Understanding and Treating Dissociative Identity Disorder: A Relational Approach

Howell, a psychoanalyst and traumatologist who teaches at the National Institute for Psychotherapies Trauma Studies Program and is associated with the Dissociative Disorders Training Program of the International Society for the Study of Dissociation, provides a guide to dissociative identity disorder (DID) and its treatment. She explains the nature of dissociation and dissociative disorders and relates the stories of three of her patients and their experiences while discussing the concept of the dynamic unconscious and the dissociative structure of mind; the historical context; the organization of the personality system in DID; how DID is a trauma disorder; its development; neurobiological aspects; organization of the dissociated self-states; assessment and diagnosis; and treatment aspects like phase-oriented treatment, facilitating coconsciousness and coparticipation, working with persecutory alters, dimensions of coconstruction, dreams, suicidality, and comorbidity. Annotation 穢2011 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)