The Minds of Billy Milligan

Milligan was moved to Harding Hospital, and Arthur informed the others that the hospital was a safe place. Since it would take logic to assist the physicians in therapy, he would be in control there. The hospital staff was divided in their opinion on Milligan; some thought he was faking, and others accepted the diagnosis. Turner worked closely with Milligan, conducting psychological tests. Different alters presented with different IQ scores, and their personality differences were evident; however, the tests identified some commonalities among all the alters tested, including “evidence of a feminine identity and of a strong superego, which anger threatened to override” (70).

Dr. Harding began therapeutic work with Milligan. He initially disregarded Dr. Wilbur’s advice and began by insisting on being the only one to acknowledge and address the different alters and on doing so solely during therapy sessions. Over time, this angered some of the alters, including Allen and Tommy, who asserted that Dr. Harding wasn’t treating them the way he was supposed to. Six weeks in, Dr. Harding, too, recognized that therapy was moving slowly; he still had not reached the core Billy. Deciding to videotape some of the sessions, he spoke to Adalana, and she tearfully expressed regret for getting the boys in trouble with the rapes.