Reviews

The Flock: The Autobiography of a Multiple Personality by Joan Frances Casey, Lynn Wilson

erinjandacreative's review against another edition

4.0

This is one of the most emotionally intense books I have ever read. What an awful and amazing story. There were times when it was uncomfortable and difficult to read, but I wanted to know how everything would turn out. This book is thought-provoking and inspiring.

annacantcook's review

5.0

Fascinating account of a woman who develops multiple personality disorder and her journey of "integrating" all her personalities back together through therapy. I flew through this book as it was written well and also was very interesting.

jenmceditor's review

1.0

Rubbish. How convenient that anyone and everyone who could possibly corroborate her story is dead.

shayh's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Incest, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Child abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

katiedermody's review against another edition

5.0

This book was SO INTERESTING! It tells the story of a person with D.I.D. back in the 80s when it was still known as Multiple Personality Disorder, and the therapeutic style their counselor utilized. This book helped explain the process of integration better to me, which was what I was hoping after reading The Third Person earlier this month. I am still so fascinated by this disorder and want to learn more. 

amethyst_hearts_books's review

3.0

Not stunning, but not bad. An interesting read.

sjl762001's review against another edition

dark emotional informative

4.0

iamshadow's review

5.0

Still one I really enjoy reading, twenty years after I first bought it. There's a lot here that's still relevant to the lived experience of disordered multiplicity through the therapeutic process, especially in light of the current focus on disordered attachment as a part of developmental trauma. Reparenting can be - and has been - done very, very badly (see Zoe Parry's Angel Child for some prime examples) but in Joan Casey's case, she seems to have fallen on her feet and found a therapist who really took the right approach for what she needed. That's not to say everything went smoothly, it didn't, but they showed the rough with the smooth in such a way that it all felt like a very organic process of growing up and learning how to be an adult, with a secure sense of self and emotional resources. There's also a great deal of respect shown to all the system members that show up in therapy, even the self-destructive ones. It isn't something that Lynn Wilson knows to do automatically, but something she works out along the way - that all system members are equally needed and equally in need of kindness and help. That's something that should be shown more in books on multiplicity.

nora_nevermore's review

4.0

Definitely an enjoyable read. Joan (Renee) does a very good job of sharing her experience of working through being a multiple, from when she first heard the diagnosis to her acceptance of all the personalities and to the final outcome.
The book is told back and forth from Joan's POV and also her therapist, Lynn's POV. It's interesting to see the pov of both during different periods of therapy.

As stated by others, the therapy that Lynn uses is very controversial. I also found that at times I personally did not like Lynn's choices and she wasn't as wonderful to Joan as she liked to give herself credit for.

The saddest part however, is the image of the mental health community. Joan has a few run ins with psychiatrists that unfortunately reinforce the ever present issue with so many mental health professionals, too much ego and total lack of empathy.

esalan's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative sad medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexism