The Haunted Self: Structural Dissociation and the Treatment of Chronic Traumatization (Norton Series on Interpersonal Neurobiology)

"This is a must read for counsellors working with dissociative clients. It is well-written, easy to understand (although the problem of dissociative disorder is very complex) and gives practical advice and strategies."
~ Written on 2008-08-30

"This book is just wonderfull! I deeply enjoyed reading it - and much more :) - applying its concepts and practical guidelines into the complex clinical work with traumatized individuals. Myself, psychotherapist, child and adolescent psychiatrist in Ukraine - I found this book most clinically useful book I have read in few last years about trauma-related disorders. It gives clarity into this very complex dimensions of inner and outer lives of chronically traumatized individuals and it helps to empathically understand their suffering. From this empathic understanding well-paced and well-structured therapy can take place. And from my clinical practice I saw how useful and effective are concepts and practical therapeutic guidelines from this book. So I highly recommend this book for everyone working in the field of trauma-related disorders, and I also highly recommend this book to publishers for translations and publication in other languages. This knowledge must become widely available so we can better assist traumatized individuals in their inner healing. Special thanks to authors for their great work!"
~ Written on 2008-08-13

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What an exceptional book! The step-wise didactic clarity and innovative content of The Haunted Self alone would suffice to justify making the book required reading material for all health professionals encountering trauma victims. However, it is also a remarkably thrilling reading experience, reminiscent of the "haunted-house" stories of my youth. One finds oneself led to familiar areas through "hidden stairways" and suddenly comes to perceive and comprehend things from unexpected angles.
As a psychiatrist specializing in trauma as a clinician, a lecturer and a researcher for nearly 20 years, I found this book to be a fitting and eloquent summary of over 25 years of innovative thought, thorough research and ongoing re-assessment of the theoretical and clinical applications of Trauma-Related Structural Dissociation of the Personality by Van der Hart, Nijenhuis and Steele, whose ongoing publications in leading journals I have followed avidly. The theoretical basis is coherently and systematically presented in the opening section, followed by a section which concisely and didactically addresses the clinical applications, from guidelines for patient assessment and formulation of the treatment plan, and then deals in detail with each stage, with ample guidance and clinical examples. The lay-out of the book also conveniently enables selective reading of independent sections and topics. There is a refreshing undercurrent of humility to the book - the reader feels encouraged to examine and comment freely.
Without seeking to replace or compete with other trauma theories or treatment modalities, the authors present an over-arching and unifying conceptual approach to comprehending the psycho-biological underpinnings of a highly variable and challenging population of patients, who quite commonly present with a complex and confusing array of atypical and changeable clinical and therapeutic issues, only partly addressed by current diagnostic criteria and treatment guidelines.
The structural conception of dissociation enhances ones understanding not only of PTSD and Complex PTSD, Dissociative Identity Disorder and cases of severe protracted physical and sexual abuse, but clarifies the contribution of trauma to Borderline Personality Disorder, Somatoform Disorders and certain physical syndromes characteristically associated with emotional trauma and stress.

Dr Mike Matar, MD (Psych)

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~ Written on 2008-08-01

"A very interesting review of Janetian psychology as well as a helpful presentation of theory and categorization of dissociative identity disorder. The clinical sections are less well organized, and rather hard to follow."
~ Written on 2008-06-22

"At last - a truly excellent text on the psychological aspects of trauma-related disorders! This book provides a clear and comprehensive account of the theory and management of complex PTSD and complex dissociative disorders. In approaching the difficulties of categorising all the phenomena seen in these severely disturbed patients, the authors have taken a bird's eye view, presenting their theory of structural dissociation and linking it in a useful and meaningful way to a phased treatment model.

The issue of dissociation has been phenomenologically challenging and even more difficult to unravel theoretically. Van der Hart, Nijenhuis and Steele have accomplished this task with a quite densely written, but lucid, volume which draws on the work of Janet, expanding his concepts and defining a range of terms that greatly assist in conceptualising how dissociation and its consequences occur, and how its manifestations produce the symptoms these patients present. It draws on the growing neurobiological research into the underpinnings of dissociation and highlights the centrality of the phobic response to the traumatising event in the maintenance of dissociation.

The authors importantly distinguish between potentially and actually traumatising events, and traumatic experiences, recognising that only some people develop psychopathological symptoms or mental disorders in response to exposure to a particular event, which can then be identified as a traumatising event which produced a traumatic experience. This can be seen in contrast to the person who does not develop psychopathology and to whom the identical event may be quite stressful, but by definition is not traumatic.

While this theoretical analysis might seem a sufficient endeavour, the second part of the book provides an overarching map to treatment, connecting it throughout with the previously described theoretical framework. In contrast to many previous attempts, the plan provides an understanding of how the phased model of treatment seeks initially to consolidate the patient's response to the traumatising event, thereby attempting to diminish the likelihood of further disintegration. Further it does not view fusion of the dissociative parts, if this can be achieved, as the final therapeutic goal for those who dissociate in response to the traumatising event, but rather suggests that the ultimate task of treatment is to assist the patient to overcome the `phobia of normal life'.

Without doubt, the most helpful text yet for clinicians working in a psychological framework in this controversial field.
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~ Written on 2007-07-14