Myth of Sanity: Divided Consciousness and the Promise of Awareness

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No one likes being called crazy. But Dr. Martha Stout, a psychological trauma specialist, invites all to question their own level of mental acumen in The Myth of Sanity. Her logic makes sense: all humans experience fear, especially during youth; individuals' response systems determine how their brains catalogue traumatic experiences and trigger "dissociative" coping strategies. Those who experience horrific situations like abuse, catastrophe, or grueling medical procedures fare the worst over time; their dissociative behaviors can manifest themselves as situational fatigue, "lost" hours or days, or split personalities.

Drawing from 20 years of treating such patients, Stout presents several composite characters to illustrate all levels of dissociative behavior: from the very serious DID (dissociative identity disorder, or "switching" among distinct personalities) to the nearly universal "brief phasing out" (losing a thought or getting "caught up" in something). As each patient undergoes psychoanalysis, Stout highlights clues for identifying trauma sufferers and lends advice to their loved ones. Tending away from scientific data or supportive research findings--while tending toward a fiction-lover's prose--The Myth of Sanity focuses on personal stories and Stout's zealous admiration for responsible therapy patients who wake to a sanity unclouded by past fears. --Liane Thomas


From Publishers Weekly
Stout, a clinical psychiatrist at Massachusetts General Hospital and an instructor at Harvard Medical School, writes here about her experiences working with abuse survivors who exhibit dissociative behavior--blacking out, losing time, even developing "alters" or multiple personalities. Engaging in the fashionable practice of analyzing psychiatric disorders in terms of the culture at large, Stout claims that in our repeated exposure to media violence, we have become a "shell-shocked species." In other words, the everyday experiences of distraction and escape ("spacing out" during a meeting, losing oneself in a movie) are not that different--in terms of physiology and behavior--from an abused individual's experiences of dissociation and hypnotic trance, which she illustrates through fascinating accounts of her patients' lives, such as the boy who witnesses his brother being kicked to death by a sexually abusive uncle and the girl whose mother threatens, during a terrifying game of hide and seek, to cut off her thumbs. Stout describes dissociative experiences in compassionate and moving prose ("Julia did not remember her childhood because she was not present for it"; "Garrett's childhood was too terrifying for any child to survive... he became several children, and these children divvied up the horror, and made it survivable"). However, readers may be surprised to find that, title aside, this engaging book never delivers on its initial promise to show us how dissociative individuals have harnessed a particular ability to live life to its fullest; most of the people here seem pretty happy just to have survived. Agent, Susan Lee Cohen. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
Such films and books as The Three Faces of Eve and Sybil have made the phenomenon of multiple personality disorder familiar. This condition, which is now known as Dissociative Identity Disorder, is more common and less flamboyant than its portrayals in the media. In its less severe form, argues Stout (psychology, Harvard Medical Sch.), sufferers may just seem absentminded or emotionally distant. Moreover, the kind of childhood trauma that causes such dissociation can be caused by "life events" such as accidents or surgery as well as by ongoing parental abuse. As is often the case with books written by therapists, it is impossible to tell how common such a condition may be, and the reader is left with the suspicion that the author is generalizing from a few patients. However, as this particular title is well written, the topic is of perennial interest, and this is the only discussion of the less-exaggerated forms of the disorder written for the lay reader, this book is recommended for all but the smallest public libraries. Mary Ann Hughes, Neill P.L., Pullman, WA Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.


Judith Jordan, Ph.D., Harvard Medical School
"A gift to all people who wish to understand the roots of human trauma, violence and disconnection."


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Such films and books as The Three Faces of Eve and Sybil have made the phenomenon of multiple personality disorder familiar. This condition, which is now known as Dissociative Identity Disorder, is more common and less flamboyant than its portrayals in the media. In its less severe form, argues Stout (psychology, Harvard Medical Sch.), sufferers may just seem absentminded or emotionally distant. Moreover, the kind of childhood trauma that causes such dissociation can be caused by "life events" such as accidents or surgery as well as by ongoing parental abuse. As is often the case with books written by therapists, it is impossible to tell how common such a condition may be, and the reader is left with the suspicion that the author is generalizing from a few patients. However, as this particular title is well written, the topic is of perennial interest, and this is the only discussion of the less-exaggerated forms of the disorder written for the lay reader, this book is recommended for all but the smallest public libraries. Mary Ann Hughes, Neill P.L., Pullman, WA Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.


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