Multiple Personality Allied Disorders And Hypnosis

Since the time of Mesmer, in the late eighteenth century, spectacular feats of hypnosis have been documented by respected scientific researchers, yet hypnosis has remained divorced from the main body of science. In this groundbreaking work, Dr. Eugene Bliss shows that the hypnotic capability of the mind is important to the theory and practice of psychiatry, and suggests that it deserves much more attention and research. In Multiple Personality, Allied Disorders and Hypnosis, Bliss explores both the nature of multiple personality and hypnosis, and discusses how an understanding of the latter can provide insight into the nature of certain psychiatric disorders. For instance, he views multiple personality as a form of self-hypnosis, an instance of learned schizophrenia rather than an organic disorder, as is generally thought. He outlines the trace elements involved in multiple personality and other psychiatric disorders, provides a fascinating history of the origins and current ideas about hypnosis, and gives a detailed account of the use of hypnosis in the treatment of multiple personality. Based on thirty years of clinical experience, and filled with insightful personal observations, Multiple Personality, Allied Disorders and Hypnosis is an informative, fascinating book for psychiatrists, psychologists, and anyone intrigued by hypnosis and its possible beneficial use.

Multiple personality syndrome is being diagnosed and treated in the United States in ever increasing numbers. Indeed, it is alleged that the incidence of this bizarre and striking disorder has reached epidemic proportions. Clinician/researchers report each seeing individually more than 100 patients whose minds have split into as many as 60 alter egos. Their case histories are typified by sexual and physical abuse in childhood and some have reached notoriety; in films, like Eve and Sybil and in criminal records, like Bianchi, 'the Hillside Strangler'. But does 'multiple personality' exist? This monograph takes as its point of departure the virtual absence of such patients anywhere except the U.S.A. and even then it is a relatively small number of psychologists and psychiatrists who report the overwhelming majority of cases. The book provides the first comprehensive review of the burgeoning literature from the beginning of the century to the present and covers more than 300 articles and books. It should prove of interest to psychologists, psychiatrists, psychotherapists and social workers and is an invaluable reference for students on courses in clinical and abnormal psychology as well as to practising clinicians and social workers. Following an introduction to a selection of the more notable cases, a number of critical issues are examined in ensuing chapters. These are devoted to problems of definition and differential diagnosis; aetiology; psychophysiological, psychometric and experimental studies; attempts at theoretical explanation and the relationship between MPS, hypnosis and dissociation. The author, a practising clinical psychologist and lecturer in psychopathology, gradually develops the hypothesis that MPS is best explained under the rubric of social role theory. It is argued that MPS is a culture-bound variant of hysterical psychosis occurring in individuals with high 'hypnotisability'. The tentative conclusion is that even if one accepts the reality of MPS it is unhelpful to regard it as a discrete clinical entity, and it is being grossly overdiagnosed.

Multiple Personality Disorder (MPD) has become a fad. It was once so uncommon that investigators had discovered barely 200 cases by 1980. No longer. After that year, the number of cases exploded as therapist after therapist began to report seeing dozens, scores, hundreds of MPD patients. However, Dr. August Piper asserts that the surge in MPD cases is largely generated by the doctors themselves, by their over-inclusive diagnostic criteria and self-fulfilling therapeutic techniques.

This book covers the multiple personality disorder.

Geared to the needs of mental health practitioners unfamiliar with dissociative disorders, this volume presents a comprehensive and integrated approach to diagnosis and treatment. Each step--from first interview to final post-integrative treatment--is systematically reviewed, with detailed instructions on specific diagnostic and therapeutic techniques and examples of their clinical applications. Concise yet thorough, the volume offers expert advice on such topics as how to foster a strong therapeutic alliance, how to manage crises, and what basic errors to avoid.

This book is based on a symposium that was inspired by the late Donald O. Hebb who, in his latter years while an Honorary Professor in the Department of Psychology at Dalhousie University, became very interested in the phenomenon of multiple personality and other dissociative states. Hebb was troubled by the lack of understanding of dissociative behavior and, through his discussions with basic science and clinical colleagues in psychology and psychiatry, he became convinced that the subject would be a figurative gold mine for psychological theory and experimentation. The purpose of the symposium was to bring together clinical and research scientists with an interest and expertise in dissociative phenomena such as multiple personality disorder, hysteria and hypnosis. This group would exchange ideas and findings, discuss theory, and lay the groundwork for an interdisciplinary research program into dissociative phenomena generally, and more specifically into multiple personality disorder and its principal precipitating factor -- physical and sexual abuse in children.