The central idea of this book by Rita Carter is that most of us are
comprised of multiple personalities, but not disordered because these
personalities share memories with each other. In what used to be called
multiple personality disorder, now dissociative identity disorder, the real
problem is that the personalities are disconnected from each other and don't
share information. In this book, Carter gives examples of people who are
co-conscious of multiple personalities and use that as a strength.
She builds a case for multiplicity as a survival trait in
the human species that has become increasingly important as the modern world
forces us into diverse roles, often within a single day. For example, you might
know a woman executive who is a very different person in her office from the
person she is with her young daughter.
Carter writes, "I found that if one thinks of each
person as a group rather than as a single, unchanging personality, many
familiar but previously puzzling things made much more sense. ... The way we
can remember some things at some times and not at others, for instance, is
entirely understandable if you think of each person as a vessel in which
different personalities-each carrying their own 'bag' of memories-come and
go."
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