The Magic Castle by Carole Smith

The Magic Castle: A mother's harrowing true story of her adoptive son's multiple personalities-- and the triumph of healing, Carole Smith. New York: St. Martin's Press/ Macmillan, 2014, 1998. e-book, 290 pps.


     Carole and her husband Sam decided to foster a so-called "special needs, emotionally disturbed" child. Alex was the child and he pretty much wrecked stuff. He was given to violent episodes. He was loud and abusive. He had a hard time maintaining himself in school. He was not a "nice" child for sure.

     At some point, Alex is a multiple, not a singleton. Help is called. Alex goes through a bunch of therapy, including hypnosis. Where would the world be without hypnosis? There are pictures included in the book. They are interesting but certainly not conclusive of anything.

     The accusations are made that his birth mother took care of at least one baby for the uh satanic cult that she was also a member of. Alex was allegedly being groomed for leadership, complete with a red robe. Naturally, the five-pointed [and upright] star with a circle drawn around it makes an appearance.

     Babies were killed and buried and stuff. Naturally, the site is no longer a field because progress and urbanization. There is no legal verification of what is offered as factual rather than possible evidence of.

sapphoq reviews says: In fields and parking lots and obscure graves across the United States are a bunch of dead babies allegedly killed by satanists for reasons which no one has ever really explained. Yes, kids get abused in horrible ways and some kids are murdered. I don't deny that. The problem that I have is that there is no actual physical evidence of dead babies anywhere that all the alleged followers of the dark prince left behind them after their blackened ceremonies of filth and stuff like that. I would want just one dead baby dug up that shows evidence of satanic sacrifice. Just one. But there is none so far. After how many years, why isn't there one dead sacrificed baby that can be put on display for the masses? Until such a baby shows up, I remain troubled by memories and recovered memories of figures in black robes killing babies [and possibly cats or other animals] and making snuff films of their own children. 
     While lacking grammatical errors, Carole Smith's writing is far from gifted. Book sounds more like an uneasy come-on to get religion in order to avoid buddies with cloven hooves. Unless you enjoy satanic panic literature, skip this one.

Switching Time by Richard Baer

Switching Time, Richard Baer.  New York: Crown Publishers, 2007. ebook, 295 pps.

Like a large percentage of people diagnosed with Multiple Personality Disorder or Dissociative Identity Disorder [depending up what year the diagnosis was made], Karen-- a pseudonym-- had endured horrendous abuse by her family as a child.  Subsequently, she hooked up with an abusive mate.  In her struggle to break free of that, she began therapy with Richard Baer.

At some point, Karen's alters began to surface and communicate with her therapist.  They had a litany of complaints.  Karen herself was conscious only of losing time.  Losing time is like an alcoholic blackout caused by the shifting of alters-- the body continues to function and have a life but the brain does not remember later-- who will say and do things that the core will not.  Eventually, Karen developed co-consciousness with varying alters.  She also recovered specific memories of ritual abuse.

By the end of the book, Karen integrated and gave permission for the book to be written.  She reportedly furnished many corrections and expansions but was satisfied with the execution of her case study.

The part of the book that fascinated me was the description of Karen's parents.  Her father went to trial for the sexual abuse of a young niece.  Karen was tricked into taking her mother to the hospital to pick up her father after his discharge.  He had been found to have metastasized cancer.  In typical fashion, her parents blamed Karen for his woes.  They also had the expectation that she would drop in on her father daily to check on his well-being while her mother was away.  When she refused, they informed her that she owed this service to them and that she was an ingrate.

sapphoq reviews says: Switching Time is the typical story of woman diagnosed with multiple personalities written by her therapist after her integration.  Those singletons who enjoy television shows where laundry is aired in public and those who are fascinated by the concept of multiple personalities will probably like Switching Time.  I hesitate to recommend Switching Time.  There is something about not wishing to encourage other folks on the D.I.D. continuum to allow their stories to be told by professional helpers.  Those who are triggered by reading about childhood sexual abuse ought to stay away entirely.  On the question: Can more than one "personality" exist in one body? I remain neutral.  I want to say that horrific childhood abuse can do that to someone.  Yet I hesitate because the literature is also filled with stories of childhood "satanic" ritual abuse and references to snuff films.  Sort of not recommended.    

AsYou Desire Me by E.T. Aul

As You Desire Me: The Psychology of a Multiple Personality, E. T. Aul.  Alberta: J.W. White Publications Company, 2011,  ebook, 283 pps.

As You Desire Me is the autobiography of a Canadian woman who had endured childhood trauma.  Like many other stories of multiples that I had read, E.T. Aul's personality fractured into various alters and she went through tons of therapy.  Some of it helped and some of it was ineffective.  Unlike the other stories I had read, E.T. Aul had many well thought out things to say about psychotherapy and how the various expectations and prejudices of therapists can benefit or prove detrimental to the human being in distress.  

sapphoq reviews says: As You Desire Me should be required reading for college students studying to be therapists.  This book is especially valuable because it demonstrates how one woman had the courage to act on her own self-determination to be her own person in the midst of healing a system of personalities which came into being from severe childhood abuse.

Although in the States, it appears [to me] that the diagnosis of Dissociative Identity Disorder [the new name for M.P.D.] is once again falling into disfavor after a period of frenzied over-diagnosis, trauma survivors-- who have split their personalities into compartments and those who haven't-- deserve to have compassionate, ethical and competent treatment just like everyone else also deserves to have.  It is unfortunate [in my opinion] that much of what passes for therapy is actually an ill-founded attempt to mold patients into acceptability.  Progress ought to be measured by something more than "compliance."  It continues to be my belief that self-determination and self-empowerment are far more valuable than being nice, respectable, and grateful for the "help" offered by the public mental health system.