Silencing the Voices: One Woman's Triumph over Multiple Personality Disorder

Rating:
Summary: A good read for multiples and their loved ones
Review: As a multiple, I found this book informative about MPD. I also liked the fact that the author was a very high functioning individual who was able to behave just like everyone else for most of her life--just like most of us do. It protrayed her struggles with her multiplicity in an easy to read format. She was telling her own story. If you are a survivor, be careful because there can be quite a few triggering scenes of her abuse. You will relate to at least some of it. However, what she told, needed to be told for the reader to fully understand the severity of her abuse which led to MPD. I wish there was more about how and when her alters were formed. The integration seemed too simple considering what the priocess entails and the length of time it takes. But I'm not sure any of this can fully be explained by anyone. You just have to live through it and she did. It was a very hopeful book and that was the best part. It was not an easy book to read, but one that should be read if you are familiar with MPD.

Rating:
Summary: An Inside View of Multiple Personality Disorder
Review: Even today, Multiple Personality Disorder(MPD) challenges psychologists and health care practitioners. One common denominator MPD patients seem to share is childhood trauma, usually sexual and/or physical abuse. Children use the natural human ability to "disassociate" when the pain or trauma becomes more than they can bear. After the body has been hurt, the child may no longer feel the pain because the mind has found "a safer place to be." In MPD "alters" or "other personalities" emerge; they may be male or female, child or adult, extrovert or introvert. This book is the journey of Jean Darby Cline from childhood abuse at the hands of her father, verbal abuse in her first marriage, and diagnosis as a "multiple" to therapy and healing with the help of Jack M. Reiter, M.D.,P.S.

As the book will reveal, the healing process can be as painful as the childhood abuse. During therapy, the patient often relives the memories and pain of the abuse. Often MPD patients are not aware, prior to therapy, of the multiples living inside them. They may realize there is a problem but not know exactly what the problem is. Jean Darby Cline exposes her feelings, fears and pain, and gives the reader a true account and inside view of what it is like to live with MPD. In her case, she had three alters, but it is not uncommon for patients to have many, many more as was the case in the book, "Sybil."

If you want to learn more on MPD, I would highly recommend "Silencing the Voices" as well as, "First Person Plural" by Cameron West(see my review.)Both are excellent books on the subject.

Rating:
Summary: A KALEIDOSCOPE
Review: Jean Cline's recounting of her horrific experiences with her twisted father took courage. She does not back away from her experiences in retelling them in this book; she confronts them and by setting an example encourages others to do likewise.

Jean Cline developed three distinct personalities to cope with her overwhelming life conditions. Like most persons with DID/MPD, she was highly creative, artistically talented and suffered horrendous abusive childhood experiences. She gives a fresh voice to this now recognized condition and it is through her perseverance that she is able to "integrate" her "alters" and become a core. She is Gestalt; the whole person is greater than the sum of her parts (alters). Like a shifting kaleidoscope, Jean Cline shifts into various patterns of behavior and appearances. Like a kaleidoscope, at no time is she ever the same. Once integrated, she is able to make peace with herself.

Rating:
Summary: The book was a great help in understanding disassociative id
Review: Ms. Cline's book on her life dealing with dissociative identity disorder helps to show others what it's like to live with this disorder.The abuse she lived through and her mind's way of protecting shows her strong will to survive. I liked the book because it was easy to read and not a lot of technical stuff, so I could share it with others to help to explain the disorder to others. I liked how JD kept buying vaccuum cleaners and how that was finally solved. It was also nice to read that there are people out there like her husband who would take the time to care about someone with a mental disorder.