Dissociation : Vol. 2, No. 1 (March 1989)

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Dissociation : Vol. 2, No. 1, p. 024-031: Linking the psychological and the social: feminism, poststructuralism, and multiple personality
(Ridgeview Institute and the International Society for the Study of Multiple Personality and Dissociation, 1989-03) Rivera, Margo, 1945-
In the past ten years incest and child abuse have been brought into public awareness as social problems. During the same time period there has been a significant increase in knowledge and understanding about the phenomenon of multiple personality. However, though multiple personality is almost invariably an outcome of severe childhood abuse, it has been thus far seen almost entirely in a psychological light, as a personal problem for suffering individuals. This article explores the issue of multiple personality from a feminist perspective, using basic concepts of poststructuralism to elucidate this viewpoint. Examining the social and political aspects of the issue of multiple personality expands our capacity to address the problem in the broadest possible way and to look at questions of prevention as well as assessment and treatment.