Understanding and Treating Dissociative Identity Disorder: A Relational Approach

331 Pages·2011·1.82 MB·English

by  Elizabeth F. Howell

Understanding and Treating
Dissociative
Identity Disorder
Relational PeRsPectives Book seRies
Volume 49
RELATIONAL PERSPECTIVES BOOK SERIES
LEWIS ARON & ADRIENNE HARRIS
Series Editors
The Relational Perspectives Book Series (RPBS) publishes books that grow out
of or contribute to the relational tradition in contemporary psychoanalysis.
The term “relational psychoanalysis” was first used by Greenberg and
Mitchell (1983) to bridge the traditions of interpersonal relations, as
developed within interpersonal psychoanalysis and object relations, as
developed within contemporary British theory. But, under the seminal
work of the late Stephen Mitchell, the term “relational psychoanalysis”
grew and began to accrue to itself many other influences and developments.
Various tributaries—interpersonal psychoanalysis, object relations theory,
self psychology, empirical infancy research, and elements of contemporary
Freudian and Kleinian thought—flow into this tradition, which understands
relational configurations between self and others, both real and fantasied, as
the primary subject of psychoanalytic investigation.
We refer to the relational tradition, rather than to a relational school, to
highlight that we are identifying a trend, a tendency within contemporary
psychoanalysis, not a more formally organized or coherent school or system
of beliefs. Our use of the term ‘relational’ signifies a dimension of theory and
practice that has become salient across the wide spectrum of contemporary
psychoanalysis. Now under the editorial supervision of Lewis Aron and
Adrienne Harris, the Relational Perspectives Book Series originated in 1990
under the editorial eye of the late Stephen A. Mitchell. Mitchell was the
most prolific and influential of the originators of the relational tradition.
He was committed to dialogue among psychoanalysts and he abhorred the
authoritarianism that dictated adherence to a rigid set of beliefs or technical
restrictions. He championed open discussion, comparative and integrative
approaches, and he promoted new voices across the generations.
Included in the Relational Perspectives Book Series are authors and works
that come from within the relational tradition, extend and develop the
tradition, as well as works that critique relational approaches or compare
and contrast it with alternative points of view. The series includes our most
distinguished senior psychoanalysts along with younger contributors who
bring fresh vision.
RELATIONAL PERSPECTIVES BOOK SERIES
LEWIS ARON & ADRIENNE HARRIS
Series Editors
Vol. 49 Vol. 40
Understanding and Treating Dissociative The Analyst in the Inner City, Second
Identity Disorder: Edition:
A Relational Approach Race, Class, and Culture Through a
Elizabeth Howell Psychoanalytic Lens
Neil Altman
Vol. 48
Toward Mutual Recognition: Vol. 39
Relational Psychoanalysis and the Christian Dare to be Human:
Narrative A Contemporary Psychoanalytic Journey
Marie T. Hoffman Michael Shoshani Rosenbaum
Vol. 47 Vol. 38
Uprooted Minds: Repair of the Soul: Metaphors of
Surviving the Politics of Terror in the Transformation
Americas in Jewish Mysticism and Psychoanalysis
Nancy Caro Hollander Karen E. Starr
Vol. 46 Vol. 37
A Disturbance in the Field: Adolescent Identities:
Essays in Transference-Countertransference A Collection of Readings
Engagement Deborah Browning (ed.)
Steven H. Cooper
Vol. 36
Vol. 45 Bodies in Treatment:
First Do No Harm: The Unspoken Dimension
The Paradoxical Encounters of Frances Sommer Anderson (ed.)
Psychoanalysis, Warmaking, and Resistance
Adrienne Harris & Steven Botticelli (eds.) Vol. 35
Comparative-Integrative Psychoanalysis:
Vol. 44 A Relational Perspective for the Discipline’s
Good Enough Endings: Second Century
Breaks, Interruptions, and Terminations Brent Willock
from Contemporary Relational Perspectives
Jill Salberg (ed.) Vol. 34
Relational Psychoanalysis, V. III: New Voices
Vol. 43 Melanie Suchet, Adrienne Harris, & Lewis
Invasive Objects: Minds Under Siege Aron (eds.)
Paul Williams
Vol. 33
Vol. 42 Creating Bodies:
Sabert Basescu: Eating Disorders as Self-Destructive Survival
Selected Papers on Human Nature and Katie Gentile
Psychoanalysis
George Goldstein & Helen Golden (eds.) Vol. 32
Getting From Here to There:
Vol. 41 Analytic Love, Analytic Process
The Hero in the Mirror: Sheldon Bach
From Fear to Fortitude
Sue Grand
RELATIONAL PERSPECTIVES BOOK SERIES
LEWIS ARON & ADRIENNE HARRIS
Series Editors
Vol. 31 Vol. 21
Unconscious Fantasies and the Looking for Ground: Countertransference
Relational World and the Problem of Value in Psychoanalysis
Danielle Knafo & Kenneth Feiner Peter G. M. Carnochan
Vol. 30 Vol. 20
The Healer’s Bent: Relationality:
Solitude and Dialogue in the Clinical From Attachment to Intersubjectivity
Encounter Stephen A. Mitchell
James T. McLaughlin
Vol. 19
Vol. 29 Who is the Dreamer, Who Dreams
Child Therapy in the Great Outdoors: the Dream?
A Relational View A Study of Psychic Presences
Sebastiano Santostefano James S. Grotstein
Vol. 28 Vol. 18
Relational Psychoanalysis, V. II: Objects of Hope:
Innovation and Expansion Exploring Possibility and Limit in
Lewis Aron & Adrienne Harris (eds.) Psychoanalysis
Steven H. Cooper
Vol. 27
The Designed Self: Vol. 17
Psychoanalysis and Contemporary Identities The Reproduction of Evil:
Carlo Strenger A Clinical and Cultural Perspective
Sue Grand
Vol. 26
Impossible Training: Vol. 16
A Relational View of Psychoanalytic Psychoanalytic Participation:
Education Action, Interaction, and Integration
Emanuel Berman Kenneth A. Frank
Vol. 25 Vol. 15
Gender as Soft Assembly The Collapse of the Self and Its Therapeutic
Adrienne Harris Restoration
Rochelle G. K. Kainer
Vol. 24
Minding Spirituality Vol. 14
Randall Lehman Sorenson Relational Psychoanalysis:
The Emergence of a Tradition
Vol. 23 Stephen A. Mitchell & Lewis Aron (eds.)
September 11: Trauma and Human Bonds
Susan W. Coates, Jane L. Rosenthal, & Vol. 13
Daniel S. Schechter (eds.) Seduction, Surrender, and Transformation:
Emotional Engagement in the Analytic
Vol. 22 Process
Sexuality, Intimacy, Power Karen Maroda
Muriel Dimen
RELATIONAL PERSPECTIVES BOOK SERIES
LEWIS ARON & ADRIENNE HARRIS
Series Editors
Vol. 12 Vol. 6
Relational Perspectives on the Body The Therapist as a Person:
Lewis Aron & Frances Sommer Anderson Life Crises, Life Choices, Life Experiences,
(eds.) and Their Effects on Treatment
Barbara Gerson (ed.)
Vol. 11
Building Bridges: Vol. 5
Negotiation of Paradox in Psychoanalysis Holding and Psychoanalysis:
Stuart A. Pizer A Relational Perspective
Joyce A. Slochower
Vol. 10
Fairbairn, Then and Now Vol. 4
Neil J. Skolnick and David E. Scharff (eds.) A Meeting of Minds:
Mutuality in Psychoanalysis
Vol. 9 Lewis Aron
Influence and Autonomy in Psychoanalysis
Stephen A. Mitchell Vol. 3
The Analyst in the Inner City:
Vol. 8 Race, Class, and Culture through a
Unformulated Experience: Psychoanalytic Lens
From Dissociation to Imagination in Neil Altman
Psychoanalysis
Donnel B. Stern Vol. 2
Affect in Psychoanalysis:
Vol. 7 A Clinical Synthesis
Soul on the Couch: Charles Spezzano
Spirituality, Religion, and Morality
in Contemporary Psychoanalysis Vol. 1
Charles Spezzano & Gerald J. Gargiulo Conversing with Uncertainty:
(eds.) Practicing Psychotherapy in a Hospital
Setting
Rita Wiley McCleary

Understanding and Treating
Dissociative
Identity Disorder
A Relational Approach
Elizabeth F. Howell
New York London
Routledge Routledge
Taylor & Francis Group Taylor & Francis Group
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Library of Congress Cataloging‑in‑Publication Data
Howell, Elizabeth F., 1946-
Understanding and treating dissociative identity disorder : a relational
approach / Elizabeth Howell.
p. cm. -- (Relational perspectives ; 49)
ISBN 978-0-415-99496-5 (hardcover : alk. paper) -- ISBN 978-0-415-99497-2
(pbk. : alk. paper) -- ISBN 978-0-203-88826-1 (e-book)
1. Dissociative disorders--Diagnosis. 2. Dissociative disorders--Treatment. 3.
Dissociation (Psychology) I. Title.
RC553.D5H693 2011
616.85’23--dc22 2010041387
Visit the Taylor & Francis Web site at
http://www.taylorandfrancis.com
and the Routledge Web site at
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ISBN 0-203-88826-X Master e-book ISBN
With gratitude to my patients for their generous
permission to share about their lives and treatment
and for what they have taught me.