Switching Time: A Doctor's Harrowing Story of Treating a Woman with 17 Personalities

Synopsis

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? Under hypnosis, 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 devoted healer who worked selflessly for decades so that Karen could one day live as a single human being. This book includes grim and disturbing, though not grisly descriptions of child abuse. It also contains language that is objectionable to many people.

Copyright:

2007

Book Details

Book Quality:

Excellent

Book Size:

360 Pages

ISBN-13:

9780307382665

Publisher:

N/A

Date of Addition:

01/06/09

Copyrighted By:

Richard K. Baer, M.D.

Adult content:

No

Language:

English

Has Image Descriptions:

No

Categories:

Nonfiction, Disability-Related, Biographies and Memoirs, Health, Mind and Body, Psychology

Submitted By:

Samantha Nelson

Proofread By:

Michael Sestak

Usage Restrictions:

This is a copyrighted book.