Treating Dissociative Identity Disorder: The Power of the Collective Heart

This is a book about the triumph of inner authority over the debilitating effects of trauma and abuse. In a simple and straightforward style, a three-phase model for treating dissociative identity disorder (previously known as multiple personality disorder) in introduced. The Collective Heart model is consistent with the current standards of care which emphasize caution and restraint. Additionally, the Collective Heart model has several unique features: It highlights the retrieval of personal authority rather than the retrieval of traumatic memories, identifies the fundamental inner unity underlying the fragmented personality system, and introduces techniques that facilitate communication between personalities and between each personality's conscious mind and the collective heart.

Six chapters of fascinating case vignettes illustrate therapeutic techniques and show how clients tap into their underlying inner unity to create the conditions for their own maturation, making it safe for their alters to grow, heal, and eventually join the host as a seamless, harmonious whole.

Sarah Y. Krakauer, Psy.D., a licensed clinical psychologist, maintains a private practice in Williamsburg, Virginia, and is an Adjunct Associate Professor of Psychology at the College of William and Mary. After obtaining intensive training in the diagnosis and treatment of dissociative disorders during her predoctoral internship, Dr. Krakauer earned her Doctor of Psychology at the Virginia Consortium Program in Clinical Psychology.