A social narrative model of dissociative identity disorder

This paper is based on a commentary on a talk that was delivered by Sherrill Mulhern at the Nato Symposium on Recollections of Childhood Trauma, Port de Bourgenay, France, 1996. Her talk presented a sociological and anthropological perspective on the history of multiple personality disorder (MPD, now dissociative identity disorder) and its treatment. In this paper, which touches on a number of themes introduced by Dr Mulhern, we advance a narrative model or framework for understanding certain aspects of serious dissociative disorders. An expanded version of this paper will be published in the forthcoming book. Recollections of Childhood Trauma: Scientific: Research, and Clinical Practice, Don Read and D. Stephen Lindsay (Eds.).