I am a psychotherapist. I treat adults struggling with the adhesive remnants of childhood trauma. On the day described below, long ago in 1991, I had my first encounter with what was then known as Multiple Personality Disorder (MPD), now renamed Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID). I wanted to share with…

Cliff, a young man in my psychotherapy practice, was diagnosed with DID, Dissociative Identity Disorder previously known as Multiple Personality Disorder. DID is a consequence of extreme childhood trauma. Cliff brought his dog to therapy sessions every week. The dog was very well trained, a lovely mutt named Alf. When…

Below is the epigraph from my book Emma and her Selves: A Memoir of Treatment and a Therapist’s Self-Discovery In the creation myth of mystical Judaism, the world begins with a shattering. The Infinite, in Hebrew Ein Sof, contracted in order to make room for our Universe, for creation. From…

I’ve never really understood why the sexual abuse of children is not considered a serious public health problem. I have wondered this for over 30 years since learning of the prevalence of a crime that crosses the boundaries of social class, race, and income. The World Health Organization noted in…

This is interesting. Sarah Silverman, the comedian, recently dealt with a troll who posted a hateful, hating slur that appeared on her twitter account in a way that seems uncharacteristic for Sarah Silverman, or at least what I know of Sarah Silverman. Actually it’s uncharacteristic for most of us. He…

The weather has turned. The days are short and it is darker altogether. A slippery mat of wet fallen leaves accumulates at the end of my street. The palette outside the window is no longer intense, rather muted, soft. I notice for some reason I am happy to see that…

Before I die, I want to learn how to die. As I celebrate the last birthday before 70, I have reason to be thinking about this process. I am old enough now to have watched my parents die, as well as a dear friend, a lifelong mentor and parental surrogate…