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Multiple personality: A single case study with a 15 year follow-up

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2009

Brian Cutler  and
John Reed
Brian Cutler
Affiliation:
Bethlem Royal and Maudsley Hospitals and St. Bartholomew's Hospital, London
John Reed*
Affiliation:
Bethlem Royal and Maudsley Hospitals and St. Bartholomew's Hospital, London
*
1Address for correspondence and requests for reprints: John Reed, Department of Psychological Medicine, St. Bartholomew's Hospital, West Smithfield, London, EC1A 7BE.
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Synopsis

A review of the literature relating to multiple personality is presented together with a study of a single case of hysterical aetiology that demonstrates the development of multiple personality from a fugue amnesic state. A re-examination of this case after 15 years without significant psychotherapeutic intervention demonstrates a tendency towards remission. The view that multiple personality is a form of fugue, not necessarily hysterical, in which an alternative personality is adopted and that this behaviour is reinforced by the attention that it receives, is discussed.

Type
Research Article
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 5 , Issue 1 , February 1975 , pp. 18 - 26
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1975

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