Customer Reviews

Life After MPD

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This is not a lurid account of multiple personality disorder such as "Sybil." Nor are there graphic details of the abuse that Debra Lighthart, a licensed clinical psychologist, suffered as a child. This is a journal-like book outlining the steps Lighthart took during her therapy to deal with MPD, a result of childhood trauma.

The most interesting part of the book is Lighthart's description about how the multiple identities ("alters") emerged. They were not all living in her, fully formed with her swapping people in and out through some kind of mental revolving door. Instead, she gives a very different view of discovering how these "alters" function, one taking tests, another drawing and painting, another emerging as a healer ("Turtle"), the part seeking health and unity. Some of the alters seem to solidify into discrete entities only when analyzed. It's not exactly like you see in movies. And this would probably be of great help to someone going through therapy for this disorder, or doing therapy for other childhood trauma or post-stress difficulties. This is a good read for a clinical psychology student or a patient.

This book will primarily appeal to mental health professionals and students in related fields. Some patients who may have Dissociative Identity Disorder or Multiple Personality Order may also wish to read the book, as potentially will their family and friends.

Beginning with Freud, mental health professionals have made it a practice to write somewhat disguised, anonymous case histories of their patients. These try to look "in" where no one can really go, someone else's mental processes and experiences.

I have always found case histories of mental issues that are written by trained mental health professionals who were the patients made for more valuable case histories. That's what drew me to this book.

Before reading this, all I knew about the subject was seeing the move, The Three Faces of Eve.

Dr. Lighthart is clearly a highly intelligent, sensitive, multitalented, imaginative and observant person. What she describes about her therapy makes an experience that is beyond my comprehension somewhat understandable to me. She chooses to say relatively little about the abuse she suffered as a child, which makes the book easier to read. Since she didn't really remember the abuse until going into therapy, you find yourself learning to perceive it in much the same way she did.

Of all the case histories I have read about mental healing, this is the only one I can remember that places spiritual values in a central role. I was pleased to see that the book explained why that is a helpful approach.

Overall, my reaction to the book was to reinforce my belief that with the right questions and mental processes we can solve any problem in a magnificent way.

The book's main draw back is that the writing is loosely, rather than tightly related to the subject of telling her story. So you'll find a lot of unnecessary repetition . . . such as the many references to Dr. Lighthart's discussions with her art instructor.

Overall, I found that I learned a lot about the problems she had in overcoming her challenges.

If you decide to read this book, take some time afterwards to get to know someone you love much better by asking about her or his childhood memories. Be supportive and loving as you do!

Life After MPD by educator and licenced Clinical Pastoral Counselor Debra Lighthart is a deeply personal and revealing account of one woman's affliction with "Multiple Personality Disorder", the nightmare childhood that fractured her personality, and the long road to recovery. Profound, reverently reflecting a faith in God, and gut-wrenchingly real and straightforward in its description of how abuse can lead to psychological trauma, and uplifting in its recounting of the journey to wholeness through the gradual accumulation of trust. Life After MPD is recommended reading for psychology students, counseling practitioners, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in multiple personality disorder conditions.

Life After MPD written by Debra Lighthart is a book about Multiple Personality Disorder and the path less chosen. By the path less chosen I am speaking about the path to healing through the leading and power of the Holy Spirit, which I believe is the only way to find true and total healing. While psychology and counselors and therapists all play an important role in this process, none of them alone have the power to bring hope, help and true healing to the disorderly and confusing life of a multiple.

With in the pages of her book, Debra outlines what the path looked like for her. How she sought the power of the spirit and allowed it to guide her process and ultimately bring true healing within her life. She encourages a person with MPD to remember first and foremost, to not depend on anyone or anything but God within them to bring about the external change, for in God's eyes, everyone including the multiple is whole. It is a refreshing outlook for one to be reminded that MPD does not define who a multiple is, but only a symptom of a world gone awry.

If you are seeking an easy path through MPD, this is not the book for you, for God says that the path to Him is narrow, however if you are seeking true healing from the inside out, this book offers itself to be an effective guide to setting a path towards your own healing process.

This book has perhaps the wrong title. Most of the book is about Debra's time in therapy. In the early stages of the book Debra explains how she came to terms with the diagnoses of MPD (Later called DID) before focusing on how spiritual help (Jesus, Mary and the Holy Spirit) was of benefit during the counselling process. Chapter 4 contains information of the different tools and techniques that were used during the therapeutic process. Debra explains how integration took place and her thoughts and feelings in the following days. It is an interesting book, giving insight to one persons life who states that have continued to remain integrated, some five years later.

This small publication gives the reader an account of one Christian woman's journey into her many selves and asserts that her healing came from the guidance of Jesus, God, the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary. The numerous references to these purely Christian figure heads did little to assure me of any scientific foundation regarding this account. While her therapists were more open to the concept of "spiritual guides", Dr Lighthart, clearly is not.