This book surprised me. It was a detailed description of a woman who seeks help for debilitating headaches and troubling bouts of amnesia and who discovers, with the help of two psychiatrists, she is battling a rare disorder. Her story is told in a non-clinical narrative format that worked for me. I can see how some might not rate this very high because it is an intrinsically difficult subject. Unlike some earlier reviewers, I loved the literary references scattered throughout the text as well as the fairly rigorous medical description of her case. Most of the difficult "inside psychiatry" data have been pushed to the end as appendixes, and - this is what surprised me - I was able to follow along with the fairly complicated analyses found here after having read the main text. Some reviewers seemed confused by the Freudian references cited by the authors which, ironically, the authors dutifully submitted as data while explicitly disavowing the Freudian diagnosis; in other words, some reviewers wrongly critiqued the book, their criticism being right in line with the same sceptical viewpoint as expressed by the authors. Finally, I found the denouement to be quite fascinating and powerfully described. I won't forget it (or will I?). ( )

Detailed account by a patient with what used to be termed 'multiple personality disorder', given as case notes taken by her psychiatrist. Very painful and insightful look into a mind shattered, and the traumatic events that shattered it. ( )

Apparently, this is a true story and this book is more or less a medical text of the patient ... which I guess makes sense because the book is about as dry as any medical text I've read. I just could not get into it :-( I got as far as meeting the 2nd personality and really lost interest in the patient and learning more about her or how the story progresses.

Adrianne ( )