Condition exists

Re: Repressed memories of Oprah Winfrey, Rex Murphy, Jan. 13

I know t here are many, psychiatrists among them, who deny the existence of Multiple Personality Disorder, a condition that Rex Murphy chooses to mock. As a retired psychiatrist, who was in private practice in the ’ 80s and ’ 90s, I can testify without doubt or exaggeration that the syndrome exists. I worked for many years with a number of patients ( all women) to reach a resolution of this disorder. This unique syndrome, resulting from severe childhood abuse both physical and sexual, protects the core personality from dealing with extreme pain by blocking memories from consciousness. These memories are then assumed by an alternate personality, allowing the young woman to function normally and to acquire an education. ( One achieved a master’s degree in nursing.) Additional alternate personalities develop to deal with various other aspects of life’s functions. Lacking this defence means having to cope daily with the memory of very painful experiences, and unquestionably leads to serious abuse of drugs and alcohol to dull the pain, exerting a negative effect on education.

The psychiatrist and author of Sybil, whom I was privileged to hear lecture in Toronto some years ago, said she was taught in medical school to trust the evidence of her senses, when heckled by male psychiatrists at a meeting. ( She was most impressive, with red hair matching the velvet drapes of the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education auditorium!)

Mary McKim, MD FRCP ( Canada) Psychiatry, London, Ont.