her father and physically and emotionally by her mother. Her personalities emerged to allow her to deal with these assaults. Very intelligent and a high achiever, she entered college early and got her bachelor’s degree very quickly. But her marriage ended, and, feeling like a failure, her primary personality came to consciousness on a window ledge. She decided she needed to try therapy one more time.
Lynn Wilson was a psychiatric social worker for the college who realized something that Casey’s previous therapists hadn’t: Casey was a multiple. Knowing that the personalities had emerged because Casey had never felt safe in her childhood, she started on a path of re-parenting Casey, allowing the various personalities to feel safe and to know it was all right to feel and express the emotions they embodied. Wilson did not have any training in this; she did it all intuitively. And it worked- Casey integrated over about 4 years, much more quickly than most MPDs do. Most therapists think she went over the top with the case, bringing Casey into her own family and ‘adopting’ her as a fifth daughter, but it worked. For both of them, and for Wilson’s husband, who became a co-therapist.
It’s a very interesting read. We not only see things from the main personalities POV, but Wilson’s diaries are interspersed with the main narration, allowing us to see both sides of the therapeutic process. It’s a much more personal book that ‘Sybil’ or ‘Eve’ or the other books on MPD. Recommended.
Joan Frances Casey was abused terribly when she was a child, both sexually by her father and physically and emotionally by her mother. Her personalities emerged to allow her to deal with these assaults. Very intelligent and a high achiever, she entered college early and got her bachelor’s degree very quickly. But her marriage ended, and, feeling like a failure, her primary personality came to consciousness on a window ledge. She decided she needed to try therapy one more time.
Lynn Wilson was a psychiatric social worker for the college who realized something that Casey’s previous therapists hadn’t: Casey was a multiple. Knowing that the personalities had emerged because Casey had never felt safe in her childhood, she started on a path of re-parenting Casey, allowing the various personalities to feel safe and to know it was all right to feel and express the emotions they embodied. Wilson did not have any training in this; she did it all intuitively. And it worked- Casey integrated over about 4 years, much more quickly than most MPDs do. Most therapists think she went over the top with the case, bringing Casey into her own family and ‘adopting’ her as a fifth daughter, but it worked. For both of them, and for Wilson’s husband, who became a co-therapist.
It’s a very interesting read. We not only see things from the main personalities POV, but Wilson’s diaries are interspersed with the main narration, allowing us to see both sides of the therapeutic process. It’s a much more personal book that ‘Sybil’ or ‘Eve’ or the other books on MPD. Recommended.
March 4, 2019
This was a good read, it really shows how having DID can change your life. At first I was very unsure about how Lynn was conducting the therapy sessions. I felt it was too unprofessional but the more I read the better I felt about her decisions. I came to really like Lynn and Gordon. I was surprised that the other psychologist’s were as nasty as they were, especially Tate. I was very sad about the death of Lynn and Gordon and thought it would have had a bigger Impact. I was happy that she was able to integrate the personalities and start a family of her own at the end.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 19, 2009
this is the true story of a woman who lives with multiple personality disorder; much like several different people living in the same body. although clinical accounts are sometimes rather dry, this book was anything but, and takes you through Casey's day to day life, as well as her experience with a therapist who, after several years, manages to integrate her many drastically personalities.
November 30, 2012
I thought this was a sad but in the end hopeful book. That you got to sometimes work real hard to get rid of past demons. Never read a book like this before. So the story line was new to me, and learned more of this condition than I ever knew before. Of course she had a lot to overcome and she was able to express what she went through so well.
November 16, 2013
Very interesting book about a woman with DID, which developed from years of abuse from her parents. The descriptions of the various alters and their experiences in how they perceive the world was enlightening. The tales of her psychotherapeutic treatment are wrought with boundary violations and highly questionable techniques (i.e., "adopting") the client.
May 30, 2016
I have several books on the subject of MPD. I find the phenomenon fascinating. This story was interesting in the way that the presenting personality described going " inside out" and also her ability to "sit on her shoulder" and hear what the "current" personality was saying.
March 30, 2010
Read this for a class, was really impressed with this book. The true story of the main character's bout with D.I.D. is just amazing. Easy but very emotional read from cover to cover.
April 12, 2018
Rubbish. How convenient that anyone and everyone who could possibly corroborate her story is dead.
December 16, 2019
Wonderfully Insightful...
This book detailed the stages and struggles one multiple experienced to recover. In the process she gave us great insight into an amazing journey to true mental health.
This book detailed the stages and struggles one multiple experienced to recover. In the process she gave us great insight into an amazing journey to true mental health.
May 14, 2017
First, I'd like to mention that I received a paperback copy of this book from a Goodreads Giveaway.
I read this book cover to cover, and I think that's probably the best way to do it. Not skipping the prologue or the afterword. Both are important and I feel like the afterword, which is written in a much more clinical way than any other part of the book is probably best left for the end, once you've finished reading the recounting of the events of Joan Casey's journey.
When I first began this book, there were a few things I noticed. First I was wary about the fact that Joan's therapist relied so heavily on the book Sybil, to the point where she even consulted directly with Dr. Wilbur, the psychiatrist who had seen Sybil. In fact, Lynn Wilson described it as her bible for Joan's case, had Joan herself read it and then Joan also had the afterword written by someone who had worked directly with Dr. Wilbur. The reason that I found this concerning is that now, so many years after the case of Sybil, there appears to be good reason to consider that Dr. Wilbur and the case of Sybil was perhaps not quite what it seemed and that the relationship between the two wasn't as therapeutic as readers were led to believe. However, given that Joan's therapy took place in the early to mid 1980's, however, I don't suppose it's that surprising that that was the case.
Another thing that I side-eyed about the book was that Joan decided to write it entirely from the point of view of one of her personalities. I had thought to myself that that was a very strange decision if we were to believe that she was better now. But, as I read the book, getting further and further along I began to change my mind about that and now that I've finished the book I think that my initial thoughts on it were understandable but hasty. While I think the book would've been just fine written in the point of view of the integrated Joan Casey, I no longer think that the decision to write the book in the point of view of Renee is an indication that she wasn't as well as she would perhaps have the reader believe.
There are still some things about Joan's journey that I find difficult to believe, like the age at which she seems to have had her first break in personality where her first separate personality emerged. The age isn't really specifically given, but it seemed to be in very early infancy and I'm just not sure that I believe that anyone could be aware enough, either of self or of other people, yet at that particular stage in order to have a personality break like that. Then again, I'm hardly an expert on such things and I can also see where someone might also be able to argue that we can't actually ask babies at that stage about any such things so we can really only go by our best educated guesses, which could possibly be wrong. So, I do see where someone looking at it from a different angle may come from, but I'm just not sure I agree.
I found this book to be a very immersive and intriguing read. I also found myself running the gamut of emotions, as well. Watch out for that last chapter, especially. It's a surprising doozy.
One thing I do wish that we'd gotten to see was that while we saw a lot of excerpts from Lynn's case diary on Joan and I loved that insight into what the therapist was thinking about the things going on and what Joan had been feeling and experiencing at the time, it was briefly mentioned that Gordon Wilson had made some notes of his own on navigational charts and I'd have loved to get some excerpts from them, as well as the also-briefly-mentioned recorded brainstorming sessions between Lynn and Gordon Wilson.
I definitely recommend this book to anyone who is interested in first-hand, first-person accounts of what something like this is like, because I think I learned some things myself while reading this and not everything I learned was specifically related to what is now referred to as DID (Dissociative Identity Disorder) but which in the book is referred to as MPD (Multiple Personality Disorder). At least according to some information I found separate of the book. And even if you aren't looking for better understanding or to learn anything, it really is just a fascinating read that will suck you right in. It's like going on the journey with Joan as she recounts her story for the reader.
Definitely a book that I'll happily keep on my shelf and take down to look through again from time to time.
I read this book cover to cover, and I think that's probably the best way to do it. Not skipping the prologue or the afterword. Both are important and I feel like the afterword, which is written in a much more clinical way than any other part of the book is probably best left for the end, once you've finished reading the recounting of the events of Joan Casey's journey.
When I first began this book, there were a few things I noticed. First I was wary about the fact that Joan's therapist relied so heavily on the book Sybil, to the point where she even consulted directly with Dr. Wilbur, the psychiatrist who had seen Sybil. In fact, Lynn Wilson described it as her bible for Joan's case, had Joan herself read it and then Joan also had the afterword written by someone who had worked directly with Dr. Wilbur. The reason that I found this concerning is that now, so many years after the case of Sybil, there appears to be good reason to consider that Dr. Wilbur and the case of Sybil was perhaps not quite what it seemed and that the relationship between the two wasn't as therapeutic as readers were led to believe. However, given that Joan's therapy took place in the early to mid 1980's, however, I don't suppose it's that surprising that that was the case.
Another thing that I side-eyed about the book was that Joan decided to write it entirely from the point of view of one of her personalities. I had thought to myself that that was a very strange decision if we were to believe that she was better now. But, as I read the book, getting further and further along I began to change my mind about that and now that I've finished the book I think that my initial thoughts on it were understandable but hasty. While I think the book would've been just fine written in the point of view of the integrated Joan Casey, I no longer think that the decision to write the book in the point of view of Renee is an indication that she wasn't as well as she would perhaps have the reader believe.
There are still some things about Joan's journey that I find difficult to believe, like the age at which she seems to have had her first break in personality where her first separate personality emerged. The age isn't really specifically given, but it seemed to be in very early infancy and I'm just not sure that I believe that anyone could be aware enough, either of self or of other people, yet at that particular stage in order to have a personality break like that. Then again, I'm hardly an expert on such things and I can also see where someone might also be able to argue that we can't actually ask babies at that stage about any such things so we can really only go by our best educated guesses, which could possibly be wrong. So, I do see where someone looking at it from a different angle may come from, but I'm just not sure I agree.
I found this book to be a very immersive and intriguing read. I also found myself running the gamut of emotions, as well. Watch out for that last chapter, especially. It's a surprising doozy.
One thing I do wish that we'd gotten to see was that while we saw a lot of excerpts from Lynn's case diary on Joan and I loved that insight into what the therapist was thinking about the things going on and what Joan had been feeling and experiencing at the time, it was briefly mentioned that Gordon Wilson had made some notes of his own on navigational charts and I'd have loved to get some excerpts from them, as well as the also-briefly-mentioned recorded brainstorming sessions between Lynn and Gordon Wilson.
I definitely recommend this book to anyone who is interested in first-hand, first-person accounts of what something like this is like, because I think I learned some things myself while reading this and not everything I learned was specifically related to what is now referred to as DID (Dissociative Identity Disorder) but which in the book is referred to as MPD (Multiple Personality Disorder). At least according to some information I found separate of the book. And even if you aren't looking for better understanding or to learn anything, it really is just a fascinating read that will suck you right in. It's like going on the journey with Joan as she recounts her story for the reader.
Definitely a book that I'll happily keep on my shelf and take down to look through again from time to time.
August 20, 2023
C'est un livre passionnant. On en apprend énormément sur le syndrome de personnalité multiple. L'alternance du point de vue de la psy et de la patiente est intéressant pour mieux comprendre ce qui se joue dans cette thérapie. Il est difficile de noter une autobiographie, mais il est vrai qu'on se laisse porter par cette histoire très atypique pour quelqu'un qui n'a jamais rencontré ce type de syndrôme.
December 21, 2017
Joan, Jo, Renee and the many other personalities that encompassed her body told their stories in this book. It was real, well it seemed very real. This is her story. I didn't feel as if it was being told by the hands of someone else. I feel that Joan and her therapist Lynn had a story to tell.
Yea, the therapeutic interventions were not conventional at all. Many ethical and legal issues arose but again it is their story. I'm not here to depict what was right and wrong. Their story sparked a conversation, one that is hidden in the secret chambers of someone's mind. Mental health. Even if the story focused on MPD or as it is known now DID. Everyone's story is different.
It's a good story but it read real slow. Then towards then end your liked smashed into her "new life" the one where she is integrated. That part read to fast. I would have liked to know a bit more in detail since there was so much detail about her past. I liked the journal entries, it was good to see Lynn's struggles with the disorder. She didn't come off as knowing all the information but learning as she went with Joan.
It was intriguing to me. To read about how the "switch" happened, how the personalities were made up from learning to cope with trauma. It is a very important aspect to know how trauma affects people, and many entirely different from others. This is Joan's story, her traumatic story of coping with trauma. It's a good read for those who are unfamiliar with mental health and a learning read for those who have some inkling of mental health.
Yea, the therapeutic interventions were not conventional at all. Many ethical and legal issues arose but again it is their story. I'm not here to depict what was right and wrong. Their story sparked a conversation, one that is hidden in the secret chambers of someone's mind. Mental health. Even if the story focused on MPD or as it is known now DID. Everyone's story is different.
It's a good story but it read real slow. Then towards then end your liked smashed into her "new life" the one where she is integrated. That part read to fast. I would have liked to know a bit more in detail since there was so much detail about her past. I liked the journal entries, it was good to see Lynn's struggles with the disorder. She didn't come off as knowing all the information but learning as she went with Joan.
It was intriguing to me. To read about how the "switch" happened, how the personalities were made up from learning to cope with trauma. It is a very important aspect to know how trauma affects people, and many entirely different from others. This is Joan's story, her traumatic story of coping with trauma. It's a good read for those who are unfamiliar with mental health and a learning read for those who have some inkling of mental health.
June 27, 2015
I am very much torn with my feelings about this book.
Firstly, I think it's great.
It is important to have people tell their stories of struggle in life, of their difficult lives, especially mental disorders. People, just regular people walking the streets, know too little about mental disorders in the world to understand other people's actions or emotions.
The story is told in great detail and what is important, there is a side to this book that I appreciate the most when reading memoirs of illnesses - there is the side of the doctor. Everything is explained and even the process of how the psychiatrist went about solving this case of the Flock. Yes, people struggle in life, people face difficulties, but it's equally important to explain what can be done about it and how you can get over all the attrocities of your youth.
Secondly, I thought it was not that great.
There is something about how the story was told and how the events unfolded that it didn't feel real. There is just something that really felt kind of off. It's hard to really point out what it was, maybe just the air surrounding the story. There were also several characters whom I found irritating and they made the book as a reading experience a very difficult one. The husband for instance was one that I thought lacked all traits of a husband. Where was the in sickess and in health part? Maybe I'm overanalysing but I can't help it, it's how I treat memoirs.
Firstly, I think it's great.
It is important to have people tell their stories of struggle in life, of their difficult lives, especially mental disorders. People, just regular people walking the streets, know too little about mental disorders in the world to understand other people's actions or emotions.
The story is told in great detail and what is important, there is a side to this book that I appreciate the most when reading memoirs of illnesses - there is the side of the doctor. Everything is explained and even the process of how the psychiatrist went about solving this case of the Flock. Yes, people struggle in life, people face difficulties, but it's equally important to explain what can be done about it and how you can get over all the attrocities of your youth.
Secondly, I thought it was not that great.
There is something about how the story was told and how the events unfolded that it didn't feel real. There is just something that really felt kind of off. It's hard to really point out what it was, maybe just the air surrounding the story. There were also several characters whom I found irritating and they made the book as a reading experience a very difficult one. The husband for instance was one that I thought lacked all traits of a husband. Where was the in sickess and in health part? Maybe I'm overanalysing but I can't help it, it's how I treat memoirs.
September 18, 2013
Joan Casey's story gives much hope and is beautifully written. Her therapist's unorthodox approach saved Joan's life; however, I wouldn't feel comfortable "adopting" a patient. The way the different personalities were explained as being distinct beings has helped me to approach my patients with DID in a more definitive way.
When the personalities began to communicate with each other, they began to see the world with more breadth: "Suddenly the world was filled with color, form and design that I had missed on my neurotic focus on people alone." I've seen that happen in my patients also - which makes them very surprised and happy!
The warmth and love expressed in this therapeutic relationship reflects how I feel about my patients - making this book a good one for therapists, people with DID and their families.
When the personalities began to communicate with each other, they began to see the world with more breadth: "Suddenly the world was filled with color, form and design that I had missed on my neurotic focus on people alone." I've seen that happen in my patients also - which makes them very surprised and happy!
The warmth and love expressed in this therapeutic relationship reflects how I feel about my patients - making this book a good one for therapists, people with DID and their families.
January 7, 2015
I enjoyed reading the story of a girl's education of self through the many others who helped her to grow up and become a woman. The many voices were well established in individuality and their purposes were diverse and necessary. I felt encouraged after finishing the book to reaffirm my inner self and to grow up about my childhood problems. It was a great way to consider seeing myself. I suggest women who feel inferior give it a try, as well as those interested in multiple personality disprder cases. Note, it does read in a very Sybil fashion, I guess. I mean that you follow a woman entering into thearapy, and they do acknowledge the work that Sybil opened doors for, but this is not a fictious book. If you would rather read a fiction novel, I reccommend Sidney Sheldon's "Tell Me Your Dreams." It involves three women linked by a murder, with a bizarre trial process.
-S.Fowler
-S.Fowler
August 14, 2018
An informative autobiography written by a woman who suffers from Dissociative Identity Disorder. The perspective of her story alternates between her and her therapist. As I had recently started treating a patient with DID, I especially appreciated the therapist’s perspective, which highlighted the challenges and dilemmas of treating this complex and often misunderstood illness. While this is (by the clinician’s own admission) not a How-to-treat-DID manual, it certainly provides some food for thought for those who treat patients with DID.
September 24, 2014
I wish there was more follow up after the integration. To be fully integrated as Joan became is a huge feat and I would have like to seen more about that and what it is like to live as a full person. I don't think Joan will ever be completely healed as the book implied. I guess for me it ended too neatly and clean, but the reality of DID is usually not neat and clean.
November 26, 2020
I agree with others here that I don't care for the way it was written. It seems more like a fictional novel. You just get the vibe the whole time that it's not real. And even back in the 80's when this allegedly occurred, there were still major breaches between doctor and patient. "Sitting and cuddling" with the 5 year old alter? Eww. DNF
April 17, 2008
This was an interesting book. I wasn't thrilled with the ending, but it was how it happened to the author ... works for some, not so much for others. I found the book fascinating, and the ending rather sad.
April 24, 2013
Pretty mind-blowing, especially the part where one personality is writing notes in class at Harvard with one hand and another personality is also writing notes with the other simultaneously in a different handwriting.
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