Book Club Meeting: A Discussion of Emma and Her Selves: A Memoir of Treatment and a Therapist’s Self-Discovery

Presenter: May Benetar

May Benatar has written a short book about a long relationship with a woman with Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID), formerly known as Multiple Personality Disorder (MPD). The book focuses on the twenty year relationship with all of the drama, mystery, and redemptive power that characterized the process.

The consequences of extreme childhood trauma and the concept of dissociation are discussed, particularly as they pertain to Emma, the young woman struggling with the legacy of her trauma . As this was May’s first DID patient, her own steep learning curve in managing a confusing and chaotic treatment process is an important part of the narrative.

The idea of universality of parts, how we all have parts that are more or less integrated to the whole is addressed in the book and in our discussion of the book.

Workshop Objectives: At the end of this class participants will be able to:

1. Understand dissociation, and how this appears in someone with a dissociative disorder.
   
2. Dissociative disorders are not as rare as we might think, so recognizing this as part of a trauma history should be in the toolbox of all clinicians.
   
3. The phenomenology of DID, how this might present as a clinical picture
   
4.  Identify some of their own parts or ego states.
   

Category: 2 | CEUs: 2.5