“Every Summer After” (post 1) by Carley Fortune: Author may hear Italicized Voices as Loud Thoughts

This novel has many passages that are italicized, which I would ordinarily interpret as an author’s way to label words as being voices of alternate personalities. But this author very rarely acknowledges that her italicized words are voices, per se. One rare example: “Panic attack,” the voice replies, then it continues counting. Eight, Nine, Ten” (1, p. 220).

So I reviewed a textbook on multiple personality, which reminded me that voices of alternate personalities are sometimes experienced by the person, not as voices, per se, but as loud thoughts:

Textbook: “Almost always, the voices [of alternate personalities] are described as being ‘heard’ within the patient’s head or experienced as ‘loud thoughts.’ They are usually heard clearly and distinctly. These features can help to distinguish them from the auditory hallucinations found in schizophrenic patients…The hallucinatory voices of MPD patients often carry on lengthy discussions that seem coherent and logical to the patient…” (2, p. 62).

In short, if Carley Fortune, like many novelists, has multiple personality trait, I suspect she usually hears her characters’ voices, not as voices, per se, but as loud thoughts.

1. Carley Fortune. Every Summer After. New York, Jove, 2022.

2. Frank W. Putnam, MD. Diagnosis and Treatment of Multiple Personality Disorder. New York, The Guilford Press, 1989.