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The Way Back: Inside the Mind of a Multiple Personality
From the viewpoint of the patient
The Way Back is a true story. It's the tremendous victory from the mental illness known as Multiple Personality Disorder. MPD is a strange phenomenon; however, you will read that anyone facing any unwanted circumstance can rise above the fears and difficulty to their desired goal. Those in the field of psychology will most certainly find it to be of great interest. The Way Back is unique in that it is written by a person diagnosed with MPD.
In the maze of "the many," as the obstacles of denial, anger, humiliation, shame, fear and hopelessness were removed the integration began. Along the way of the healing process, slowly leaving the old way of thinking in order to embrace the new was the path to being fully restored. Life is about conquering that which we choose to conquer.
The greatest blessing of all was that the journey took me right into my Divine Nature.
The Way Back is a true story. It's the tremendous victory from the mental illness known as Multiple Personality Disorder. MPD is a strange phenomenon; however, you will read that anyone facing any unwanted circumstance can rise above the fears and difficulty to their desired goal. Those in the field of psychology will most certainly find it to be of great interest. The Way Back is unique in that it is written by a person diagnosed with MPD.
In the maze of "the many," as the obstacles of denial, anger, humiliation, shame, fear and hopelessness were removed the integration began. Along the way of the healing process, slowly leaving the old way of thinking in order to embrace the new was the path to being fully restored. Life is about conquering that which we choose to conquer.
The greatest blessing of all was that the journey took me right into my Divine Nature.
- GenresNonfictionMental Health
321 pages, Paperback
First published June 26, 2007
327 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
September 20, 2013
I think this is one of the most wonderful,insightful,helpful and beautiful books that I've ever read!! And I don't read very many biography's,but this one is absolutely amazing!! Such detail and honesty about what her life was really like growing up and what she went through. I recommend this book to any and all that love biographies and love the details about someone's life who had MPD. My up most respect and love to Aunt Donna:-) I can somewhat relate to her on certain things as well. I find this book to be most helpful!! Especially for someone like me.
May 21, 2018
Urging her readers to believe that they, too, can overcome obstacles in their path, Donna Mae Rose shows how she regathered her Wholeness, after experiencing a lifetime of deep trauma that shattered the core of her being. Opening with a counseling session between herself and Dr. Boyd, the author, a psychiatric technician, tells us of the close and caring relationship that she had with her mother all her life, the great fear that she had of her violent-tempered, mentally and physically abusive father, and the generally loving relationships that she had with her six siblings from an early age. Her father used to take out his frustrations from his job, in which he felt trapped due to the Depression, on his small children and insecure, frightened wife. Rose’s graphic account of her father’s sexual abuse and rape, which Rose felt scarred her psychologically for life, is realistically portrayed.
The Way Back: Inside the Mind of a Multiple Personality Disorder amounts to a verbatim account of Rose’s counseling sessions with Dr. Boyd. Told in direct speech, the sessions flow naturally and are easy to follow. Rose’s ostensible reason for her counseling sessions with Dr. Boyd was her marital problems with her husband, Bill. However, she later reveals that she had had a nervous breakdown 18 years before, since when she had spent much time as an outpatient of a mental hospital, having been diagnosed as a schizophrenic.
She describes how her loss of train of thought halfway through her second session with Dr. Boyd, and her awareness of an apparent six-month memory loss, leads Dr. Boyd to inform her that he believes that she has multiple personality disorder. He concludes that such trance-like episodes are moments of self-hypnosis, which help her to calm down.
By externalizing her innermost anxieties and fears in the form of black bugs and red ants, Rose was able to cope with, and adapt to, her situation while she was growing up. Rose’s interpretation of the image of the spider, which first appeared on the ceiling of the room while she was being raped, as her eight different personalities is core to an understanding of this text.
Gradually, while undergoing therapy, her other personalities emerge: self-confident and caring Joyce Jordan, the only personality given a last name; promiscuous, enraged Wanda; courageous Carol, who provides a means by which she can protect her innocence; suicidal Mary; childlike Edith Rose, who is capable of expressing attachment; vivacious, outgoing Susie; sanctimonious Beth; Laura, protector of the place where all the other personalities stayed until Rose started to receive counseling from Dr. Boyd; Mildred, who protects Rose when she enters consciousness; spiritually supportive Edgar, who protects Rose from the suicidal tendencies of Mary; and John, who was created to keep Edgar company. Through her acknowledgement and growing understanding of her different personalities, Rose is able to reconcile herself to their existence, and to integrate them gradually into her core personality.
This autobiographical account is of particular relevance to anyone who has had to endure childhood trauma and abuse, as well as to anyone who has been diagnosed as schizophrenic, or who works with those suffering from dissociate hysteria. Her appreciative portrayal of Dr. Boyd as a compassionate listener might reassure a reader who feels intimidated by the possibility of consulting a psychiatrist that the best in this field are highly accessible and supportive. The Way Back: Inside the Mind of a Multiple Personality Disorder is a tribute to his healing skills.
The Way Back: Inside the Mind of a Multiple Personality Disorder amounts to a verbatim account of Rose’s counseling sessions with Dr. Boyd. Told in direct speech, the sessions flow naturally and are easy to follow. Rose’s ostensible reason for her counseling sessions with Dr. Boyd was her marital problems with her husband, Bill. However, she later reveals that she had had a nervous breakdown 18 years before, since when she had spent much time as an outpatient of a mental hospital, having been diagnosed as a schizophrenic.
She describes how her loss of train of thought halfway through her second session with Dr. Boyd, and her awareness of an apparent six-month memory loss, leads Dr. Boyd to inform her that he believes that she has multiple personality disorder. He concludes that such trance-like episodes are moments of self-hypnosis, which help her to calm down.
By externalizing her innermost anxieties and fears in the form of black bugs and red ants, Rose was able to cope with, and adapt to, her situation while she was growing up. Rose’s interpretation of the image of the spider, which first appeared on the ceiling of the room while she was being raped, as her eight different personalities is core to an understanding of this text.
Gradually, while undergoing therapy, her other personalities emerge: self-confident and caring Joyce Jordan, the only personality given a last name; promiscuous, enraged Wanda; courageous Carol, who provides a means by which she can protect her innocence; suicidal Mary; childlike Edith Rose, who is capable of expressing attachment; vivacious, outgoing Susie; sanctimonious Beth; Laura, protector of the place where all the other personalities stayed until Rose started to receive counseling from Dr. Boyd; Mildred, who protects Rose when she enters consciousness; spiritually supportive Edgar, who protects Rose from the suicidal tendencies of Mary; and John, who was created to keep Edgar company. Through her acknowledgement and growing understanding of her different personalities, Rose is able to reconcile herself to their existence, and to integrate them gradually into her core personality.
This autobiographical account is of particular relevance to anyone who has had to endure childhood trauma and abuse, as well as to anyone who has been diagnosed as schizophrenic, or who works with those suffering from dissociate hysteria. Her appreciative portrayal of Dr. Boyd as a compassionate listener might reassure a reader who feels intimidated by the possibility of consulting a psychiatrist that the best in this field are highly accessible and supportive. The Way Back: Inside the Mind of a Multiple Personality Disorder is a tribute to his healing skills.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews