We are enclosing some readings and suggest you digest at least some of them before September 8^th training on working with clients with Dissociative Identity Disorder. There is a separate list of readings on my website for Sept. 9^th 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 9^th!

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. Richard Chefetz, MD speaks eloquently of one path forward in his brief article, “Dignity is the opposite of shame.”
3. 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.
4. Richard Kluft, MD’s Dealing with Alters (2006) is a classic in the field.
5. 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.
6. 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.
7. 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.
8. 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.
9. 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.
10. 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.
11. 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.
12. 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 on Friday, September 8th

Farnsworth Lobenstine, LICSW; with Katy Gelinas, LCSW; and Danielle West, LPC