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First Person Plural: My life as a multiple
By Dr. Cameron West, New York: Hyperion, 1999, 354 pp., $7.50
Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) is a tragic mental disorder. First Person Plural: My life as a multiple is a first person account of the author’s own struggle with DID. Dr. West has twenty-four different personalities that have surfaced, and through his writing, he was able to capture what it sounds like in his mind, and how it feels to switch personalities. The focus of the book First Person Plural: My life as a multiple is overcoming denial and learning how to cope with life as a multiple with a spouse and a child. This book would be appropriate for a number of different people. Persons suffering from DID would be able to relate to some of the experiences that Dr. West describes. Knowing that there are other people in the world who are experiencing DID allows oneself a greater sense of self acceptance. This book would also be helpful to families and loved ones of persons suffering from DID. It would allow them to understand a little bit of what it is like to be a “multiple.”
It would be very important for psychotherapists to read this book in its entirety before prescribing it to a client. First, it gives a perspective of DID that the psychotherapist might not have been aware of, so it would be a helpful tool for them to read in any case. Second, there are chapters that are disturbing due to self-inflicted violence. These chapters would be inappropriate for sensitive readers. This book would be appropriate for anyone who is capable of understanding abstract ideas. For example, twenty-four different personalities all living inside of one body is a difficult idea for some people to grasp. For this reason, young children should not be given this book to read. Once a child is capable of understanding the concept of DID, they may be prescribed certain chapters to read, however, there are several chapters that would be inappropriate for a younger reader due to self-inflicted violence, memories of past sexual abuse and sexual contact between Dr. West and his wife. It is very important to consider the reader before prescribing this book. For family members, it may be difficult to hear about Dr. West’s past abuse if their family member with DID was also a victim of such a crime and therefore, those sections of the book may need to be skipped. For people who suffer from DID, this book would be very helpful, and sections would only need to be left out on an individual basis depending on the client’s personal circumstances. This book is written on approximately an eighth grade reading level, and would therefore be accessible to most clientele.
This book was written in 1999, and therefore is a very modern account of the treatment Dr. West received. It shows the lack of knowledge many clinicians have regarding DID, and the importance of receiving psychotherapy from an experienced clinician who has had practice working with that population.
First Person Plural: My life as a multiple is organized in three sections with a prologue and an epilogue. These sections are long and therefore would not be a feasible way to break up the reading. This book was written as an autobiographical account, similar to a novel, and would need to be read in its entirety in order to be helpful in psychotherapy, minus any inappropriate sections. Within psychotherapy, the book can be discussed as it is read and related back to the client’s life. It would be helpful for the client to keep a journal of feelings that are aroused while reading that can be discussed in the following psychotherapy session. This book can also be useful in the long-term, as a reference for the client to understand their own behavior or the behavior of a loved one. Being able to remember the way that Dr. West dealt with a situation, and whether that solution was the best way to handle it is a valuable tool for anyone going through psychotherapy. Looking at the mistakes made by Dr. West in this book might allow a client to see the outcome of their mistake before they make it. For example, at several points, Dr. West tries to ignore his alter personalities. Both times, this ends in a mental break down and a severe consequence; either broken bones or a trip to a mental hospital.
One of the major strengths of this book is the positive outcome of Dr. West’s treatment. After years of struggling with DID, he was able to come to terms with his illness, get his Ph.D., write this book, and hold his family together. It shows that it is possible to live a relatively normal life while still suffering from DID. Another strength is that this book shows how important a strong family unit is to recovery. If a family member of someone who is suffering from DID is able to read First Person Plural they may come to realize how important their role is in the recovery of their loved one. A weakness of this book is that it is long. A client with a short attention span may lose interest or stop reading because it may seem like Dr. West is a long way from recovery.
Dr. Cameron West is an amazing person who overcame many obstacles in his life to obtain a relatively normal life with his wife and son. For someone who has been diagnosed with DID or a client with a loved one who has DID, this book may provide some hope of a better life in the future. First Person Plural: My life as a multiple would be a valuable tool for psychotherapists who are treating clients or families who are affected by DID.