the stranger in the mirror by marlene steinberg

These symptoms can stem from many types of mental illnesses. DID can share very similar symptoms to that of dissociation without the alternate personalities. In fact many of the questions asked were leading and often had patients believing they experienced types of trauma that never took place.Īside from the therapy, DID doesn't always imply that one has subconsciously developed alter personalities. Much of the content in the book does not portray any evidence-based practice to support Steinberg's therapy models. Today I am a therapist and with that said, looking back on the content of this book, I highly disagree with scales used by Steinberg, as well as the types of therapies used to help those suffering from DID. Essentially this book saved my life, I was fifteen at the time. This book highlighted similar symptoms as to what I experienced primarily the feeling of disconnect with one's physical body and mind. As a sufferer from depersonalization, a symptom of my general anxiety disorder, I could not find a single 'hint' of information as to why I was feeling the way I was. Many distinguished mental health professionals believe this is exactly what has occurred in most, if not all, cases of recovered memories.This book is worthy of five stars, not because of its content, but rather because of the limited information pertaining to DID at the time the book was released. In these circumstances, perfectly normal people can be induced to remember things that never happened. Doctors who ask leading questions in the midst of therapy are especially likely to influence the nature of events recalled.

The American Psychiatric Association recently posted a fact sheet on its Web site ( that warns mental health professionals against leading or pressuring patients into accusing people of sexual abuse. Remembering is an unreliable process that is greatly influenced by, among other things, the contexts in which remembering occurs, the kinds of questions asked, and the status of the person asking the questions. But six or seven decades of research has shown that this is not the way memory works. They see remembering as a matter of opening the album or calling up a file. Most people think of memories as photographs in an album or files in a computer.

The stranger in the mirror by marlene steinberg