The Flock - Softcover

Joan Frances Casey; Lynn Wilson

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0349104514 ISBN 13: 9780349104515

Publisher: Abacus, 1993

Synopsis

The groundbreaking first-person account of successful recovery from dissociative identity disorder, now featuring a new preface by the author

When Joan Frances Casey, a married twenty-six-year-old graduate student, “awoke” on the ledge of a building ready to jump, it wasn’t the first time she couldn’t explain her whereabouts. Soon after, Lynn Wilson, an experienced psychiatric social worker, diagnosed Joan with multiple personality disorder. She prescribed a radical program of reparenting therapy to individually treat her patient’s twenty-four separate personalities. As Lynn came to know Joan’s distinct selves—Josie, the self-destructive toddler; Rusty, the motherless boy; Renee, the people pleaser—she uncovered a pattern of emotional and physical abuse that had nearly consumed a remarkable young woman.
 
Praise for The Flock

“A testimony to [Casey’s] courage and the dedication of her therapist, who believed that a profoundly fragmented self has the capacity to heal within a loving therapeutic relationship.”—The New York Times Book Review
 
“Absolutely mesmerizing . . . the first coherent autobiographical study of its kind.”—The Detroit News
 
“A compelling psychological odyssey offering unique insights into a nightmare world.”—Kirkus Reviews
 
“Extraordinary . . . deftly told and studded with striking images.”—Publishers Weekly

About this title

From the Publisher

This is a fascinating book that we were all proud to publish. It "de-sensationalizes" multiple personality disorder for the reader and explains it clearly through a very compelling and emotionally charged case. Though now eight years old, THE FLOCK continues to sells very well.

One of the aspects that struck most of us when we first read it was that healthy people develop separate personalities on a moderate level: a "work" personality, a "spouse/lover" personality, a "son/daughter" personality, a "parent" personality, and many more. But healthy people don't completely dissassociate because they aren't protecting their souls from the intense kind of suffering experienced by a victim of sexual abuse.

The best books teach us as much about ourselves as the subjects about which they were written.

From the Inside Flap

"This is the first coherent autobiographical study of its kind, and it is absolutely mesmerizing....Simply not be be missed."
THE DETROIT NEWS
When Joan Frances Casey "awoke" on the ledge of a building ready to jump, she did not know how she had gotten there. And it wasn't the first time she had blanked out. She decided to give therapy another try. And after a few sessions, Lynn Wilson, an experienced psychiatric social worker, was shocked to discover that Joan had MPD--Multiple Personality Disorder. And as she came to know Joan's distinct selves, Lynn uncovered a nightmarish pattern of emotional and physical abuse, including rape and incest, that nearly succeeded in smothering the artistic and intellectual gifts of this amazing young woman.

About this edition

• Publisher: Abacus
• Publication date: 1993
• ISBN 10: 0349104514
• ISBN 13: 9780349104515
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 439