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When I was approached to consult on Showtime's series, United States Of Tara, I was both intrigued and skeptical. I was intrigued because working with creative people, writers, producers and actors brings me a great deal of pleasure. I was skeptical because I have seen dozens of projects that insist that they plan to treat DID with respect disintegrate into very negative experiences. When Tara's producers told me that they wanted to portray the life of a character with DID - a wife and mother intensely involved with her family despite her obvious and intense struggles - and to do so with warmth and humor, I had misgivings. When I started to read the scripts and found myself laughing out loud, I was worried. I have dedicated my professional career to the study and treatment of trauma and the dissociative disorders, and I feel protective of my field and my patients. I was shocked to experience what I take so seriously in my daily clinical work as the subject of humor, often unabashed humor. While that still jars me, I found that the producers were as good as their word.

Tara does take DID seriously, but it approaches DID from the perspective of the warmth and humor of a family whose members try to support one another through their problems, foibles and hang-ups. By approaching DID not from the inside out (focusing on the inner world of the personalities), but from the outside in (focusing on what it is like for both Tara and those who have to contend with her situation and its impact), this series takes an important step toward respecting, humanizing and de-stigmatizing DID and those who suffer from it, usually in painful isolation.

I agreed to consult on this series because, based on the scripts I reviewed, I became convinced that not only will Tara entertain audiences, but it may help its viewers become more aware of and more sensitized to this very real and challenging, but often misunderstood disorder, and more empathic to the plight of its victims.