Application of contextual therapy to the treatment of multiple personality disorder

p. 012-022.Contextual Therapy, as developed by Ivan Boszormenyi-Nagy, M.D., is a system of family therapy which describes an ethical and relational way of appreciating interactions in families and of conducting therapy among members in families. In addition to its conventional use in the interpersonal domain in MPD families, the authors propose that contextual principles may also be useful in an analogous application of its ideas to the internal, intrapsychic system of alters within an MPD client. Included are a synopsis of contextual concepts, a description of seven problem areas in the treatment of MPD and a contextual perspective on each one, two case examples supplying these principles, and a summary of recent interviews with Drs. Ivan and Catherine Nagy about the application of their concepts to this specialized field. Contextual therapy principles add a crucial ethical dimension to MPD work which provides important benefits for both clients and therapists