Forensic Aspects of Dissociative Identity Disorder (Forensic Psychotherapy Monograph Series) [Paperback]

Adah Sachs (Editor), Graeme Galton (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 2008 | ISBN-10: 1855755963 | ISBN-13: 978-1855755963 | Edition: 1

Personality Disorder is a baffling, confusing and rather bizarre condition. Although Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) is a formal DSM-IV diagnosis, it is still very controversial, and many professionals claim that it is extremely rare, does not exist or is fictitious. There are many reasons why professionals may be reluctant to acknowledge DID: it is, indeed, baffling, confusing and bizarre. However, there are, perhaps, other reasons for the “low popularity” of this condition.

DID, like Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), appears to be caused by trauma. But unlike PTSD, it appears to be caused by prolonged trauma, trauma which started in early childhood or infancy. Listening to accounts of people with DID is confusing due to the multiplicity of speaker(s)—it is also upsetting. The traumatic content of the stories is upsetting. The un-proved claims about terrible crimes are unsettling. We are faced with very difficult legal, ethical, moral and clinical questions, not knowing how to respond, what to believe, how to think.

This book focuses on the most unsavory aspects of DID, namely, the forensic. It explores the role of crime in the lives of people with DID: crimes committed against them, by them and crimes that they have witnessed. The various papers reflect the experiences and thoughts of a range of professionals who have worked with this group: a GP, a psychiatrist, a police officer, a lawyer, psychotherapists and counselors and, most generously, a person who has DID.

Editorial Reviews

Review

'It is important to have a book that raises such complex and provocative questions as few professionals have received any adequate training in this subject.'Dr Estela V. Welldon MD DSc (Hon) F.R.C.Psych., Founder and Honorary President for life of the International Association for Forensic Psychotherapy'This is an excellent and groundbreaking collection of papers that dares to consider a subject that society finds too painful to consider. Extreme and sustained crimes against a young child, whether committed within the family or by organised groups, can have a shattering and far-reaching effect on their sense of self and capacity to form secure attachments to others. These devastating consequences are made worse if they also face public denial and disbelief when they dare to speak of the crimes against them. The international contributors to this volume have done a superb job of bringing understanding to this complex subject. A long-overdue and valuable book.' Sir Richard Bowlby

About the Author

Graeme Galton is a psychoanalytic psychotherapist in the National Health Service and in private practice. At the Parkside Clinic in London he works with individuals and groups in an NHS outpatient psychotherapy service. He also works at the Clinic for Dissociative Studies, a small specialist outpatient mental health service for people suffering from severe trauma and dissociation. He is a Registered Member of the Centre for Attachment-based Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy, where he teaches on the clinical training programme. He is also a visiting tutor at the School of Psychotherapy and Counselling, Regent's College, London.

Adah Sachs has worked for many years as a psychotherapist in psychiatric hospitals, first at St. Clements (the Royal London Hospital) and then at Huntercombe Manor, a special hospital for adolescents. She is a visiting lecturer and a training supervisor at the Centre for Child Mental Health and at the Centre for Attachment-based Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy, as well as in her private practice.

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Karnac Books; 1 edition (September 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1855755963
• ISBN-13: 978-1855755963
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.7 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,095,295 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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