Did Reviewer Confuse Opinion With Facts?

As a doctoral student with several years of academic and professional experience in the field of child abuse, I must take exception to Jill Neimark’s review of Leonard Simon’s book “Dissociated States” (“Couched in Lusty Mind Games, Thriller Is Out to Make Charts,” May 10).

Neimark accuses Simon of not providing even “the least dollop of realism” in his depiction of multiple personality disorder, a condition whose only known cause is severe early childhood trauma (usually child abuse). I cannot speak to Simon’s level of accuracy, but Neimark’s is sorely lacking, as she injects her own inflammatory pop culture misbeliefs and treats them as fact.

Neimark claims that “we are in the midst of an enormous crisis in therapy because therapists are now being sued for using questionable hypnotic techniques . . . to ‘unearth’ memories of sexual abuse and nonexistent multiple personalities.” Apparently, the fact that Simon’s character, Felix Kiehl, exhibits several separate personalities before seeking therapy is irrelevant.

Neimark’s so-called enormous crisis in therapy has more relevance in the tabloids and talk shows than in real-life therapists’ offices. As family violence stops being a family secret, it is not surprising that organizations will sprout up to counter the claims.

The psychology of trauma is a burgeoning field. That trauma often leads to buried memories or dissociation of the psyche is well-established in the scientific literature. Perhaps Neimark should ask herself which writer is using pop culture distortions to catch the eye and make the charts.

CYNDI NORMAN

San Diego