Switching Time: A Doctor's Harrowing Story of Treating a Woman with 17 Personalities

Psychotherapist Baer's compelling and engaging memoir traces his journey through the treatment of a patient's extraordinary case of multiple personality disorder. When Karen Overhill seeks out Baer's help for her depression, she soon divulges lost hours and past abuse. Baer soon receives a letter from seven-year-old Claire who ""lives inside Karen,"" and discovers there are more personalities, or ""alters,"" living within adults, teenagers, children, boys and girls. Realizing that all he knows about multiple personalities he's gleaned from journals and textbooks rather than clinical experience, Baer uses hypnosis to communicate with the alters, discovering the horrendous abuse that led to the creation of each personality. By nurturing them-especially the children-over several years and with the aid of Holdon and Katherine, the alters who function as parent/guardians to the rest, Baer guides them to accept integration. Meanwhile, Baer's marriage dissolves and budget cuts force him to release all his patients except Karen, for whom he comes to care deeply. In this moving and informative memoir, Baer gives readers fascinating insights not only into a rare disease, but also the journey of two individuals determined to understand and overcome all the odds.