The James Tapes
Integrating fragmented personalities of a multiple personality disorder (MPD) patient
(Book Two)
When Dr. Joel Brende first met James, he immediately discovered that James suffered from memory loss and gaps of awareness, and that two or more parts of his brain seemed to operate independently. It became apparent that James’s mind had split off traumatic memories of emotional and physical pain via the psychological defense mechanism of dissociation that created split identities.
During his early psychotherapy sessions, Dr. Brende met five distinct personalities: James—the original personality; Jay—the predominant and protective personality who took over the body when James suffered a psychological trauma at age seven; Jim and Jimmy—two child personalities; and Shea—a homosexual personality. During psychotherapy, as portrayed in the first book, there were significant personality changes that led to James’s rebirth experience as that book came to a close.
This second installment begins with the newborn personality J, who slowly grows up as his identity matures from his childhood self. This process is detailed by Dr. Joel Brende from video recordings of psychotherapy sessions with James made over a number of years, something no other mental health professional has ever accomplished. Both books provide an honest look at the inner workings of a unique psychotherapy process.
A rare glimpse into the psyche of a multiple personality disorder (MPD) patient
(Book One)
Can you believe an individual can have more than one personality in the same body? Or that his memory can be so fragmented he loses days, weeks, months, and even years from his awareness? Or that one of his personalities would be a little boy, another gay, another female, another unable to feel pain, another suicidal, another homicidal, and another psychic?
Dr. Joel Brende writes a detailed chronicle of his sessions with James, a man with a traumatic past and fractured personality. Every session of their eight years together was video recorded, a singular record which allows Dr. Brende to provide a detailed account of their conversations together, as well as images from the sessions, an intimate look at the inner workings of dissociative identity disorder. He has provided a record of treatment for the layperson and professional alike, guiding us through his first discovery of several unique personalities in his patient, then diagnosis of multiple personality disorder, and their path of discovery as they work together to understand what was then a relatively unknown disorder.
“Dr. Brende’s account of his treatment of a patient with multiple personality disorder is both fascinating and informative. Multiple personality disorder is not that well understood, and Brende’s work with James, videotaped over a period of years, offers a rare glimpse into the psyche of an MPD patient. Dr. Brende’s broad clinical experience with psychotherapy and hypnosis combined with his clear, “down to earth” writing style, makes this account an important contribution to the field.”
— JOHN C. CONNELLY, M.D.
DIPLOMATE, AMERICAN BOARD OF PSYCHIATRY & NEUROLOGY
MEDICAL DIRECTOR EMERITUS, BRADLEY CENTER PSYCHIATRIC CENTER, COLUMBUS, GA
DISTINGUISHED LIFE FELLOW, AMERICAN PSYCHIATRIC ASSOCIATION
“What is unique about the snippets from the ninety videotaped James tapes is the manner in which Dr. Brende helped to pioneer efforts to treat dissociative symptoms….Dr. Brende uncovered, through medical, environmental, and family interactions, the client’s secrets, repressed memories, painful physiological emotions, trauma, and loosely organized and displayed thought patterns. His therapy reflected a non-threatening, warm, responsive, and understanding tone of a one-to-one trusting therapeutic relationship.”
— Gary L Arthur, Ed.D., LPC, NCC.
Professor Emeritus of Professional Counseling at Georgia State University
Georgia Counselor Educator of the year in 2007
Author of the widely used study course: Study Guides for State Licensure Exam Preparation