“A Little Life” (post 2) by Hanya Yanagihara: More Clues to Multiple Personality

—Novel: “You know he cuts himself, don’t you? [asked the doctor]. “No,” his friend says (1, p. 80).

—Textbook: “Suicidal behavior is extremely common in MPD patients…Self-mutilation—typically cutting with glass or razor blades, or burning with cigarettes or matches—occurs in at least a third of MPD patients. The percentage of self-mutilators is probably much higher, because the behavior is often not reported to therapists (2, p. 64).

1. Hanya Yanagihara. A Little Life. New York, Anchor Books, 2015/2016.

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