August 1, 2023

Dear September 8^th DID registrant,

We are enclosing some readings and suggest you digest at least some of them before September 8th training on working with clients with Dissociative Identity Disorder. There is a separate list of readings on my website for Sept. 9th  with articles specifically addressing working with Perpetrator Introjects in clients with DID. You have access to those articles as well, even if you haven’t yet signed up for Saturday, September 9th!

1. Richard Kluft, MD is the Dean of Dissociation in the U.S. He had fully integrated more than 100 clients with Multiple Personality Disorder by 1981 when he published an article with his findings. Kluft’s “Letter to Clients with MPD” is a very short invitation to clients to begin their journey.
2. Rachel Downing, LCSW wrote “Understanding Integration” in 2003 to share her own 12-year journey from DID and why full integration makes so much sense as a goal.
3. Richard Chefetz, MD speaks eloquently of one path forward in his brief article, “Dignity is the opposite of shame.”
4. Richard Loewenstein, MD, directed the Dissociative treatment program at Sheppard Pratt for 40 years. It is the preeminent psychiatric hospital for the treatment of severe dissociation. His 2007 article, “DID.101: A Hands-on Guide to the Stabilization Phase of the Treatment of Dissociative Identity Disorder” is a wonderfully useful, practical read.
5. Richard Kluft, MD’s Dealing with Alters (2006) is a classic in the field.
6. Kathy Steele, MSW, another giant in the field, co-authored the textbook of Structural Dissociation theory and practice, The Haunted Self. In 2017 she and her colleagues published Treating Trauma-Related Dissociation: A Practical and Integrative Approach. Chapter 17 on “Perpetrator Imitating Parts” (perpetrator introjects) is a rich, practical guide to an aspect of working with clients with DID that most often causes failure.
7. Kluft’s “Trying to Keep It Real: My Experience in Developing Clinical Approaches to the Treatment of DID”(2017) will deepen your appreciation for the many aspects of this work.
8. Kluft’s “Clinical Approaches to the Integration of Personalities” (1993) addresses the complexities of this critically important phase of treatment that is rarely discussed. While clients will make their own choice, he advocates that integration is the best way to achieve full functioning in life.
9. The Summary Guidelines for the Treatment of Dissociative Identity Disorder is very useful and was prepared by the International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation in 2011.
10. Catherine Fine’s “Tactical Integrationalist Perspective on the Treatment of Multiple Personality Disorder”. (2003) influenced Sandra Paulsen’s development of her widely used Ego State Therapy approach.
11. Richard Chefetz, MD’s 1997 article, “Transference and Countertransfereence in Dissociation” addresses how to understand this chronic and very challenging aspect of treating clients with DID that so often interrupts treatment. He confidently states that when handled skillfully, it deepens the therapy.
12. Shannon Strader, LPC, a close colleague, works brilliantly with clients with DID (and their spouses.) Here she shares the transcript of a session in which she is working with a Perpetrator Introject and attempting to gain its commitment to the therapy.
13. The Internal Family System’s process called unblending is, I think, quite unique and mind-boggling in its power. This one-page description is woefully inadequate. Our paper will describe it better and, best of all, you’ll see a videotape of it, with a subsequent integration with the adult client by a teenage alter.
14. My Strict Structure of Sessions with Clients using EMDR has proven consistently useful with all of the clients with whom I regularly use EMDR processing in the Meeting Place. If you do not use EMDR Therapy or the Meeting Place you may find that you can adapt its strengths for containment, resourcing, and processing trauma.
15. Na’ama Yehuda’s story of her work as a trauma-informed speech therapist with a 7-year-old named Leroy, who has DID, is exquisite.

Delightedly anticipating our work together,

Farnsworth Lobenstine, LICSW