---
product_id: 4460049
title: "The Myth of Sanity: Divided Consciousness and the Promise of Awareness Paperback – February 22, 2002"
brand: "martha stout"
price: "€ 22.45"
currency: EUR
in_stock: true
reviews_count: 9
url: https://www.desertcart.ie/products/4460049-the-myth-of-sanity-divided-consciousness-and-the-promise-awareness
store_origin: IE
region: Ireland
---

# The Myth of Sanity: Divided Consciousness and the Promise of Awareness Paperback – February 22, 2002

**Brand:** martha stout
**Price:** € 22.45
**Availability:** ✅ In Stock

## Quick Answers

- **What is this?** The Myth of Sanity: Divided Consciousness and the Promise of Awareness Paperback – February 22, 2002 by martha stout
- **How much does it cost?** € 22.45 with free shipping
- **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship
- **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.ie](https://www.desertcart.ie/products/4460049-the-myth-of-sanity-divided-consciousness-and-the-promise-awareness)

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## Description

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## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5.0 out of 5 stars







  
  
    Excellent overview of dissociation
  

*by M***T on Reviewed in the United States on June 14, 2002*

It took me a long time to find a book like this.  Dr. Martha Stout provides deeply-moving insights into the vulnerabilities of people affected by trauma. She describes the relativity of trauma and its effects through three common situations. Child abuse has been a common reason given for dissociation - but Stout shows there are many other reasons.  (for example, a small boy "disconnects" from his fear when he isn't picked up at the bus stop.  For a five-year-old in an unfamiliar place that is a traumatic situation)  Using interesting and realistic case stories, she develops a compassionate picture of the gradations of symptoms on the dissociative continuum -- everything from temporarily zoning out while driving and disconnecting from yourself while watching a movie to the extreme dissociation of a man with multiple personalities.  I read it all in one sitting (up until 6a.m.) and felt enthusiastic -- wanting to purchase one for all my family members and friends.  A major point Stout makes is we all experience dissociation in varying degrees.  Dissociation doesn't necessarily involve having "multiple personalities"  Well-written, intelligent, accessible. Reveals the large and small traumas that cause us to separate ourselves from our experience of living.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4.0 out of 5 stars







  
  
    Clear plain language primer on "dissociative personality disorder" (DID).
  

*by I***O on Reviewed in the United States on November 29, 2008*

Stout (PhD., worked at Massachusetts' renowned McLean psychiatric hospital, associated to Harvard Medical School) wrote a deep book for the non specialist. It is true what Amazon reviewer says "it tends more to literary descriptions than proving facts scientifically". Like on page 118 on, with its leisurely prose about the John Gielgud's suite at Haiti, the same style for "atmosphere" at the famous mental hospital (p. 135-6), etc.If you like classic accounts of psychiatry like, say, Olivier Sacks, you'll read this book in a breeze, maybe on a Sunday afternoon, and probably will look for more.Do you wanted this book summed up in one sentence? Here's one by Daniel Jolley "darkgenius": "One cannot protect oneself (which is basically what dissociation consists of) and live life to the fullest at the same time". As the 3 "spotlight reviewers" attest, this book is useful for "everyday life", not only to understand "psychos as seen on TV" (which she at many occasions deals with, condescendingly, as portraying a misleading image of this disorder, making it more "wacky", consequently not letting us know about the intermediate stages).She takes a "subjectivist" epistemological view, made explicit at page 122: "we all live inside our own heads". Some may like it, I don't, but she doesn't dwell on this. Her theme on how fear hijacks our brains is more fully explained at her latest book: "The paranoia switch, how terror rewires our brains".

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5.0 out of 5 stars







  
  
    Is Sanity a Myth?
  

*by P***D on Reviewed in the United States on October 17, 2012*

Dissociation is no myth but isn't it about degree?  As the primary structural component of anyone's identity is based on self-awareness, sanity is indeed no myth. When  feeling pain and doing something about it seems inimical to one's best interests, the self is put aside and hidden."For the traumatized child, a dissociative state, far from being dysfunctional or crazy, may in fact be life saving" (p.31).  The key factor for clinicians is healing the dissociative state which, after intensive use, has developed a hair trigger. The adult whom the child has become now experiences dissociative reactions to levels of stress that probably would not cause another person to dissociate" (p.31).  We move towards sanity to the degree we establish a sense of moral clarity.  With a clearer understanding, better decisions are possible.  Yes, it takes courage to work through the pain of betrayal, but sometimes the pain emerges when all else fails.  For anyone wanting to understand the process of dissociation, denial, repression, and its toll on the personality, I suggest 'The Myth of Sanity' to be a very well written book with insights that are valuable for professional and non-professional, alike.  The tone of the book is consistently non judgmental and shows a level of compassion which suggests clinical success would be more likely.  The clinical examples and the explanations for the strategies of defense seem accurate to me.  I am reminded of Freud's first monograph on his patient, Anna O.  According to Freud's hypothesis, Anna O suffered from the effects of "strangulated affect".  Nice way of talking about dissociation and the effects of trauma bonding. Don't you agree?

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*Product available on Desertcart Ireland*
*Store origin: IE*
*Last updated: 2026-03-17*