Dissociated In a Room Full of Teddy Bears: An Intimate Inquiry into a Fragmented Psyche After 40 years of secrecy, one woman reveals her multiple personalities and risks losing a lifelong friend. But how can a friend be lost… when she may not actually exist?
By John Scott Holman
“I is another.” – Arthur Rimbaud
Francine Paula Upjohn did not immediately catch my attention when she was admitted to the Crisis Stabilization Unit, one of a number of units which made up the massive state psychiatric hospital to which I had been involuntarily committed following a suicide attempt. It was several days before I spoke with her; she was quiet, shy, and her expression seemed pained. I had only been admitted several days before her and was slow to socialize myself. I paid little attention to the other patients in those first few days. I did, however, notice that Francine looked remarkably like the famous autistic Temple Grandin. A dark brown, corkscrew hairdo climbed high