Classics in Psychology

Robert H. Wozniak - Bryn Mawr College

Morton Prince: The Dissociation of a Personality (1906)

Throughout the 19th century, the idea that the human mind is influenced by factors operating below the level
of consciousness existed as a central feature of dynamic psychology.467 Even within the mental
philosophy/experimental psychology tradition, in concepts such as Herbart's 'apperception,' Fechner's
'negative sensations,' or Carpenter's 'unconscious cerebration,' a clear distinction was drawn between
mentality which was conscious and that which was not.468
One of the most striking phenomena to exemplify the power of the unconscious during this period was that of
divided personality. In 1830, Robert Macnish 469 publicized the case of Mary Reynolds, a young American girl
who experienced periodic alternations between two distinct personalities, one quiet, sober, and unimaginative,
the other gay, exuberant, and poetic. A decade later, Antoine Despine470 published what is often considered
to be the first objective study of dual personality, one in which cure was achieved through the eventual fusion
of the pathological personality of the waking state with a healthy personality elicited during magnetic
treatment.
In 1889, Pierre Janet took work in this area a step further when he demonstrated the experimental elicitation
of multiple personalities. 471 When a personality emerging under hypnosis, different from that of the waking
state, was itself subjected to hypnotic induction, a third personality different from either of the first two
sometimes appeared. In the writings of Janet himself, and of William James, F.W.H. Myers, and others,472 this
phenomenon gave rise to a conception of the human mind as a plurality of partial selves, multiple streams of
consciousness each consisting of constellations of ideas leading semi-autonomous existences outside of
awareness. In the extreme, these constellations could even cohere into separate, independent personalities
alternating with one another in the waking state.
Probably the best known instance of multiple personality of this sort is one described by Morton Prince473 in
his classic account, the Dissociation of a Personality.474 In this monograph Prince presented the case of a
young woman, Christine Beauchamp, with whom he had worked extensively in his capacity as a neurologist.
Miss Beauchamp first came to Prince's attention when she sought treatment for standard neurasthenic
complaints: headache, chronic fatigue, and aboulia. Her personality at this time (which Prince named B1) was
characterized by gravity of demeanor, extreme reticence with regard to her own affairs, a high level of general
sensitivity, excessive conscientiousness, and a kind of morbid pride that made her shy away from the receipt
of favors or attention from others.
To relieve the patient of her symptoms, Prince began a course of therapy involving hypnotic suggestion.
Within a few weeks, however, he noticed that under hypnosis the patient manifested two distinct personalities.
One, which Prince named BII, was a somewhat exaggerated form of BI. Prince considered this to be a
standard 'hypnotic personality,' arising as an artificial and temporary product of suggestion and lasting only as
long as the patient remained under hypnosis.475
The other, which Prince called BIII, had a much more unusual nature. As a personality, her characteristics
were almost directly opposite to those of BI. Where B1 was serious, sensitive, scrupulous, and personally
reticent, BII was gay, relatively insensitive, carefree, and attention loving. She was also generally energetic
and physically healthy. As treatment proceeded, BIII adopted the name Sally and coalesced as an overt
personality spontaneously alternating with BI. Sally knew all about BI and BII (though not the reverse) and
despised BI, taking every opportunity to cause her embarrassment and difficulty.
Over time, Prince became convinced that Sally was not, in fact, a hypnotic personality but a persistent
subconsciousness, coexisting with and, in effect, doubling the waking consciousness. As he put it, 'a
subconsciousness is a particular group of mental states, dissociated from but concomitant with the personal
self.' 476 As a subconscious personality, Sally had her own thoughts, perceptions, and volitions separate from
and parallel to those of BI.

Finally, after a little more than a year in treatment, a fourth personality (BIV) emerged. Nicknamed 'the Idiot'
by Sally, this personality, characterized by greater composure and social skill than BI, but little real moral,
intellectual, or aesthetic strength, had no knowledge of what had gone on during the previous six years or
what went on when either Sally or BI was in possession of the waking state. Gradually Prince came to the
conclusion that BIV had formed as a dissociation from the 'real' Miss Beauchamp in response to a severe
psychological trauma suffered six years previously and that this dissociation had left BI, also in effect a
dissociated part of the original personality, in sole possession of the field until BIII had appeared during the
course of treatment.
After careful interrogation of all three major personalities, Prince came to the conclusion that the course of
therapy should proceed by suppressing BIII and resynthesizing BI and BIV, holding onto the good qualities
and jettisoning the weaknesses of both. This, in effect, would recreate the personality that had existed prior to
the trauma. This he proceeded to do and with considerable success.
The importance of this achievement and the popularity of the monograph in which Prince reported his work
was considerable. As a contribution to psychotherapy, it was the first successful treatment of a full-blown case
of spontaneous multiple personality. As a contribution to abnormal psychology, it provided a clear and
valuable conceptualization of the relationship between the hypnotic personality, the subconscious, and the
waking state under pathological conditions. And as a contribution to the popularization of psychology, it
served greatly to heighten the public's awareness of the mind's complexity and of the need for research into
normal and abnormal mental states. 477
467

From Mesmer to Bernheim; for an extraordinarily valuable treatment of this history, see Ellenberger, H.F.
(1970). Discovery of the Unconscious. The History and Evolution of Dynamic Psychiatry. New York: Basic
Books.
468

Herbart, J.F. (1816). Lehrbuch der Psychologie. Knigsberg: Unzer; Fechner, G.T. (1860). Elemente der
Psychophysik. Leipzig: Breitkopf und Hrtel; Carpenter, W.B. (1874). Principles of Mental Physiology, with
Their Applications to the Training and Discipline of the Mind, and the Study of its Morbid Conditions. London:
Henry S. King. For a discussion of the works of Fechner and Carpenter, see essays on the Psychophysik and
the Mental Physiology in this volume.
469

Macnish, R. (1830). Philosophy of Sleep. Glasgow: MPhun.

470

Despine, A. (1840). De lemploi du magntisme animal et des eaux minrales dans le traitement des
maladies nerveuses, suivi dune observation trs curieuse de gurison de nvropathie. Paris et Lyon: Germer
Baillire.
471

Janet, P. (1889). LAutomatisme psychologique. Paris: Flix Alcan.

472

For a lovely discussion of the views of William James and F.W.H. Myers in this regard, see Taylor, E.
(1996). William James on Consciousness beyond the Margin. Princeton: Princeton University Press; and for
Janet, see Ellenberger, H.F. (1970), op. cit.
473

18541929. For biographical information on Prince, see Hale, N.G., Jr. (1975). Introduction. In M. Prince.
Psychotherapy and Multiple Personality: Selected Essays. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, pp.
118; for Princes views on the nature and function of the mind, see Taylor, W.S. (1928). Morton Prince and
Abnormal Psychology. New York: D. Appleton.
474

Prince, M. (1906). The Dissociation of a Personality. A Biographical Study in Abnormal Psychology. New
York: Longmans, Green.
475

Prince was emphatic in arguing that, although some elements of the hypnotic consciousness may become
temporarily dissociated during hypnosis and persist during the subsequent waking state as subconscious
suggestions, the hypnotic personality as a whole does not persist beyond the recurrence of the waking state.
476

Prince (1906), op. cit., p. 46.

477

Marx, O.M. (1970). Morton Prince and the dissociation of a personality. Journal of the History of the
Behavioral Sciences, 6, 12030.
Extracted from Classics in Psychology, 18551914: Historical Essays
ISBN 1 85506 703 X
Robert H. Wozniak, 1999

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