Product Description

"Thorough and accurate. Jane Hyman vividly portrays the internal world of DID and understands the logic and function of dissociated parts of the mind. This is the most detailed exploration I have read of the different types of parts, their origins and functions."
--Colin A. Ross, M.D. Past President, The International Society for the Study of Dissociation and author of Dissociative Identity Disorder

Be inspired by these women who have survived--and even thrived--with dissociative identity disorder

People with dissociative identity disorder (formerly called multiple personality disorder) are widely thought to be highly dysfunctional. This fascinating book debunks this myth. I Am More Than One gives you an inside look at women who have achieved success while living with the condition. Their uplifting stories shed light on a misunderstood but manageable condition—and point the way toward an active, functional, and fulfilling life.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #100768 in Books
• Published on: 2006-08-29
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 304 pages

From the Back Cover

“I've lived this way and managed for all of my life. And I don't view it as dysfunctional, actually. I like the way that I am, and it works.”
--Lucy, 44, a social worker

You can lead a fulfilled and productive life, even with the challenges of dissociative identity disorder. The women in I Am More than One are living proof that you can find new sources of strength through family and friends, build a rewarding, successful career, and still hold on to your own unique identity. Their stories are messages of hope and encouragement drawn from their real-life experiences as working women who have struggled, endured, and, ultimately, prevailed.

You'll meet Samantha, a lawyer who learned that one part of her mind helped her earn her degree and launch her own business while other parts had no idea what was happening . . . Reba, a registered nurse with multiple personalities who negotiates with all of them to perform different everyday tasks more smoothly . . . Caroline, a busy grandmother and accountant who enjoys having part of her mind exclusively for work . . . and seven other strong, unforgettable women who are trying to live their lives to the fullest.

About the Author

Jane Wegscheider Hyman, Ph.D., is a researcher and writer on women's health and a member of the New England Society for the Treatment of Trauma and Dissociation. She is the author of several books and a contributor to the bestsellers The New Our Bodies, Ourselves and Ourselves, Growing Older.

Customer Reviews

"New Wave" book on DID
Books on DID seem to fall into several categories. "My Particularly Strange Life with DID" is one sort, and "One Therapist's Harrowing and Slightly Creepy Experience with a DID Client" is another. Both these sorts of books, while educational, tend to stress the more sensationalistic aspects of DID. If this is the sort of book you are looking for, this is likely *not* the book for you.

Instead our author investigates the concept that people with DID can indeed lead functional lives in the world and in the professional workplace, and shows us how, often with the invaluable assistance of their alters, they go about dong so. As a result of this mission, she mindfully foregoes the gory details of the childhood abuse that other books often stress, and instead concentrates on how, with the help of their inners, her professionally successful interviewees manage to make their way through the world in the here and now.

One thing worth noting : The folks in this book have all had extensive therapy and as a result have come a long long way down the path toward resolving the issues that brough about their DID in the first place. As a result, it would not be fair to say that this book presents an accurate overview of the situation that all people with DID find themselves in. Many people have not come as far as those in this book, and are still in the midst of their struggles.

However, through illustrating how such people can indeed live healthy professional lives through developing a cooperative ability to live in harmony with their inner families, this book places itself squarely in the middle of a developing "New Wave" of thinking on the subject of multiple personalities. A new mode of thinking that is begining to frame alter personalities in a considerably more positive light than in the past, and as worthy personal resources that, given the choice, many people with DID would not choose to do without.

An honest and respectful view of Dissociative Identity Disorder
In her new book, I Am More Than One, Jane Hyman takes on and succeeds at a difficult task, one which few authors manage to accomplish: communicating to her readers the deep respect with which she holds the women she interviews, even though their experiences are so foreign to her. It is clear from the beginning that Jane wants us to understand these women's experiences from their own perspectives, without denying the clinical descriptions of their illness. The stories in this book are riveting; the women are sharply and almost affectionately drawn, but as much as possible Jane "gets out of the way" of her subjects. Most chapters focus on a theme such as work, family, or relationships, but my favorite is a chapter that plunges us into the life of one woman in her own words, without an attempt to relate her to the others in the book.

This book has much in common with others Jane has written. Each treats its subjects with the same repect and sincere desire to understand -- and to pass that understanding on to the reader. They are not meant to be self-help books; rather she leaves the reader to interpret the stories herself and decide what is relevant to her -- if anything. In particular, Women Living with Self-Injury,[[ASIN:1566397219 Women Living With Self-Injury] the predecessor to this book, shares many of the same engaging qualities of I Am More Than One; ]I recommend reading it for more of the same honest look at topics that are seldom discussed in books, magazines or TV shows.

Strength-based research--Brava!
Jane Hyman is a health writer (see "Our Bodies, Ourselves") who approaches the complexities of so-called mulitple personality from a perspective of health rather than pathology. She allows the women in this book to define their own lives rather than attempting to diagnose or label them. And there are many lives at stake here, for each of the women leads a number of seemingly separated existences, mostly developed in response to trauma during their childhoods. What I admire most about Jane Hyman's work is that she tells their stories and leaves the judgments of their stories to the reader.