First Person Plural: My Life as a Multiple
Author	Cameron West
Cover artist	Rebecca Lown
Country	United States
Language	English
Genre(s)	Nonfiction
Publisher	Hyperion
Publication date	1999
Media type	Print (Hardcover)
Pages	319 pp (first edition, hardback)
ISBN	ISBN 0-7868-6390-0 (first edition, hardback)
OCLC Number	39210166
Dewey Decimal	616.85/236/0092 B 21
LC Classification	RC569.5.M8 W44 1999

First Person Plural: My Life As A Multiple is a psychology-related autobiography written by Cameron West, who experiences a disorder known as dissociative identity disorder. The book is written in the first-person, in which West recounts his diagnosis and treatment.

Contents 1 Summary 2 Analysis 3 Criticism 4 References

[edit] Summary

West is diagnosed with DID as an adult and struggles to deal with the disorder while trying to hide it from his son and keep his wife.

West claims to have 24 different personalities. The emergence of new personalities is tied to flashbacks West experiences in which he is molested by his mother and grandmother. One personality, named Switch, physically injures West's body, angry about being repressed for so long.

Throughout his long journey to acceptance, West meets several people who are there to help and support him, and several people who share his condition. West has an epiphany when his therapist suggests that West try to allow his alters to come out daily.

In the final pages, West allows some of his alters to be captured on videotape. After viewing this tape, West and some of his alters begin to fully realize the exact nature of his condition, and that they are all in the same body whether they like it or not. Afterward, he learns that his wife isn't going to leave him, he is awarded his Ph.D. and begins to accept himself for who he is.

[edit] Analysis

West writes First Person Plural using a first-person omniscient style, in which he is typically the narrator, but the reader can still see scenes that don't involve him.

West had struggled with accepting DID for several years, beginning with the first “takeovers” of his body, until at last he accepts them in the end. West writes that he authored the book to show doctors and psychologists a first-hand account DID so that others can be correctly identified and be given proper care. Furthermore, West states he wished to reach out to others like himself and show them that “they aren't alone, that there is hope.”^[1]

[edit] Criticism

A review in Time called the book "awkwardly written",^[2] but the book reached the New York Times bestseller list for two weeks in March 1999.^[3] Sales of the book were boosted by the author's appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show.

Screen rights for a potential film were purchased by Disney for $1.15 million and Robin Williams was cast to play West.^[4] However the film was never completed.

[edit] References