Books?

[paganmommy.livejournal.com]

I was at the bookstore today and was going to purchase a book of case studies on Multiples, but changed my mind at the last minute. I was wondering if you all had any recommendations? My only criteria really is that they are fairly easy to read as my concentration has been abysmal for the past few years, and I would like to actually finish any that I pick up.

Comments

[andrianna.livejournal.com]

Would websites be of interest or help to you??

-S

[paganmommy.livejournal.com]

Sure, those would be great too. :) Thank you.

[andrianna.livejournal.com]

Here ya go:

http://www.astraeasweb.net/plural/ (http://www.astraeasweb.net/plural/)

http://nisha.focusindia.com/amanda/ddnos.html (http://nisha.focusindia.com/amanda/ddnos.html)

At the bottom of this last page, there is a webring link that may lead you to other sites of interest or help.

-S

Hmmm...

[sethrenn.livejournal.com]

Well, Astraea's bookstore page gives a pretty extensive list of the ones currently out there. The thing is that none of these books are likely to give a very positive impression of multiplicity, since with few exceptions they always end in integration and portray it as a devastating mental illness. Also, the majority of them weren't actually written by multiples themselves, but authored or co-authored by various professional writers who knew what angles to play up in order to sell a book.

Still, if you want to get an idea of what's out there, these are books I've seen recommended by other multiples: "When Rabbit Howls" by Truddi Chase was the first book actually written by a multiple household which chose not to integrate, iirc, and it describes co-running, co-presence and how a system can be functional and employed. Unfortunately, it also perpetuates several negative stereotypes, namely that of all multiples having psychic powers and being super geniuses, and that multiplicity is always rooted in brutal sexual abuse. I've also heard a few people recommend "The Flock," which has less emphasis on grueling abuse stories than most case histories. And, well, there's always Sybil, if you want to find out where a lot of these stereotypes came from in the first place, although that one gets heavy on the Freudianism at times. Minds of Billy Milligan was also kind of an interesting read, largely because it was obvious to us that he was multiple before he was abused, but even the author who told his story didn't seem to put two and two together on this one.

Good luck finding any of these in a bookstore or library-- a lot of libraries have pulled most or all of their books on multiplicity after all the scandals. You can still find Sybil, Rabbit Howls and First Person Plural in most bookstores, but that's about it as far as finding them offline is concerned-- at least, that's been our experience; you might find bookstores that still have stuff.

Tamsin for Amorpha

[emploding.livejournal.com]

if your into biographies, first person plural rocks... when rabbits howl is good, the minds of billy milligan is also good.. magic castles is excellent, and my personal fave is the flock

[caitlin.livejournal.com]

This one might be a little difficult to find: "Multiple Personality Disorder from the Inside Out" (I've had my copy since 1994, so...)

Not sure who the author(s) are, aside from the various MPD/DID individuals

C.

[ksol1460.livejournal.com]

We sell it. Also all of the aforementioned.

http://www.astraeasweb.net/plural/books.html

They're alphabetised by author or editor; you can also do a control-F on the page and search for a title.

Editor on "Multiple Personality from the Inside Out" is Eliana Gil.

[caitlin.livejournal.com]

Er... I don't think so on the editor...

Title: Multiple Personality Disorder from the Inside Out
Author: Edited by Barry M. Cohen, with Esther Giller and Lynn Wasnak
Publisher: Sidran, 1991
ISBN: 0-9629164-0-4

That was the book I was referring to.

=)

C.

[ksol1460.livejournal.com]

Nyagh. Yes. Got Gil and Giller confused. They all start to sound the same after a while (it's all one song). It's the climate. I've been drinking too much orange juice.

Have fun browsing the books page. We do need to break it down in sections, it's quite large.

[caitlin.livejournal.com]

*wry* There's no such thing as too much orange juice!!!!!! (Unless you're talking about OJ Simpson, but we aren't going there! *g*)

Weird thing about your books section... most of them we wouldn't go near again (having gotten some of them before) even if paid.

And as for ophelia's review of "When Rabbit Howls"... ummm.... totally disagree with her POV. Then again, we're with you... "Rabbit" helped us realise that we were we too! (especially after all the weird stuff that had happened before reading the book... like feeling as though we were looking out of someone else's face, etc...)

BTW, we just added you to our friendslist... just FYI

C.

[ksol1460.livejournal.com]

;) Thanks.

And most of the books in our bookstore we wouldn't go anywhere near either. A most graphic display of the need for books providing accounts of experiences of multiplicity that aren't MPD/DID oriented.

[whatitslike.livejournal.com]

It depends immensely on what you're looking for!

If you want case studies in the technical psychological sense, there's a book by Colin Ross called The Osiris Complex: Case-Studies in Multiple Personality Disorder published by the University of Toronto in 1994. This is a very valuable book if you want to see a clinical viewpoint on lots of different instantiations of multiplicity, but I'm not sure it'd qualify as easy to read. The individual studies are all fairly short, which might help, but its written by a psychiatrist for others in the field & thus its pretty dense. The other potential problem with this book is that it triggered the hell out of me; I read most of it because I want to know the clinical view on multiplicity, but as I disagree violently with it I ended up pretty upset every time I picked up the book.

If you're looking for a more personal account, my favourite multiple autobiography is The Flock by Joan Frances Casey and Lynn Wilson. It was written by an integrated multiple & her therapist, but includes contemporary material from before the integration -- journal entries, the therapist's notes, and the like. There are two reasons I love this book; first, while Joan ends up intergrating it isn't anyone's goal -- her therapist doesn't push her towards it & nobody in her system pushes towards it. Secondly, while Joan's childhood abuse is a part of the story, the descriptions aren't graphic and that's not the focus; the focus is how her system (The Flock is what they called themselves) lived their lives, learned about each other, how each of them perceived their situation -- its a very beautiful, hopeful book.

If you can tell me a bit more about what you're looking for, we can happily recommend more books.

[sethrenn.livejournal.com]

Caveat about Colin Ross-- we personally disagreed very much with his ideas on multiplicity. He believes that the human brain cannot support more than one personality (although I have yet to see any real neurological evidence to support this conclusion), that the different people in a system aren't really people but just the delusions of one person who has managed to convince themselves they are many, and that integration (or forcing the others to admit they supposedly don't really exist) is the only solution. I'm guessing this was why it upset you. We're not big fans of his either.


~Azusa, for amorpha

[whatitslike.livejournal.com]

Indeed, we very much don't agree with what the model he uses for multiplicity. I'm under the impression, though, that his model is the commonly accepted clinical model -- one can certainly find therapists (lots of them!) who don't subscribe to it, but the "dissociative identity disorder" model and all that implies is what is taught in most clinical psych programs. Not that that makes it valid, but some of us like to try to know what they're teaching about us so we can explain why it isn't accurate.

Thanks for clarifying this!