A Brilliant Adaptation - How Dissociative Identity Disorder & the Power of the Therapeutic Bond Saved Me by Sally Maslansky is a searing and profound memoir of one woman’s journey through dissociative identity disorder and childhood sexual abuse—and how she found hope, healing, and recovery.
Sally Maslansky was living the perfect life: a beautiful home in Malibu, California, a successful Hollywood producer husband who adores her, and a recently adopted son she treasures. But when Sally begins to remember the trauma she endured as a child, her world begins to unravel.
In this gripping and provocative memoir, psychotherapist Sally Maslansky, MFT, shares how childhood sexual abuse led her to develop dissociative identity disorder (DID), and how, with the help of renowned therapist Daniel J. Siegel, MD, she ultimately recovers. The book reveals the power of therapeutic bond to heal deep attachment wounds, the science of neuroplasticity in healing the traumatized mind, and our capacity as human beings to reconcile unspeakable experiences to grow, change, and live vibrant, loving, and joyful lives against all odds.
Together with Dr. Siegel, Sally Maslansky slowly recovers her childhood memories and reconnects with the forgotten parts of herself—parts that she grows to admire, respect, honor, and love, because they literally saved her young mind from unimaginable horrors. In the book, Dr. Siegel describes Maslansky’s DID as a brilliant adaptation of the mind—a protective force that kept her mentally safe when the people she should have trusted most were the ones responsible for her abuse.
Whether you have struggled with DID yourself, love someone who has DID, or are simply looking to be inspired by the tenacity of the human spirit, this memoir offers a provocative glimpse into an often pathologized and misunderstood condition, and shows the profound and healing possibilities of therapy, human understanding, and the will to survive.
Sally Maslansky, LMFT, has been in private practice for over twenty years in Chapel Hill, NC. She treats families, adoption, trauma, parenting, and adult individuals. Her training is in Interpersonal Neurobiology (IPNB), Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR), The Adult Attachment Interview (AAI), Attachment Theory, Polyvagal Theory, Mindfulness, and The Wheel of Awareness Practice.
Daniel J. Siegel, MD is the Founder and Director of Education of the Mindsight Institute and founding co-director of the Mindful Awareness Research Center at UCLA, where he was also Co-Principal Investigator of the Center for Culture, Brain and Development and Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the School of Medicine. An award-winning educator, Dan is the author of five New York Times bestsellers and over fifteen other books which have been translated into over forty languages. As the founding editor of the Norton Professional Series on Interpersonal Neurobiology (“IPNB”), Dan has overseen the publication of one hundred books in the transdisciplinary IPNB framework which focuses on the mind and mental health. A graduate of Harvard Medical School, Dan completed his postgraduate training at UCLA specializing in pediatrics, and adult, adolescent, and child psychiatry. He was trained in attachment research and narrative analysis through a National Institute of Mental Health research training fellowship focusing on how relationships shape our autobiographical ways of making sense of our lives and influence our development across the lifespan. Learn more about Dr. Siegel at: www.drdansiegel.com | www.mindsightinstitute.com