That was Then. This is Now! A Story of Dissociative Identity Disorder

Powerful and insightful. The story allowed me to enter the world of DID. I was stunned by the cruelty and inhumanity the little girl was subjected to, amazed at her resilience, and in the end rejoiced by her success.
I highly recommend this book!

I absolutely loved it! I think it really tells how amazing the brain really is! How when bad things happen to good people our amazing brains create super heros to survive. AMAZING, is our mind.
Donna K

"That was Then. This is Now!" is written in a simple and accessible style, but the message is powerful. No child deserves to be treated with such inhumane cruelty. No child deserves to be abused and tricked and brain washed into believing the terrible lies told to them by the abusers. However, with support and guidance (and the good luck to find those things when they are needed), even a child who has been treated so miserably can bring healing and peace into their lives.

The book also has lots of pictures, artwork created by the Live United group to accompany the story. The pictures add strength and depth to the words. They add relatability for younger readers who might see echoes of their own terrible secrets in the drawings, while for an adult reader, the intensity of the artwork combined with the understated style of the story bring home the true extent of the horrors that the Live United system survived.

This book would be an ideal tool for any clinician who works with dissociative systems. It would be a perfect story to read to the younger members of a dissociative group. Children love stories and they love to be read to, and the message of the Live United group is a crucial message for all members of a dissociated system to hear and learn: that they are not at fault, that they are good, that they deserve safety and caring and good things in their life, that things can get better for them.

Put in story form, addressing big concepts at a level that young people can understand, and most importantly coming from someone who has also been there -- "That was Then. This is Now!" is a valuable addition to the bookshelf of any dissociative person and any clinician who works with them.

This book manages to show the reality of DID without being bogged down in graphic or troubling details of trauma. It’s a great resource for explaining things to someone who isn’t clinically trained or hasn’t experienced this themselves. It really shows the layers of pain and confusion caused by child abuse, and it also shows the amazing power of healing. The book sheds light on DID in a way that’s accessible and easy to understand. The illustrations add to that. I’m glad I got to read this book.