Richard K. Baer

Imagine pretending to be asleep in order to overhear conversations between your family and friends, so that you can learn your mother's name, or where your husband works. Karen was continually searching for ways to hide her obvious insanity until a desperate call to a crisis hot-line in 1989, led her to Dr. Richard Baer. The complexities of the human mind have never before been revealed with such detail, dimension, and compassion. Horrific, unimaginable abuse had forced Karen to create show more different personalities, with widely varying characteristics and abilities. As new personalities were introduced, the depth of Karen's suffering became obvious, as did the fear that the darkness would consume her. With careful guidance and unwavering patience, Dr. Baer was able to gain the individual trust of the seventeen alters, convincing each that although they had been created to protect Karen, her very survival now depended upon their complete and total destruction.

This is an amazing read! The level of abuse, the detailed characteristics of the created alters are almost beyond comprehension and leads you to question how it is someone that has suffered so greatly could ever be whole again. Which is, yet another testament to the human will to survive. Switching Time is by far one of the best non-fiction books I have read in years. Just as the alters were created as a means of survival, during the darkest and most frightening experiences imaginable, their destruction became a necessary step in the journey from divided survival to whole living. I highly recommend this book to anyone that enjoys a compelling, thought-provoking, inspiring read... absolutely 5 stars!

Happy Reading!
RJ show less

This story is of a young woman coming to a psychologist for seemingly a case of depression. What emerges is far more harrowing and terrifying. Over a period of years, it becomes apparent that there are 17 distinct personalities living inside her. They were necessary for her to survive the horrendous abuse she endured as a child.
Baer does an excellent job of telling enough to help the reader understand the circumstances that precipitated the mental illness of his patient, but did not get show more morbid or voyeuristic in the details. We are witnesses of the process of integration of the personalities which is told in a very readable and engrossing form. I couldn't help but get drawn into the process and its incredible complexity and difficulty. Excellent read. show less

Imagine pretending to be asleep in order to overhear conversations between your family and friends, so that you can learn your mother's name, or where your husband works. Karen was continually searching for ways to hide her obvious insanity until a desperate call to a crisis hot-line in 1989, led her to Dr. Richard Baer. The complexities of the human mind have never before been revealed with such detail, dimension and compassion. Horrific, unimaginable abuse had forced Karen to create show more different personalities, with widely varying characteristics and abilities. As new personalities were introduced, the depth of Karen's suffering became obvious, as did the fear that the darkness would consume her. With careful guidance and unwavering patience, Dr. Baer was able to gain the individual trust of the seventeen alters, convincing each that although they had been created to protect Karen, her very survival now depended upon their complete and total destruction. .
This is an amazing read! The level of abuse, the detailed characteristics of the created alters are almost beyond comprehension and leads you to question how it is someone that has suffered so greatly could ever be whole again. Which is, yet another testament to the human will to survive. Switching Time is by far one of the best non-fiction books I have read in years. Just as the alters were created as a means of survival, during the darkest and most frightening experiences imaginable, their destruction became a necessary step in the journey from divided survival to whole living. I highly recommend this book to anyone that enjoys a compelling, thought provoking, inspiring read... WOW!

Happy Reading!
RJ show less

This was a fascinating account of one therapist's experience treating a woman with 17 personalities. The story was interesting, although some of the accounts of abuse suffered by this woman were difficult to read and made me feel a bit like a voyeur. Still, the work that Dr. Baer did in helping "Karen" to integrate her personalities was monumental. I can't imagine embarking on a task that would take close to two decades to reach a conclusions. The mind is a fascinating thing.