First Person Plural: My Life As a Multiple (Hardcover)

by Cameron West (Author) "I was lying on my back on our white Berber living room carpet, admiring the self-portraits in a luxuriously detailed book called Rembrandt: The Human..." (more)
Key Phrases: male cop, lady cop, piano room, Cameron West, Comfort Room, Del Amo (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Unlike Flora Rheta Schreiber's Sybil, which presented a fairly dispassionate and professional view of multiple personality disorder, now called dissociative identity disorder (DID), West's account is an intimate memoir of the pain and frustration he encountered before and after being diagnosed. In his 30s, West began experiencing symptoms of the disorder, including the presence of inner voices, periods of blackout, memory loss and the wrenching feeling that something was deeply amiss. With the expertise of a therapist and the often heroic?and sometimes courageous?support of his wife, West eventually identified 24 separate personalities of both sexes and various ages. These "alters" told stories of horrific childhood sexual abuse by family members, which West had erased from his conscious mind. West compellingly recounts his journey toward sanity and his decision to pursue a Ph.D. in psychology in order to better understand his illness. Illustrations from his journal, in which all alters were allowed to write, and drawings done by his child personalities give weight and detail to West's account. Occasionally, in his attempt to get at the experience of DID, West waxes melodramatic and falls back on awkward metaphors. The latter, admittedly, might very well be part of the territory: how can language describe two people passing each other within the same body without awkwardness? Readers who must cope with DID or other debilitating mental illnesses, either in themselves or friends and family, will appreciate West's honesty and insight about the subject. Agent, Laurie Fox.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
West, a psychologist, relates a deeply painful narrative of his battle with dissociative identity disorder (DID). He describes the horrors he endured, both mental and physical, as a child who was grossly abused by his mother, attributing the fragmentation of his adult life to these appalling experiences and telling how his long, happy marriage and family relationships were nearly ruined by the effects of DID. The book is not entirely dark; it provides hope and encouragement to DID victims and suggests how they can be helped through the support and understanding of others. It's also a practical guide for future clinicians, offering insight into a perplexing condition. West concludes with an epilog in which he lays out his theory that abused children can achieve a sense of wholeness through the understanding and acceptance of others and the reinvention of the self. Highly recommended for any public library.?Yan Toma, Queens Borough P.L., Flushing, NY
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Hyperion; 1st edition (March 3, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786863900
• ISBN-13: 978-0786863907
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.7 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (206 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #791,464 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Cam's book definitely tells it like it is!, May 20, 2000

By	Heaven (Western USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: First Person Plural: My Life as a Multiple (Mass Market Paperback)

Its hard to say this. But this book definitely tells it like it is. Multiplicity is something that is scary to outsiders, and even fascinating, but the underlying factor is the fact that there are children out there being abused everyday, to the point where they can't handle their lives, and split off a part of themselves in order to save what they have of their existence.I know. We have it. DID is something that isn't a game, it's not a fun stage show. There's no way to explain how you went to the grocery store and walk out with $50 worth of candy. Or how hard buying a simple DRESS is, since everyone has their favorite color, style, fabric, and dollar amount, and the marathon arguments that consume time and energy. Or what to eat. It is hard to get monominds (those who are not DID) to understand. They see us as having three heads or something. We think maybe writing here would help us because people just dont understand that it's REAL. It's not a game, it's not a joke, and the hardest thing to accept is that we have this because there are some people in the world who think its right to hurt a kid. And it's not. We know that now. The switching is hard to deal with. Imagine sitting in the store and suddenly, oh no "POOH BEAR! " shouts out of your mouth. Everyone turns. Looks. I smile and try to act like I heard it too and dont know where it comes from. That's one of the better less embrassing quirks of having this disorder. I hope there are therapists reading this because we have been turned down by several, saying that the insurance we have is not worth the trouble, and especially NOT the diagnosis. We thank Cam West very very much for writing this book, which is nothing like Sybil, or any of the others. We know other DIDers who agree that this book tells it like it really is. It's not debilitating, it's not a game, it's real. Its not something I'm embrassed to talk about either. We're people in here. Created for a reason. With a purpose. For a sick reason, but that makes us no less real. It's also not as RARE as they say it is. Sadly enough. It's not as rare, and we thank Cam West for the effort and strength to write this book. Both for those of us who know we have it, and those who are afraid to say it.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A facinating memoir, December 22, 2003

By	Rachel E. Pollock (Chapel Hill, NC USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: First Person Plural: My Life as a Multiple (Mass Market Paperback)

This book is one i wanted to read for research on a novel I've had in progress for a while now. Cameron West tells his story, first-hand, of the onset of his Dissociative Identiy Disorder. Shocking, disturbing, upsetting, facinating, so many adjectives to describe it. West recounts how his wife of several years reacted to his multiplicity, how they raised their small son after the DID-onset, the harrowing details of several hospitalizations, and how, in the midst of it all, he managed to get his PhD in psychology.

A couple of caveats: West is not the best writer. The book is peppered with inspired and creative metaphors/similes (another reviewer hated them, but i found them fun--evidence of West's silly nature sometimes), but the actual style is a bit kludgy (and this shouldn't be written off as "oh, well, he's a multiple, what do you expect;" i blame his editor). There are also some subjects that he only barely touches on that I, as a reader, wanted to know more about--he talks a lot about denial, but doesn't ever analyze his initial denials of his multiplicity to any extent (this, i think you can blame on his condition, probably). He mentions a visit to an inept therapist inexperienced in dealing with multiples, but doesn't talk much about the repercussions of it, it's just presented and moved-on-from. He also presents a number of scenes in his wife's life that he simply wasn't present for, and it's hard to buy his narrative voice in those sections. I think the book would have benefited from a secondary author--large sections in his own words, with third-person sections as well--a second, cohesive, structural voice. (No joking here--after reading the book, i think he probably should have collaborated with the alter-personality he refers to as Per.)

If you are skeptical about the validity of the disorder, this book probably won't convince you--it's not written as a justification of the "reality" of the condition. It's a memoir.

All in all, an interesting book and a great resource for first-hand experience with the onset of a disorder most ppl know very little about, or have tons of misconceptions about.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Possibly one of the worst-written books I've ever read., March 27, 1999

By A Customer

This is one of those books that makes you stare at the New York Times bestseller list and wonder how a book so badly written, so full of pseudo-science, so...lame, could possibly make the list.

From the endless mentions of the brands of his and his wife's clothing to the excruciatingly purple prose to the oh-so-perfect cinematic unfolding of this story, this book was a disaster. A combination of Robert James Waller and John Gray.