Literature review - personal insights

I know this isn't literature, but I enjoy reading psychiatric anecdotal accounts. This one, about a woman with twenty four separate personalities, was especially interesting. I never read these for entertainment, but for comradeship. I am not a multiple personality, but I am a borderline personality. I don't lose time when my girls take over, but I don't have any control over when it happens. Indeed, I rarely notice until afterwards that one of the girls has taken the wheel. What did I learn? Even though, when my mood is neutral, I can logically look at my different mood swings and predict which girl will take over, (i.e. Lilia comes out when she's scared or very loved), I need to find out why my girls came to be to begin with. Understanding their purpose is the first step to integrating them into me.

I like reading these psychiatric accounts because I enjoy reading about their treatment, and the methods they used to get better. I was extremely impressed, and someone discomfited, by the amount of interest The Flock's author took in her patient. I appreciate all the therapists she went to that didn't believe in her diagnosis, didn't listen to her when she felt she was in crisis, and just thought she was being manipulative.

I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who knows a multiple personality (now called dissociative identity disorder), and even to anyone who knows a Borderline personality. It won't make it any easier to live with, but it will make it more understandable, and that's really all you can ask.