A Fractured Mind: My Life with Multiple Personality Disorder.

A FRACTURED MIND: MY LIFE WITH MULTIPLE PERSONALITY DISORDER. Robert B. Oxnam. 2005. Read by William Dufris. 8 cds. 9.5 hrs. Listen & Live Audio. 1-59316-070-4. $34.95. Cardboard; content, author, reader notes. A

Multiple personality disorder (MPD), now known as Dissociative Identity Disorder, is rare, but Oxnam and his therapist are convincing. MPD is explained, using understandable terminology and examples. It is normal for people to experience different sides of themselves, but these separate sides can communicate with one another in a normal integrated personality. In MPD the separate selves do not communicate and the sufferer experiences blank spaces of time. The roots of MPD are almost always in childhood abuse. Although Oxnam recovers memory of the abuse he faced in early childhood, he does not name the abusers.

Oxnam had eleven "alters" at one time. Each is given a voice in the production, quite a feat for narrator Dufris. He handles the task with aplomb though, at times, the listener picks up an understandable weariness with this long narrative. The account is fascinating and touching as Oxnam rebuilds his life and identity. Nancy Crowder Chaplin, Libn., VCCW, Goochland, VA