The Minds of Billy Milligan: A True Story of Multiple Personality

Author Daniel Keyes has presented a very riveting description of the human condition if it is pushed too far. I have read this book twice and I have to say that it is one of the best books I have ever read.Enduring unbelievably cruel tortures as a child at the hands of his stepfather, including sodomy and being forced to dig his own grave-and yes, being buried alive in that same grave, Billy Milligan's mind fragmented into 24 seperate and distinct personalities. I have posted the alter ego's below from this book, so that the potential reader can see how fantastic, and at the same time, how horrifying this man's condition was at the time of his arrest for several campus rapes, which he claimed he had no rememberance of committing.1. Billy Milligan (William Stanley Milligan) is the core personality.2. Arthur is a sophisticated Englishman. He is an expert in science and medicine. He is in "the spot when intellectual thinking is required.3. Ragen Vadascovinich is the "keeper of hate". Ragen is Yugoslavian, has a Slavic accent and he can write and speak in Serbo-Croatian. He controls the spot when danger is immenent.4. Allen is a con man and a manipulator. He is the most common person to talk to the outside world. He plays the drums and paints portraits. Also the only right-handed self. He is the only personality that smokes cigarettes.5. Tommy is the escape artist; he is often confused with Allen. He plays the tenor sax and is an electronics expert. He is also a painter, specializing in landscapes.6. Danny is afraid of people, especially men. He only paints still lifes, saying that this was because Chalmer made him dig his own grave and buried him in it.7. David, age eight, is the "keeper of pain". He comes to the spot to take the pain of the others.8. Christene, age three, was the one who would stand in the corner in school when "Billy" would get in trouble. She has dyslexia, but Arthur taught her to read and write. Ragen has a special bond with her.9. Christopher, Christene's brother, plays the harmonica.10. Adalana, a lesbian, cooks and cleans house for the others, and writes poetry. Milligan's attorney claimed that Adalana had admitted to committing the rapes without the knowledge of Milligan or the other alters11. Phil is a thug and took part in planning some small time crimes. Has a Brooklyn accent. Marked due to him being a criminal.12. Kevin is a criminal planner; he helped devise a plan to rob a drug store. Labeled also because he is a criminal.13. Walter is Australian. He calls himself a big-game hunter and has an excellent sense of direction. Was often used as a spotter. He was labeled because he shot and killed a crow.14. April only has thoughts about destroying Billy's stepfather. Declared an Undesirable when she convinced Ragen to kill Chalmer. Luckily though Arthur was able to talk him out of it at the last second.15. Samual is the Jewish person. He is the only one who believes in God. Was marked because he sold some of the other people's personal paintings.16. Mark is the workhorse. He is often referred to as the zombie because he does nothing unless he is told, and will stare at walls when bored.17. Steve is the impostor, he uses imitations for comedy. Steve never accepted that he was an MP. He was made to be undesirable because his comedy caused the family problems.18. Lee is the prankster and his practical jokes normally get the family into trouble. He does not care about consequences for his actions. He was made an undesirable because one of his jokes put them into solitary confinement.19. Jason is the pressure valve. He was used at the beginning to release tension for the family, but he caused them to get into too much trouble and was marked as an undesirable.20. Bobby always dreams of leading some adventure or fixing some global crisis, but he has no ambitions and was labeled due to that fact.21. Shawn, who is four and deaf, makes buzzing sounds so he can feel the vibration in his head. He was labeled an undesirable because there was no benefit from being deaf later on in life. (Even though he is an undesirable he was never cast into the shadows beyond the spot; he was just never allowed to take the spot.)22. Martin is a snob, from New York. He wants things just handed over to him without earning them.23. Timothy worked in a florist shop until he encountered a homosexual who flirted with him. He went into his own world after that.The Teacher24. (Note: the teacher is not an Undesirable.) The Teacher, was by far the greatest milestone to helping Billy achieve fusion. He is the sum of all other 23 people put together, and has almost total recall of all the other people's actions and thoughts.There are several pictures in this novel of exquisitely detailed paintings his personalities created while he was incarcerated that simply dumb-founds me.I like this book because it is REAL. I strongly recommend this book to anyone who has ever wondered how far the human mind will go to protect itself.

The best book I’ve read in years !!!

I would not rave over this book; however, given my strong interest in multiple personalities, as well as my interest in human psychopathology, I found "The Minds of Billy Milligan" to be a highly engaging work to read. It was written by a fairly noted novelist, and he knows how to write a story that is fascinating to the reader.This book is about a real-life case of multiple personalities, but the author undoubtedly included much in the way of additions to what actually happened, as well as suppositions about what respective personalities knew or were thinking.Overall, I regard this book as the best one I've ever read on multiple personality disorders. I was a bit disappointed with a less-than-positive outcome of the story, since Milligan never was found capable of functioning successfully outside of a prison or a mental institution, once he'd been apprehended for crimes he committed. Since Milligan had been a very grave victim of child abuse, including rape by a foster parent, I'd hoped that he would be able to survive and overcome the horrific psychological damage inflicted upon him. However, at the time the book was completed, he was still stuck in a maximum-security mental institution for the criminally insane. Milligan was undoubtedly brilliant, and did very impressive artistic creations. However, he never managed to surmount the obstacles to an integrated and rewarding life outside an institution - at least, not at the time of the completion of the book.For any person interested in a story of adventure by a brilliant mental patient - whether fictional or non-fictional - this real-life story of Billy Milligan should be a worthwhile read.

This book is well written and at times situations described are funny. Some parts amaze. It is somewhat educating on MPD/DID as well. I have read a lot of MPD/DID books and literature. I have seen some films and gone to professional lectures. This is one of my favorite books on the subject. I would say it is among the top 5.This story had a sad ending. The system failed Billy Milligan. He was getting some help, then bad decisions were made and he was sent to an environment that failed him. After this book I learned more about this client online. He has lived free since...but still has brushes with the law. His life has improved but he still has attitude issues and also he thinks he is a expert on MPD/DID. He also thinks MPD/DID is extremely rare and thinks he can judge all other cases to judge if they are real or not. I feel he is misinformed. MPD/DID is not rare. I have been to professional lectures on this and I've met several other MPD/DID clients. There is no mistaking that they are MPD/DID. Billy Milligan isn't completely successful living freely in society. He has written another book since, but it was published in Japan and not available in the USA... nor is it in English. He enjoys being a celebrity of sorts, but also likes to live privately. I know he had some bad experiences with his therapy and has trust issues...but he can still benefit from more that can allow him to stay unmerged but heal from the bitterness he still holds and he can learn to cope and learn to trust again.

Came just as stated. Good read.

This book grabs your attention right away. This guy was so miss treated as a child it’s a wonder he survived.

TW! This story is captivating & I could not put the book down. I love to read books that force you to look at things differently, specifically empathy for a rapist.

The book itself is great! Fantastic writing, great story, but I’m about 6 chapters in and 85% of what I’ve read so far is coming off the binding. Makes me not even want to continue reading because it’s a hassle!! Just got this book two days ago. Pretty annoyed.