Switching Time

A Doctor's Harrowing Story of Treating a Woman with 17 Personalities

By: Richard Baer M.D.

Narrated by: Lloyd James

Length: 12 hrs and 57 mins

Publisher's summary

Switching Time is the first story centering on multiple personality disorder to be told by the treating physician. It is the incredible saga of a young woman stranded in unimaginable darkness who, in order to survive, created 17 different versions of herself.

In 1989, Karen Overhill walked into the office of psychiatrist Richard Baer complaining of depression. She poured out a litany of complaints, but in the disengaged way of someone who has experienced a terrible trauma. Slowly, Baer began to peel back the layers, eventually learning that Karen had been the victim of childhood sexual abuse. As time passed, though, his patient worsened and began to talk continually of suicide. Details of her abuse accumulated until he saw, via hypnosis, the true dimension of what Karen had suffered.

Baer was at a loss to explain Karen's sanity, precarious though it was, until he received a letter from a little girl, Claire. One by one, Karen's "alters" began showing themselves: men, women, young boys, a toddler, black, white, vicious, nurturing, prim, licentious. And their "stepping out" confronted Baer with the challenge of a lifetime. Somehow, to save Karen, he would have to gain the trust of her alters in order to destroy them.

©2007 Richard Baer, M.D. (P)2007 Tantor Media Inc.

Critic reviews

"An important and insightful look into the world of a multiple." (Cameron West, author of First Person Plural)
"Vivid...loaded with fascinating details... richly rewarding." (Colin Ross, author of Multiple Personality Order and The Osiris Complex)

Well done, just very well done!

I appreciate the courage & perseverance shown by patient & therapist in this book. While I understand the pitfalls in seeing a patient in your own home, I also see how Dr. Baer felt that was his best choice. While nowadays one can rent an office for an hour a week, in the 90's that was an unheard of option. As a mental health professional myself, I must say that this is the most complete and detailed account of DiD that I have read. I look forward to reading the follow up book on Karen's continued progress and life as an integrated whole.

Mesmerizing Story!

Switching Time is a mesmerizing story and I could hardly turn it off!! Dr. Baer did a wonderful job giving enough detail of why someone would develop 17 personalities without making the story about the abuse. It is a wonderful story of survival and recovery that I highly recommend.

Fascinating listen!

Very interesting listen. I normally listed to comtemporary fiction, but am glad I downloaded this audiobook.

Beware: some of the content is tough to stomach (physical, verbal, mental, and sexual child abuse).

Not Really Sure What To Make Of This...

Since first reading Mary Higgins Clark’s All Around The Town, I have been fascinated by Multiple Personality Disorder (MPD) and have followed its transformation (through fiction) to Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID). This audiobook marks my first audio experience with the topic, as well as my first non-fiction one... Well, other than Sybil, but since that has been revealed to be a hoax, I suppose that counts amongst the fiction now. But after finishing this listen, I must admit that I am not quite certain where to shelve it either...

Chicagoan Karen Overhill’s story is certainly a grim one - abused by every single male in her life. From her father, grandfather, priest, local undertaker, police officer and work buddies of other family members, she undergoes a terrible childhood. With even just one of these abusers, it would be no surprise that her psyche crumbles. And with the variety of torment, it frankly seems a miracle that Karen has coped at all to function as an adult in any way. But, her survival lays at her own feet - within which seventeen different personalities can use.

The details of her abuse are relayed here in nauseating detail. Even more frightening is not only the fact that every single male she encounters took part of this horrific abuse, but also at the knowledge and non-intervention of many of her female relatives as well. Even more alarming is the way Baer himself does not seek any sort of legal intervention when he witnesses the after-effects of abuse in Karen’s troubled marriage. His entire relationship with Karen has hints that it is not entirely above-board, with little details like her nonpayment for treatment, and later when the appointments take place within his home. He also allows Karen to romanticize her own death at length, which adds to the darkness of the tone.

But the deeper into the story, the more unrealistic it seems. It somehow manages to drag on as each individual personality undergoes their own ceremony of transmutation and furthermore. It feels almost routine. And when after viewing the movie Primal Fear, Karen suddenly recounts her own experience with a priest - directly similar to the film. And with these hints about Baer’s own life, it seems like readers are missing the whole story - perhaps the graphic details of the abuse blindside many readers to consider this as anything other than true, but unfortunately this book has stretched my limits of credulity. It simply doesn’t seem plausible that one person underwent this much abuse, but still grows up to be married with two children and displays “textbook” DID...

As for the narrator, the female voices blur together but otherwise, it is a fine performance.

Captivating

Very good acting of the different personalities. Very well written, but not enough details. Mesmerizing.

Hugely riveting!

This book brings you into the bits and pieces of the human soul. And gives you a fabulous insight into what the soul can do to protect itself. My heart goes out to the young woman in the story.

Fabulous book and extraordinary actor/performer!!

Bravo to the actor who was able to deftly play and switch between 19 characters in a believable way. Outstanding performance!

Great look into the mind of a lost person

What did you love best about Switching Time?

The slow build up of the true story.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Both

What about Lloyd James’s performance did you like?

Wonderful even tones

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

Apparitions of others trying to get out

Any additional comments?

This story is great

Absolutely fascinating!

This book is very engaging, I could not stop listening. The characters are very vivid, including the alters. The narration was near perfect, and as I said, I could not stop listening to this book.

facinating

I found this book to be fascinating. One reviewer discredits this story with the fact that to them it is unbelievable. I found the descriptions of the different personalities surprising, and the narrator did and excellent job differentiating. I could not put it down.