Review from Trauma Professional
Dissociative Identity Disorder is the result of a child growing up with pain and conflict, abuse and neglect, an environment that prevents the natural integration of experiences into a single consciousness. Not integrating in this manner is an adaptation, keeping the intolerable separate, and allowing the child the illusion of normalcy, and the best chance of survival.
You Will Never Be Normal is an exceedingly well-written account of Catherine’s experience of discovery and healing of her dissociated identity, an adaptation to her childhood abuse.
Having worked with people with DID for decades, I found her story was both deeply familiar, while also unique to her. Honest, deeply touching, and a clear window into the process of accepting and learning to work with the parts of her that knew and didn’t know about the abuse she suffered. This is not an easy healing path to walk. It takes courage, determination, and, hopefully, the presence of people who genuinely care and offer steady support. It’s an uneven process, as Catherine describes so well, with advances and setbacks, glimpses of hope, and times of overwhelm. The process also takes time, and reading Catherine’s account of her journey, it is clear why time needs to be given to this task. Her book illuminates the path to healing that she took, and, in doing so, it will help others – survivors, support people, and therapists – make this journey for themselves or with others with more understanding and compassion.
Well done. Very well done.
Lynette S. Danylchuk, PhD.
Past President, International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation