interesting documentary on HBO about the psychiatrist who was at the forefront of split personality disorder as a defense in murder cases.

They show video of different people switching out during her interviews with them. It wasn't and still isn't universally accepted in the psychiatric profession. It's an interesting question whether there is enough of a break that you can say "this" person didn't commit the murder. She isn't, of course, absolving the person of the crime. They would still be locked away in mental ward.

The doc isn't entirely about the legal perspective. Her professional goal seems to be to seek whether any person is born murderous. She doubts that is the case as every single person she has interviewed has had some trauma that causes a disassociative split, including the murderers who have tried to convince her otherwise.

The traumas they reveal are pretty intense and the doc includes a lot of visual evidence. It definitely is emotionally fatiguing to take the perspective of the most horrific murders for a couple of hours.

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

I saw the last hour and a half of this.

Found it very insightful.

Loved the distinctions they made between the rule of law not being caught up to the understanding of how the human brain functions.

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