Multiple Personalities, Subpersonalities, and “Parts” 

Books on treating “Multiple Personality” (1989) and “Subpersonalities” (1990) were published about the same time, but neither book referenced the other. Was that a psychiatry/psychology issue?

1. John Rowan. Subpersonalities: The People Inside Us. New York, Routledge, 1990.

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

Comment: I’ve always disliked the expression that “whereas I think like this, another part of me thinks or likes that,” since I don’t think of myself as having “parts.” I think of myself as having aspects and moods. Therapy using the concept of subpersonalities may be very helpful in selected cases, but are subpersonalities really a form of multiple personality disorder (a.k.a. dissociative identity disorder) with a less-daunting name?