Got Parts? You Are Not Alone Got Parts is filled with successful strategies, coping techniques, and helpful ways to increase the day-to-day functioning of adult survivors of DID in relationships, work, parenting, self-confidence, and self-care. Learn about therapeutic approaches, dealing with the fallout of trauma, and the resources that can help you. Got Parts has been written by a survivor of DID in conjunction with her therapist and support group. This book is intended to be used in conjunction with a therapist and is not a substitute for therapy. About Dissociative Identity Disorder Once thought of as a rare and mysterious psychiatric curiosity, Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) (a.k.a. Multiple Personality Disorder) is now understood to be a fairly common outcome of severe trauma in children below seven years of age: most typically from extreme and repeated physical, sexual, and/or emotional abuse. DID may be diagnosed in a person with two or more distinct identities or personality states, which recurrently take control of the person's consciousness and behavior. Symptoms can include depression, mood swings, suicidal tendencies, sleep disorders, panic attacks, substance abuse, hallucinations, amnesia, trances, and eating disorders. Treatment often consists of individual therapy, medications for specific mood or anxiety symptoms, education about the illness, social skills training, learning better communication and coping skills, and group support. The personal and societal cost of trauma disorders is extremely high. Recent research suggests the risk of suicide attempts among people with trauma disorders may be even higher than among people who have major depression. In addition, there is evidence that people with trauma disorders have higher rates of alcoholism, chronic medical illnesses, and abusiveness in succeeding generations. Got Parts is an excellent book: it is clear, concise and compassionate. I have worked full time with MPD clients for 15 years and this book would be the first required reading. It is a good reference book and often things that are said to the client don't get retained. Having a resource book such as this would have made my client's lives much easier. I will require it for any new clients, refer it to other therapists who do this work, and have even recommended it for clients who are much farther along in their healing. --Karen Hutchins, MA LPC, Cicada Recovery Services www.cicada-recovery-services.com Got Parts represents a systematic, structured program geared towards positive results for those labeled DID. Its focus on individual responsibility is refreshing in this day and age of blame shifting and excuse making This is a must read regardless of one's support of or opposition to the medical model. --James Walter Clifton, M.S., Ph.D. LCSW, LMHC "DID is a heatedly-contested mental health diagnosis and it is entangled with no less controversial issues such as false memories. The author of this book avoids these pitfalls by concentrating on the victims. In an unusually empathic and straightforward tome, she successfully tackles the subjective experience of having DID: how does it feel? How to cope with it? What to avoid? The book is firmly grounded in state of the art knowledge about this disorder - but combines it with useful lists of do's and don'ts derived from the combined experience of numerous sufferers. Recommended." --Sam Vaknin, Ph.D. Author of "Malignant Self Love - Narcissism Revisited". "I strongly recommend this book as a easily read, straightforward and insightful recovery tool for my clients with DID. It is must read for any person who is struggling to come to terms with their DID as well as the people who love and/or support them." --Ian Landry, MA MSW RSW Nova Scotia, Canada Got Parts really is a valuable book that deals with the practical aspects of living with a dissociative disorder. --Leonard Holmes, Ph.D. http://mentalhealth.about.com