Forty Years of Showing Up: Dr. David Yeung on What Actually Heals

Show Notes: He trained on three continents. He was board-certified in Hong Kong, Britain, and Canada. And by the time he became a fully qualified psychiatrist — he knew absolutely nothing about Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID). That’s not a confession Dr. David Yeung makes lightly. It’s the starting point for forty years of learning, unlearning, and quietly changing lives one session at a time. In this conversation, we sit down with Dr. Yeung and his editor and publisher Lyle Weinstein — the team behind the four-volume Engaging Multiple Personalities series — for a wide-ranging, deeply human conversation about what it actually takes to treat DID well, why so many systems still go unrecognized, and what forty years of listening has taught one psychiatrist about trauma, healing, and hope. This one moves. Dr. Yeung doesn’t talk like a textbook. He talks like someone who has sat with a patient holding a knife, a patient who planned to jump off a bridge after her session ended, a patient who had been hospitalized 28 times before anyone looked past the depression diagnosis. And he talks openly about what he got right, what he got wrong, and what his patients taught him along the way. Whether you’re a system, a clinician, or someone who has spent years wondering why no one ever saw you clearly — there’s something in here for you. Inside This Conversation * Why “treatment-resistant depression” is often a missed DID diagnosis in disguise * What it means that the whole system is evaluating the therapist — long before the therapist knows it * How listening (not technique) became the foundation of Dr. Yeung’s entire approach * What he said to a part who walked into session holding a knife * Why he no longer believes complete fusion is the goal — and what he thinks actually holds * The moment a book chapter got a mother her children back ⏱️ Timestamps * 00:01:26 — “I was well-trained in psychiatry. I knew nothing about DID.” — the admission that changed his practice * 00:08:04 — The first time he saw a part front in his office — and what happened when he tried to call one out * 00:22:06 — “She’s not just one single identity” — why the therapist is always being evaluated by the whole system * 00:42:18 — A mother in a tiny village in Wales, a book, and a psychiatrist who finally changed his mind * 00:48:25 — A patient brings a knife into session — what Dr. Yeung said to the part holding it * 01:03:26 — Integration vs. functional multiplicity — his honest answer after four decades Resources Dr. Yeung's Website Engaging Multiples Engaging Multiple Personalities, Volume 1: Contextual Case Histories Audible Paperback Kindle Engaging Multiple Personalities, Volume 2: Therapeutic Guidelines Audible Paperback Kindle Engaging Multiple Personalities, Volume 3: Living in Multiplicity Audible Paperback Kindle Engaging Multiple Personalities Volume 4: The Collected Blog Posts Volume 4: The Collected Blog Posts View on Web or download free EPub by scrolling to the bottom of Engaging Multiples Website A Fractured Mind — Robert Oxnam (mentioned and recommended by Dr. Yeung) Man’s Search for Meaning —Viktor Frankl For more resources visit: healingmyparts.org Healing My Parts Substack @healingmyparts on Instagram Whether you’re a system navigating your own journey or a clinician supporting one, we’d love to connect. Thank you for listening! 🩷🫶💜 Get full access to Healing My Parts at healingmyparts.substack.com/subscribe