Mending Ourselves: Expressions of Healing and Self-Integration
by Lynn Wasnak
Category: Abused women

MENDING OURSELVES is a gift from the open hearts of those who are healing, to the wounded, everywhere: a remarkable collection of essays, poetry & art shared by over fifty readers of MANY VOICES, an international newsletter for people healing from trauma-related dissociative disorders. Though many books have been written about "multiple personality" & its variants, this is the first to concentrate on the tasks of healing & self-integration. As children overwhelmed by abuse or pain, these writers & artists are instinctively "hid within," splitting off the agony & despair from consciousness. Guided by therapists, these brave women & men have spent years unfolding their histories, dealing as adults with the walled-off feelings, chaos, & horrible experiences they endured so long ago. But though most lived through a brutal past, this is not a brutal book. It is threaded with hope, with practical advice from people who have "been there". It is not easy to rebuild a unified self. But these survivors show it can be done. MENDING OURSELVES is of particular interest to abuse survivors, family, friends, & their therapists. But the creative power unlocked in the healing process can be appreciated by all who yearn for the triumph of person over pain.