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SPLIT: a life shared: living with Multiple Personality Disorder
How does a child survive years of unimaginable abuse? She splits. And splits again. And again. And again. And she does survive. But not without consequences.
As a young adult, years after her physical abuse has ended, Maggie Walters struggles with an unpredictable temper and socially difficult behaviour. After several false starts she finds a therapist who she trusts, just enough, to start talking about the childhood locked away behind the anger and isolation she has learnt to live with.
Eventually she is diagnosed with Multiple Personality Disorder, MPD (now known as Dissociative Identity Disorder or DID).
Gradually, she understands. It was not Maggie who survived her childhood. The instinct to survive created an alternative identity called Annie, who with a myriad of other ‘alters�, lived through the abuse inflicted on her.
Decades later, with a husband and three much-loved children, Maggie strives to live a normal life despite a past which has left her internal world with a hidden, dark secret. Every day, unseen by those around her, trigger incidents fill her head with voices, the chaotic remnants of her other selves who lived the childhood she couldn’t. This is the ‘normal� which Maggie has learned to live with.
In SPLIT Maggie tells the story of managing this ‘normal�, of understanding and accepting her past, and standing strong in the life she has built from the ashes of her broken childhood.
It is a story not only of survival, but of self-acceptance, of the triumph to simply live. You will not read another book like it.
As a young adult, years after her physical abuse has ended, Maggie Walters struggles with an unpredictable temper and socially difficult behaviour. After several false starts she finds a therapist who she trusts, just enough, to start talking about the childhood locked away behind the anger and isolation she has learnt to live with.
Eventually she is diagnosed with Multiple Personality Disorder, MPD (now known as Dissociative Identity Disorder or DID).
Gradually, she understands. It was not Maggie who survived her childhood. The instinct to survive created an alternative identity called Annie, who with a myriad of other ‘alters�, lived through the abuse inflicted on her.
Decades later, with a husband and three much-loved children, Maggie strives to live a normal life despite a past which has left her internal world with a hidden, dark secret. Every day, unseen by those around her, trigger incidents fill her head with voices, the chaotic remnants of her other selves who lived the childhood she couldn’t. This is the ‘normal� which Maggie has learned to live with.
In SPLIT Maggie tells the story of managing this ‘normal�, of understanding and accepting her past, and standing strong in the life she has built from the ashes of her broken childhood.
It is a story not only of survival, but of self-acceptance, of the triumph to simply live. You will not read another book like it.
- GenresMemoirMental Health
360 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 16, 2024
5 people are currently reading
83 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
March 15, 2024
A profoundly moving book, brave and bold and poetic.
May 14, 2024
Thank you Maggie for gifting us a copy to read and review.
Life is not fair and can deliver cruel blows at any stage, combine this with the old adage that ‘life is what you make it � and you witness the forces that shape lives.
Split is a story of survival and how the brain and body coped with childhood abuse and how the journey of self acceptance influenced Maggie’s life.
Maggie developed Multiple Personality Disorder as a result of the abuse she suffered from her father and his friends.
These alters helped with the trauma, fears and chaos she faced regularly.
Maggie removed herself from the family when she started college.
Trying to find the right therapist to unlock the mysteries of her brain was a process that took time as she greeted adulthood with determination.
Hurdles and milestones in love, family and lifestyle reveal the steadfast and resilience she applied to every aspect of her life while managing her condition.
I was invested to read this heartbreaking and difficult story and appreciate the invitation to understand more about this disorder and the repercussions from it.
Maggie’s story and her journey made for a compelling read.
Life is not fair and can deliver cruel blows at any stage, combine this with the old adage that ‘life is what you make it � and you witness the forces that shape lives.
Split is a story of survival and how the brain and body coped with childhood abuse and how the journey of self acceptance influenced Maggie’s life.
Maggie developed Multiple Personality Disorder as a result of the abuse she suffered from her father and his friends.
These alters helped with the trauma, fears and chaos she faced regularly.
Maggie removed herself from the family when she started college.
Trying to find the right therapist to unlock the mysteries of her brain was a process that took time as she greeted adulthood with determination.
Hurdles and milestones in love, family and lifestyle reveal the steadfast and resilience she applied to every aspect of her life while managing her condition.
I was invested to read this heartbreaking and difficult story and appreciate the invitation to understand more about this disorder and the repercussions from it.
Maggie’s story and her journey made for a compelling read.
March 25, 2024
Split is an incredible eye-opener into what it is like to live with Multiple Personality Disorder, and the kind of complex and horrific trauma that can trigger it. The brain is incredibly resilient to perform what is essentially a feat of self-preservation. I felt so sorry for what Maggie endured, and I admire her ability to forge a new life for herself in Australia. Her writing style is vivid and engaging and I enjoyed reading about her life on a self sufficient farm as much as I did learning about MPD. This is also a really good account of middle age, and the life decisions we make and regret yet persist with. Thought-provoking and confronting.
March 18, 2024
An extraordinary book. I found it hard to put down. I knew nothing at all about this disorder, until I read this gutsy and gritty and compelling memoir. To follow the author's journey from horrific childhood abuses to her life now as an inspiring writer and a loving mother of three was quite a roller-coaster ride. And what a testament to the human spirit. Thank goodness for the gift of therapy and those who helped her at various stages. What unsung heroes.
July 12, 2024
This is the best written independently published book I have ever read. It is also one of the fascinating memoirs.
For such a complex, and at times harrowing subject it is an easy read. It is plain and straightforward with moments of wonderful lyricism.
“There are more rooms, more girls, more pain than I care to comprehend. It is why I am alive. It is hard for me not to wonder at the way this place has been put together. Piecemeal � Someday I may stand in awe of the creativity required to build this home, this system built to allow a body to function, finding a will to live in spite of what happened�
For such a complex, and at times harrowing subject it is an easy read. It is plain and straightforward with moments of wonderful lyricism.
“There are more rooms, more girls, more pain than I care to comprehend. It is why I am alive. It is hard for me not to wonder at the way this place has been put together. Piecemeal � Someday I may stand in awe of the creativity required to build this home, this system built to allow a body to function, finding a will to live in spite of what happened�
July 23, 2024
A profoundly moving read. I could not put it down. Maggie, you are so brave and inspiring :)
April 14, 2025
This powerful memoir, written by Maggie Walters, gives you an intricate look at what it is like living with Dissociative Identity Disorder (formerly known as Multiple Personality Disorder). In “SPLIT: a life shared: living with Multiple Personality Disorder,� she shares her story of how her symptoms began, leading her to seek help and eventually discovering her alters. These alternative identities or personalities were subconsciously created by the author during childhood as a way to cope with the abuse she endured. As an adult, she tried her best to both suppress and hide the unseen voices in her head in hopes that they would go away, without much success. She eventually learned that in order to heal from her past, she must confront and accept it, as well as embrace who she is, alters and all.
The reality is that we are far from any sort of fairy tale ending. I suspect I will live for the rest of my life with overwhelming triggers and voices and attitudes I can’t handle, and the perpetual fear of things spinning out of control. That’s my reality. What if I could accept this as truth? That instead of wishing for some sort of unattainable, different life, I could welcome The Girls and even Annie (fractured relationship and all) as part of this life?
(Page 345)
Maggie Walters illustrates to the reader what her everyday life was like, both mentally and socially, in her interactions with others. She truly engages the reader and brings them right into the story. With the detailed settings and rich descriptions, I felt like I was right there!
There are two parts in this story that I found the most encouraging and inspirational. Being a writer and author myself, I love how Ms. Walters used writing as her therapy in all of this. She was able to take her complex feelings and put them down into words; something tangible. In telling her story, she felt a sense of taking her power back. She controlled how it was told, not by her abusers.
I found it very heartfelt how her friends and community showed her understanding and compassion when she was finally honest with them about her struggles in the end. It gives you hope that there are good people out there who will truly care and accept you for who you are.
I highly recommend this moving memoir to readers of all ages and backgrounds. If you’re looking for a real story full of emotion, grit, and determination, look no further. I guarantee you that each person who reads Maggie Walters� “SPLIT� will be able to relate to it in some way, mental illness or not. What it boils down to is this is a story about truth and survival. It is a story about life.
The reality is that we are far from any sort of fairy tale ending. I suspect I will live for the rest of my life with overwhelming triggers and voices and attitudes I can’t handle, and the perpetual fear of things spinning out of control. That’s my reality. What if I could accept this as truth? That instead of wishing for some sort of unattainable, different life, I could welcome The Girls and even Annie (fractured relationship and all) as part of this life?
(Page 345)
Maggie Walters illustrates to the reader what her everyday life was like, both mentally and socially, in her interactions with others. She truly engages the reader and brings them right into the story. With the detailed settings and rich descriptions, I felt like I was right there!
There are two parts in this story that I found the most encouraging and inspirational. Being a writer and author myself, I love how Ms. Walters used writing as her therapy in all of this. She was able to take her complex feelings and put them down into words; something tangible. In telling her story, she felt a sense of taking her power back. She controlled how it was told, not by her abusers.
I found it very heartfelt how her friends and community showed her understanding and compassion when she was finally honest with them about her struggles in the end. It gives you hope that there are good people out there who will truly care and accept you for who you are.
I highly recommend this moving memoir to readers of all ages and backgrounds. If you’re looking for a real story full of emotion, grit, and determination, look no further. I guarantee you that each person who reads Maggie Walters� “SPLIT� will be able to relate to it in some way, mental illness or not. What it boils down to is this is a story about truth and survival. It is a story about life.
April 19, 2025
Book Review: SPLIT by Maggie Walters
An honest then and there, Maggie Walters' SPLIT is a stark, impolite confrontation with the harrowing reality of life with Multiple Personality Disorder (known as Dissociative Identity Disorder). Told in distinct narrative voices: Maggie and her primary alter Annie, the book tells about the immense trauma that birthed "The Girls," a system of alters meant to help her survive unending childhood abuse.
The structure divides the book into Annie's Story, Maggie's Story, and Their Co-existence, mirroring the fragmented life yet deeply woven life of the one living with DID. Walters writes ruthlessly; it is heartbreaking, inspirational--the courage to confront unimaginable horror of physical, emotional, and sexual abuse with gut-wrenching honesty.
What makes SPLIT stand out is that it represents mental illness with compassionate admiration, not brokenness: a most wondrous adaptive response to trauma. In poems and reflections and deeply personal stories, Walters shines a light into the misunderstood world of dissociation, taking readers with her into a visceral experience of survival and healing and identity.
It might be hard to read this book, but it is necessary reading. SPLIT is a challenge, an education, and an empowerment. For survivors, for clinicians, or anyone wanting to gain insight into the covert battles of the mind, this book stands as a most moving tribute to resilience.
An honest then and there, Maggie Walters' SPLIT is a stark, impolite confrontation with the harrowing reality of life with Multiple Personality Disorder (known as Dissociative Identity Disorder). Told in distinct narrative voices: Maggie and her primary alter Annie, the book tells about the immense trauma that birthed "The Girls," a system of alters meant to help her survive unending childhood abuse.
The structure divides the book into Annie's Story, Maggie's Story, and Their Co-existence, mirroring the fragmented life yet deeply woven life of the one living with DID. Walters writes ruthlessly; it is heartbreaking, inspirational--the courage to confront unimaginable horror of physical, emotional, and sexual abuse with gut-wrenching honesty.
What makes SPLIT stand out is that it represents mental illness with compassionate admiration, not brokenness: a most wondrous adaptive response to trauma. In poems and reflections and deeply personal stories, Walters shines a light into the misunderstood world of dissociation, taking readers with her into a visceral experience of survival and healing and identity.
It might be hard to read this book, but it is necessary reading. SPLIT is a challenge, an education, and an empowerment. For survivors, for clinicians, or anyone wanting to gain insight into the covert battles of the mind, this book stands as a most moving tribute to resilience.
October 2, 2024
This book is an incredible look into the making and the mind of someone with Multiple Personality Disorder. An astoundingly brave story told from a young age and up, this book won’t be for everyone as it deals with many childhood traumas (abuse, sexual assault) and the coping mechanisms that led to MPD for survival. As someone on the outside looking in at these struggles, it’s so hard to believe that this is a factual retelling of a life lived. A true case of the truth is stranger than fiction. Triggers aside, the book is fascinating and I believe worth a read for any folks with an interest in mental health and MPD in particular.
October 16, 2024
Split is both heartbreaking and heartwarming.
That Maggie survived the horrific abuse of her childhood and beyond, is without doubt a story of survival and triumph. She has now shared her story of DID (Dissociative Identity Disorder)
Thank you for opening the door to DID and the strong, shy, capable and scared personalities that live within and who kept you safe for all those years and still do.
This book is a must read and clearly, it's a 5-star review from me.
That Maggie survived the horrific abuse of her childhood and beyond, is without doubt a story of survival and triumph. She has now shared her story of DID (Dissociative Identity Disorder)
Thank you for opening the door to DID and the strong, shy, capable and scared personalities that live within and who kept you safe for all those years and still do.
This book is a must read and clearly, it's a 5-star review from me.
June 26, 2024
A truly astounding, heart wrenching story of an amazing Woman and her Alters. I have learnt so much and read this book in two days as I just couldn’t put it down! I am so excited to be meeting Maggie at the library tomorrow. What a survivor!
August 19, 2024
Extremely well written. It is challenging to read at times but it is not just about the abuse she suffered. It details how she survives with multiple personality disorder and how it impacts her, and her loved ones' lives
November 29, 2024
I couldn’t put this book down. So profound, honest and moving.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
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