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Switching Time: A Doctor's Harrowing Story of Treating a Woman with 17 Personalities
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 920
EAN: 9780307382672
Edition: Reprint
ISBN: 0307382672
Label: Three Rivers Press
Manufacturer: Three Rivers Press
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 368
Publication Date: September 09, 2008
Publisher: Three Rivers Press
Release Date: September 09, 2008
Studio: Three Rivers Press
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Editorial Review:
One afternoon in 1989, Karen Overhill walks into psychiatrist Richard Baer’s office complaining of vague physical pains and depression. Odder still, she reveals that she’s suffering from a persistent memory problem. Routinely, she “loses” parts of her day, finding herself in places she doesn’t remember going to or being told about conversations she doesn’t remember having. Her problems are so pervasive that she often feels like an impersonator in her own life; she doesn’t recognize the people who call themselves her friends, and she can’t even remember being intimate with her own husband. Baer recognizes that Karen is on the verge of suicide and, while trying various medications to keep her alive, attempts to discover the root cause of her strange complaints. It’s the work of months, and then years, to gain Karen’s trust and learn the true extent of the trauma buried in her past. What she eventually reveals is nearly beyond belief, a narrative of a childhood spent grappling with unimaginable horror. How has Karen survived with even a tenuous grasp on sanity?Then Baer receives an envelope in the mail. It’s marked with Karen’s return address but contains a letter from a little girl who writes that she’s seven years old and lives inside of Karen. Soon Baer receives letters from others claiming to be parts of Karen. Under hypnosis, these alternate Karen personalities reveal themselves in shocking variety and with undeniable traits—both physical and psychological. One “alter” is a young boy filled with frightening aggression; another an adult male who considers himself Karen’s protector; and a third a sassy flirt who seeks dominance over the others. It’s only by compartmentalizing her pain, guilt, and fear in this fashion—by “switching time” with alternate selves as the situation warrants—that Karen has been able to function since childhood.Realizing that his patient represents an extreme case of multiple personality disorder, Baer faces the daunting task of creating a therapy that will make Karen whole again. Somehow, in fact, he must gain the trust of each of Karen’s seventeen “alters” and convince them of the necessity of their own annihilation.As powerful as Sybil or The Three Faces of Eve, Switching Time is the first complete account of such therapy to be told from the perspective of the treating physician, a stunningly devoted healer who worked selflessly for decades so that Karen could one day live as a single human being.
From the Hardcover edition.
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - MPD - believe it.
To be able to be any one of seventeen people, even different genders, whenever you want--that sounds pretty damn good to me. To have at your service: a very responsible "father figure"; a super organized "mother"; an artist; a devout religious servant of God;
An angry boy to scare away tormenters; a perfect accommodating girl for dating and wifely duties; another perfect girl for household duties; a really good liar & thief; someone to absorb physical pain and be sick; someone to be submissive ... Read More
Rating:  - Having multiple personalities is not rare. Title is demeaning.
I'm both a survivor of long-term childhood abuse healed from most of the devastation caused by what is now known as Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID). And I am a psychotherapist trained to work with trauma survivors to include DID. Although any survivor with DID will tell you it is not a disorder but a blessing. No child could survive remembering such abuse. Survivors with DID are typically victims of early childhood incest.
As cited at the website for The National Center for Victims of Crime, ... Read More
Rating: - Switching Time: A Doctor's Harrowing Story of Treating a Woman with 17 Personalities by Richard Baer
I find the premise of this book to be both appalling and offensive! Multiple Personality Disorder, known for the past ten years as Disassotiative Identity Disorder, is neither UNCOMMON or is it a DISEASE. Children, innately equipped with a beautiful and highly developed ability to disassociate from traumatic events are able to "create" a "personality" or "alter" to experience and remember the trauma so that the child can survive the overwhelming sensations and impulses connected to the trauma. This coping mechanism ... Read More
Rating: - Magnificent
Amazing read. Really enjoyed the book. The look into the interworkings of the psyche was facinating. The way the brain can change its chemistry to a adapt to God aweful situations is prevelant in this book. The writing is not too clinical but it doesn't dumb down anything either. Highly recommended.
Rating: - Wow! Karen is an amazing woman!
This is an amazing story of a woman overcoming terrible events in her childhood. It is terribly sad and difficult to believe, but it's out there. Bad stuff doesn't just happen on tv and the movies. This is real life about an amazing woman. Read more about this amazing woman and this incredible book at http://switchingtime.wordpress.com/.
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