First Person Plural: My Life As a Multiple

Reading "First Person Plural: My Life As a Multiple", I have to agree with several reviewers on Amazon.com that this autobiography may be a fabrication: not because it is too bizarre, but because it is too superficial. It reads like it was written by a singleton, maybe with some material by a multiple. Was there a ghostwriter? The writing is bad too.

"When Rabbit Howls" is far more powerful; that book is awe inspiring.

I thought about owning a copy of "When Rabbit Howls" a few months ago, then I decided "Eh, ###$ it", cause I already read the damn thing and experience it on a daily basis.

I have not read the first book that you refer to.

I bought a copy of "When Rabbit Howls" but it is a bit too intense for me to be able to get through yet. I had to leave it for the moment. It triggered me a bit. I will be glad when I am strong enough to read that book because everything I have heard about it has been good.

I read "When Rabbit Howls" years ago and found it extremely unsettling.
I remember wondering about the revenge bit. Maybe because revenge has never helped me in any way.

"First Person Plural: My Life As a Multiple" had a few points of interest for me.

• Brief encounter with one assclown therapist who seemed to be in total denial about DID.
• The embarrassing and potentially traumatizing problem of having sex while alters look on or participate or, even worse, a child alter comes out.
• Experiencing a hard electrical jolt plus visual hallucination. This happened to me too. It jump started my crisis.

After reading this post I decided to go out and purchase a copy of "When Rabbit Howls". There was a fair amount of resistance going on with some of my others. Then of course I began to float away/zone out, get headache, etc.. My friend who came with me said we were switching a fair bit. By the time I had gotten home, my friend suggested that I just get rest for the night and took the book with them until tomorrow. It would appear, that even the notion of reading a book about DID is a trigger. From the conversations that I can recall; some were willing to read the book, some didn't really care and finally, there was a huge amount of difficulty from 2 others.

I don't mean to "hijack" the thread if I am, sorry. I am just wondering if me/us reading this right now would be such a good idea? For a while there we were switching multiple times all day long and things have just sort've "calmed" down. (Jason)

Jayson wrote:After reading this post I decided to go out and purchase a copy of "When Rabbit Howls". [...]
I am just wondering if me/us reading this right now would be such a good idea?

I think this is one of those questions that can be answered only by trial and error. If you don't feel up to it, don't do it. It can wait. On my reading list, but I don't feel up to it yet, is Jessica Stern's "Denial: A Memoir of Terror".

One of the moderators (Mr.Bates) is a big fan of this book actually. He hasn't posted in quite a while, but I'm sure he would have something to say.

Lacan

Jayson wrote:I am just wondering if me/us reading this right now would be such a good idea?

I haven't read it (When Rabbit Howls), but I've heard it's pretty detailed and triggering, so if even buying the book caused so much of an upset, maybe you shouldn't read it, right now. When you're feeling better, maybe ask the ones who are against it why they don't want to read it... discuss it with them, and figure out if it's a good idea to read it.

I have read First Person Plural and it is probably my least favorite book on DID, besides Sybil.

When Rabbit Howls is a great book, but extremely intense. I wondered about the claims about electric things acting strange around her though. Does that make sense to anyone else?

Although a bit depressing, another good book on the subject is A Fractured Mind: My Life with Multiple Personality Disorder by Robert Oxnam.