The New York Times Book Review continues to make a fool of itself regarding both multiple personality disorder and multiple personality trait

Today’s Sunday print edition of The New York Times Book Review begins a book review by citing the case of Mary Reynolds from the beginning of the nineteenth century as “the first well-documented case of multiple personality disorder” (1).

The Times’ review then ignores that history by saying that multiple personality disorder is a social phenomenon, “spawned” in 1980, based on a 1973 case history and movie.

Of course, as a literary review, the Times’ principal ignorance is not multiple personality disorder, a mental illness, but multiple personality trait, an asset in fiction writing.

1. ”https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/23/books/review/the-sleeping-beauties-suzanne-osullivan.html