Product Description

In this unique book, persons with Dissociative Disorders and their significant others address the complex issues of diagnosis, therapy, and maintaining personal relationships. "Viewed from the inside out," Dissociative Identity Disorder takes on an impassioned voice as those who struggle with dissociation share their experiences, obstacles, and triumphs. Contributions by 146 individuals diagnosed with Dissociative Identity Disorder and the people with whom they share their lives have been gathered into an accessible and practical volume for therapists, clients, and lay readers interested in how to better be supportive of individuals who suffer with dissociative diagnoses. Many will find that the book validates their own experiences and feelings, as it explores the post-diagnosis journey. Published by The Sidran Foundation with the Eastern Regional Conference on Abuse and Multiple Personality and the newsletter Many Voices, Multiple Personality Disorder from the Inside Out has been compiled and edited by a therapist, a client, and a family member. In addition to the first-person writings described above, the volume contains an introductory chapter describing MPD and dissociation, a glossary of terms, a list of resources, and an index. Winner of the prestigious 1991 Distinguished Achievement Award given by the International Society for the Study of Multiple Personality and Dissociation.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #391310 in Books
• Published on: 1991-09-04
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 245 pages

Review
"A must for anyone whose life has been touched by this complex disorder." --Frank W. Putnam, M.D., Chief Unit on Dissociative Disorders, National Institute of Mental Health

"If I had to offer one book to teach people what it's really like to live with multiplicity, I would choose this one." --Meg Nugent, Moving Forward

"Multiple Personality Disorder from the Inside Out speaks about multiplicity in a way that makes sense: free of the jargon and esoterica that distances. Full of the power and courage of real people's lives, this book is wonderful, very human, and truly useful." --Ellen Bass, co-author of The Courage to Heal

If I had to offer one book to teach people what it's really like to live with multiplicity, I would choose this one. . . . I want everyone who knows I have MPD to read this helpful, comprehensive, disturbing, and wonderful book. I want other multiples to read it too, especially those who live in isolation, without contact with other multiples. Pass it on to your supportive friends and relatives. Give it to everyone on your holiday shopping list. -- Moving Forward, November-December 1991

MPD from the Inside Out . . . in many ways serves as a consolidation of what has been shared by MPD patients in their first-person accounts over the last several years. It is a powerful testament to the endurance, resilience, and courage of the human spirit, and a valuable resource for anyone who works in the dissociative disorders field. . . . It is a treasure-trove of powerful and evocative images and accounts that can provide an education immersion in the affective and attitudinal worlds of MPD patients. It is a competent guidebook to these terrains. It can take the reader to places that scientific articles and authoritative texts, however sensitive and eloquent, cannot. Because of its immense potential importance in helping therapists to understand MPD patients, and "walk a mile in their moccasins," its publication is an important event in the dissociative disorders field. -- Dissociation, June 1991

MPD from the Inside Out is a much needed resource for the professional community, victims, and their families/supporters. . . . [It] presents a picture of multiplicity that is both frightening in its graphic presentation of the violence that produces this disorder and hopeful in its tales of recovery and success. The book also implies in its writings a value on the underlying strength and determination and creativity of this population of survivors that is rarely spoken. . . . a powerful tool for therapists, an end to isolation and silence for survivors, and a source of insight on multiple personality disorder for all. -- Treating Abuse Today, vol. 3, no. 3, 1993

The unique quality of this book is the authentic voice of the person with MPD describing an unimaginable experience of life that becomes comprehensible and familiar. At some point the therapist who is learning about MPD must gain this understanding from the inside out and this can be a slow process when working with only one or a few individual clients. This book offers a giant step towards this understanding. -- Art Therapy, Autumn 1991

This book is a must for professionals, survivors, and their family or significant others. -- Family Violence & Sexual Assault Bulletin, vol. 9, no. 2, 1993

This just-released anthology of clinically relevant articles is an excellent and timely contribution to the field of MPD and, indeed, to the field of psychotherapy in general. It presents a common vision of principles which are devoted to improving life with MPD and also a variety of applications and experiences which are useful to the clinician, client, and lay reader. In these pages the reader can find an exciting and deeply humanistic spirit from those who live with multiplicity and from spouses, relatives, or partners or survivors. -- Common Ground, August 1992

This shining jewel is a masterpiece of psychoeducation. It is a compilation of the writings of 132 people with MPD. This well-indexed book is nicely arranged into chapters dealing with diagnosis, emotional pain, skepticism, treatment issues including integration, and family issues. This is must reading for therapists and patients alike. -- ISSMP&D News, December 1991

Those individuals who know multiple personality disorder (MPD) best., i.e., those who live with the diagnosis every day, have contributed essays and poetry in this skillfully edited volume. This book, which should be required reading for every therapist who works with MPD, enables others to view life with MPD from the client's perspective, clearly describing their frustrations, confusion, courage, and hope. . . The book is a valuable resource to the client as well, providing a sense that someone shares her/his fears and feelings. It is a fresh look at the trials of the therapy process and informs therapists in a non-threatening way. Finally, it is an overview which can explain the many confusing components that family and friends experience daily in their lives with MPD clients. In a few, inexpensive pages, MPD from the Inside Out accomplishes a great deal. -- Journal of Traumatic Stress, April 1993

From the Publisher
This book is published by the Sidran Foundation, a national nonprofit organization devoted to advocacy, education, and research in support of people with traumatic stress conditions. To learn more about the Sidran Foundation and our work, please visit our website at http://www.sidran.org.

Customer Reviews

A wonderful, friendly, healing book

I personally think this is a wonderful book :) It's a collection of writing from 146 multiples and some of their significant others; lots of prose, some poetry and a little art.

The writing was sent in as a response to a questionnaire distributed to readers of Many Voices and members of ISSMP&D (now ISSD). It contained three open questions for multiples, and one for SOs. The multiple were asked what they wish they had known when they were first diagnosed, and what the would like therapists and SOs to know about MPD. SOs were asked what they would like to share with other friends and SOs of multiples.

From these questions there is is a huge range of responses. From people talking about the terror, or relief of their diagnosis as MP, to guidelines to prevent abuse in therapy, and for health workers dealing with multiples in the emergency room. It is this breadth that makes the book so valuable to me, I can go to it just wanting companionship in my fears, or looking for inspiration, or to help me find a solution to a problem in our inside work.

The book is divided into nine chapters; the first seven deal with the course of therapy (Diagnosis, Pain, Skeptics, Therapy Successes, Therapy Disappointments, Hope, Unification). The last two are about relationships, one (Families and Friends) talking about what the multiple wants from their relationships, the other (Other's Voices) a collection of writing by the SOs themselves, these are authored by many people, including a son, a daughter, a mother, spouses, partners and friends.

The main things I miss in it are writing by littles (I think there are 2 or 3 things, but I'd like to see more), writing by non-"host" alters in general (again there was a little, but not as much as I'd have liked) and writing by therapists.

All I can say in recommendation is that I've read it, I've loaned it to my SO to read, and my counselor read it cover to cover. I think it gave us all a little more hope, and understanding, something that we all so desperately need.

A Must Read For Those with MPD and their Loved Ones
As someone who has DID/MPD, this is the best overall book I have read. It gives the perspective on MPD from those that know best, the people who have it. Being diagnosed with DID (the new name) is trauma in itself, let alone reading all the mis-information out there, and hearing the sensationalism. This book was like reading about myself. It validated my feelings and helped me not feel so alone and afraid. I still refer to parts of it for inspiration, information, and acknowledgment that I'm not crazy. I had my husband read the book, my therapist has read it, and anyone in my life that wants to be supportive also gets a copy. I am well on the road to recovery now, and I can truly say that this book helped me along the way.

Multiple Personality Disorder From the Inside Out
This book was incredible. I wish I had read it when I was first diagnosed with the disorder, but I was well on my way into integration by the time I found it. Even still, it was helpful because I was able to see that others were feeling the same exact things I had felt and was still feeling. It validated my thoughts and feelings about every aspect of the disorder. I highly recommend this book to anyone who has been diagnosed with MPD, their therapists, their significant others and anyone else who knows someone with MPD and wants to understand what is happening to them.