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Feb 01, 2012

Christina rated it:

I finished this book last night at 2 AM, I couldn't put it down. This has been the most twisted, disturbing and crazy book I have ever read. I rated five stars, but I wouldn't recommend it to the ladies in my book club! I think I might be sick in the head lol, but I was so fascinated by this book, the same way I am fascinated when I see a fatal car accident on the side of the highway. The things that happened to Karen when she was younger were hard to believe and it is also hard to believe t More...

10 comments like (2 people liked it)

Mar 08, 2008

AJ rated it:

Horrifying story. Fantastic book. My compliments to Dr. Baer for his patience, sacrifice, and success. My deepest regards, admiration, and respect for Karen Overhill.

15 comments like (2 people liked it)

Oct 13, 2007

Jessietaylortanner rated it:

Although the details in this book are nauseatingly graphic, I found great hope and peace in it. The trauma and abuse that was suffered by this woman is beyond any normal person's understanding- the mind simply cannot reach far enough into the depths of hell to fathom such torture. Seriously, it's that intense. While reading, I found I was often grimacing, my face screwed up and only half looking at the words, trying to shield myself from it. That said, the indomitable will of the woman ('Karen') More...

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Oct 10, 2007

RJ rated it:

Imagine pretending to be asleep in order to overhear conversations between your family and friends, so that you can learn your mother's name, or where your husband works. Karen was continually searching for ways to hide her obvious insanity until a desperate call to a crisis hot-line in 1989, led her to Dr. Richard Baer. The complexities of the human mind have never before been revealed with such detail, dimension and compassion. Horrific, unimaginable abuse had forced Karen to create different More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jan 21, 2012

Frank rated it:

I have always been fascinated with multiple personality disorder, or dissociative identity order as it's called now.
Karen Overhill has spent her life in fragmentation. Her seventeen seperate personalities are the result of her traumatic and severely abusive childhood. Dr. Baer takes us on a journey through Karen's horrifying childhood. Karen's alters describe to us, the atrocities she suffered at the hands of her parents.
My heart truly went out to her in this wonderfully descriptive More...

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Oct 16, 2011

Shawna rated it:

This book started out good but then started to d-r-a-g once the reintegrations began. The doctor could have summarized most of those. It is actually the same feeling I had while watching "Sybil." It felt like I was watching that movie for the 11 years it took her to integrate. I suppose this would be fascinating reading for someone studying psychology and needed a clinical step-by-step for dealing with a patient they believed suffered from this affliction. I also (forgive me for b More...

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Jul 12, 2011

Wendi rated it:

I'm not sure what to think of this book. It wasn't terribly well written; however, it's not necessarily a book for entertainment value.

I do appreciate that Dr. Baer admitted when he wasn't sure that all the stories of abuse were true. I have read quite a few stories of survival. It's astounding the shape sexual abuse can take. It's Karen's tales of ritual abuse and Satan worship that sends up the red flags - it is true or not. Were all those people involved? There were quite a few peop More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

May 16, 2009

Nancy rated it:

This reads as two parts Jerry Springer and one part self-indulgent, self-important indulgence on the part of the doctor and author, Richard Baer.

It is fascinating, in the deepest sense of the word, to read about the patient's family history. I'm not squeamish, and am not repelled by the details, but the patient and her history serve only as a backdrop to the doctor's feelings and thoughts. It is rather as if he's saying to us over dinner "Ooo, I have the freakiest patient! You w More...

2 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 09, 2009

Shelly rated it:

I've always found multiple personality disorder to be a fascinating topc to read about, and was glad to see my library had a copy of this in when I went hunting for it.

Knowing it is written by the doctor that treated the patient, rather than by the patient herself, makes it a little more interesting to read for me. I rather liked having his thought process outlined and how he reacted to each alter as they were presented to him. I also really enjoyed the fact that he included actual More...

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Jun 15, 2009

Emily rated it:

I'm not sure how to rate this book as I can't really say I "liked" it. It was incredibly disturbing, graphically detailing the horrific systematic physical, emotional, and sexual abuse and torture of a little girl for years. I was disgusted by the evil and depravity that led so many adults to hurt her in so many ways for their enjoyment, and also by the willful ignorance of so many other adults in her life who could have made a difference and didn't. It was inspiring reading of Kare More...

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Mar 20, 2011

Resti rated it:

pertama tama, ini buku paling mengerikan dan paling melelahkan plus buku yang paling lama aku baca.
perlu waktu 2 minggu untuk menyelesaikan buku ini.bukan karena buku ini enggak bagus. karena aku jelas-jelas kasih 5bintang buat buku ini. tapi karena buku ini terlalu berat dan mengerikan buatku. jadi bacanya mesti sedikit sedikit.

buku ini bercerita tentang Karen yang saat masih kecil mengalami banyak hal buruk akibat kekejaman ayah dan kakeknya, serta ketidakpedulian ibunya. se More...

3 comments like

Aug 07, 2010

Nancy rated it:

Whenever I read a book involving multiple personalities, The Minds of Billy Milligan, When Rabbit Howls, etc, my first response is always - no way, they have to be making this up. However, with this book, Switching Time, Richard Baer makes the trauma that Karen Overhill endured come across as convincing and with her experiences explains how a multiple disorder takes form and how each part of the main, takes on the duties that it was designed for.

The reader is first introduced to Kar More...

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Oct 11, 2009

Wendy rated it:

I'm not really sure how to rate this book. I had a hard time putting it down - it is a fascinating story, and Baer's description of how his patient, Karen, had created so many alternate personalities and how they functioned in different areas of her life was intriguing.

It is also a harrowing story. Karen created her alternate personalities to cope with truly horrific abuse. I found myself repeatedly not wanting to believe her stories of what happened - not because she isn't credible More...

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Mar 08, 2011

Elizabeth rated it:

What makes this book truly engrossing is that it is a true story that both doctor and patient were brave enough to share with the world. I found the account disturbing, gripping and fascinating. As the story begins to unfold I was shocked and horrified by the descriptions of the ritualistic and debasing abuse Karen survived in childhood. Through the discovery process of her multiple personalities, the focus really becomes about how these different people inside her were created and process of he More...

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Aug 31, 2008

Karlyn rated it:

I really enjoyed this book.
Sometimes it was hard to read due to detailed images of child abuse.
I like that Richard Baer was so honest.
I had to take notes throughout to keep everyone straight.

I would recommend this book.

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 09, 2011

Sorshanik rated it:

**SPOILERS**

This was one heck of a ride. Dr. Baer and Karen went through a decade of psychotherapy to integrate all 17 alters only to have bittersweet feelings of loss and triumph at the end. I teared up alittle when the last alter was intergrated. I admit, like Baer and Karen, I was attached to the alters. I felt for both Baer and Karen the whole time. I enjoyed this book from the psychiatrist's POV. It was nice to learn that even a learned, trained man could "wing it" at More...

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Aug 18, 2011

Kristin rated it:

This may be the best book I've read all year. I picked it up at my gym's book exchange because I like medical books, though psychiatry books tend to be dry and aren't always my favorite. This one though, was anything but dry and boring, and every day when I had to put it down, it was difficult to do because I wanted to see what happened next.
Switching Time is a true story, though the names of all real people, excluding the doctor, were changed for privacy reasons, which chronicles the year More...

0 comments like

Mar 27, 2008

Bells rated it:

This is the most disturbing book I have ever read. It makes the childhood from "a child called it" look like a day at Disneyland. Awful. Engrossing. wow...

6 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 12, 2011

Megan rated it:

As a counselor and someone that is OBSESSED with all kinds of disorders, this book just gave me lukewarm feelings instead of genuine excitement. For one, while the author, a renowned psychologist, is obviously intelligent and knowledgeable regarding his patients, I feel that he a little arrogant in his treatment of the patient, and his assumption that his presence and his overall involvement in her case was so important to her existence and the entirety of her treatment. It took me a lot longe More...

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Mar 19, 2011

JoyfulK rated it:

This is a well-written book, the account by a psychiatrist of his long-term treatment of a woman with dissociated identity, for whom he uses the pseudonym Karen. I put it on my therapist-to-therapist shelf particularly because, even if I never encounter a client with the level of dissociation in this book, reading about the author's approach to treatment and the reasons he gives for his treatment decisions was enlightening to me.

For those who simply have an interest in the subject, or More...

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May 02, 2011

Arabella rated it:

Harrowing is right. While the book is fascinating in its unraveling of a patient with multiple personality disorder and her subsequent successful treatment, I wasn't prepared for how this involves diving deep into her extremely disturbing childhood. There are graphic descriptions of child abuse, which while they may be necessary to understand why the patient's mind took the path it did, make for a very difficult and upsetting read.

Having said that, it was inspirational to read of t More...

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Jun 25, 2011

Jamie rated it:

Really interesting story, it was hard at times to understand that someone had actually gone through this woman's abuse due to how constant and horrific it was. Not written for psych-minded people, so I would have wanted to get more into the therapist's head with how he was trying to approach the therapy (although he frequently admits he's not sure what to do, and takes the patient's lead). As a story, it is compelling, although frequently difficult to stomach. I enjoyed it for an opportunity to More...

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May 24, 2011

Sphinx rated it:

The story was interesting, but I felt bad being the patient of another doctor - very judged and wondering if my own doctor thinks such disparaging thoughts about me. The abuse was written about in a manner that was still managed to convey the horror involved without being absolutely overwhelming, but the doctor writing things like how he didn't like Karen until some of the parts he did like joined her seemed extremely judgmental. I guess I know and understand that psychologists have opinions of More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 18, 2009

kathi rated it:

This book was very interesting to me. There are still questions I have about those with DID but some questions were resolved. Even though I am 50+ I honestly didn't know there are such despicable people as the ones described here. I hate predators....I hate the damage they do to their prey when they only think of their selves. I saw this book as a clinical study of a doctor's work with a multiple which he had never done before in his career. There were times when he admitted he wasn't sure ho More...

1 comment like

Oct 15, 2009

Maerdi rated it:

It's hard to rate this book. Is the writing quality amazing? Certainly not. But does it need to be to be? Perhaps it's more compelling, more personal, more real as a clinical report, lacking any disguises or prettying up or hovering in places to prey upon the emotions of the reader.

The story itself is amazing, verging on the literally incredible, and I'm amazed by whatever it is in our mind's structure that allows it to complete this feat of splintering, creating new people, orga More...

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Oct 06, 2011

Deena rated it:

I got sucked into the book right away but after awhile the repetitive explanation of the abuse became to much and I couldn't really understand how the therapy lead to the different personalities combining. I couldn't see what the Dr did to help Karen. I kept waiting but I honestly didn't get how he helped her. What was his therapy? What did he do to make her feel whole? IT is a harrowing tell regardless, but I also am skeptical it is real. Yes I believe that type of abuse can happen, just not su More...

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Nov 17, 2009

carolyn rated it:

If you liked Sybil then this book is excellent to go along with it. It is being told from the Psychiatrists perspective and the encounters he himself had to deal with. It is also a somewhat detailed description of what the patient had endured through her life. After reading this book I really think that we all have multiple personalities and just aren't aware of it. Heck how else can we get through and cope with the worlde today unless we bring out that safety net and thoughts that we all have. More...

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Jun 28, 2011

Katie rated it:

Something like four years of therapy for depression, she finally verbalizes that she hears voices, he says MPD/DID and all of a sudden the next day she has a list of all her alters. And he knew it was MPD/DID all along. despite how rare it is. eh.
Loved the part about the alters, then was bored after the 4th integration. Would like to have known more about the relationship with the husband and kids and how it was impacted by the integration and the "new her" and if they were even More...

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Sep 15, 2010

Jilleen rated it:

There are a couple of things that I'd like to update about... but I'd first like to recommend the following book!

"A Life in Pieces" by Dr. Richard Baer

I recently completed this book and it was the most disturbing and thought-provoking book I've read ever. I thought "A Boy called It" (together with other books in the series) by Dave Pelzer were the most upsetting books I've ever read but nothing can compare to "A Life in Pieces".
More...

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Feb 24, 2009

James rated it:

Richard Baer does an impressive job gathering the scattered pieces of information distributed in this poor woman's splintered brain, and delivers us her story serviceably well. the story of her childhood is absolutely horrifying - I found myself several times needing to put this book down to digest and distance my mind from the cruel life she suffered. Baer does well to narrate from his background in psychiatry, and provides interesting and often much needed insight into her actions, motives, an More...

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