A mesmerizing journey inside the mind and life of a victim of disassociative identity disorder (DID). Christine Ducommun eloquently shares her story of her descent into madness, struggling to regain her sanity as four personalities compete for control of her mind and protect her from the demons of her childhood. A story of courage, healing, identity, hope, and love.
ABOUT THE BOOK
Christine Ducommun was a happily married wife and mother of two, when-after returning to live in the house of her childhood-she began to experience panic attacks, night terrors, a series of bizarre flashbacks, and 'noises in her head.' Eventually diagnosed with dissociative identity disorder (DID), Christine's story details an extraordinary twelve year ordeal of coming to grips with the reemergence of competing personalities her mind had created to help her cling to life during her early years.
Therapy helps to reveal the personalities, but Christine has much work to do to grasp their individual strengths and weaknesses and understand how each helped her cope and survive her childhood as well as the latent influences they've had in her adult life. Fully reawakened and present, the personalities struggle for control of Christine's mind and her life tailspins into unimaginable chaos, leaving her to believe she may very well be losing the battle for her sanity.
Christine's only hope to regain her sanity was to integrate each one's emotional maturity while jettisoning the rest, until at last their chatter in her head could cease. A riveting story of one woman's decent into madness and how she was able to become whole again-finally, the director of her own life.
Integration is the real victory. There have been other books done on the topic of multiple personalities, but what makes this one special is that few therapists focus on integration as the best way to treat the patient (because of the rigor, time and training involved). Ms. Ducommun's therapist focused on integration of her four alters and achieved it.
This riveting personal memoir will appeal to:
.Readers who want to better understand the human psyche, and how it can protect a person's core from debilitating trauma.
.Men and women who want a clear and honest view of the still-misunderstood dissociative identity disorder (DID).
.Readers who seek better mental health, even if they are not trauma survivors, and want to understand the therapeutic process.
.Trauma survivors who might exhibit symptoms of DID but are unaware of their condition.
.Mental health professionals, to help them identify the characteristics of DID in high-functioning individuals in whom trauma is not readily apparent.
.Teachers, social workers and school administrators to identify students who might be traumatized at home or in school.
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REVIEWS
A powerful and shocking psychological 'drama' that will be reminiscent to some of the Academy Award-winning A Beautiful Mind, this true story will have you on the edge of your seat from beginning to end. Spellbinding! - Josh Miller, Producer, The Christine Ducommun Story (a made for TV movie)
It is with great pleasure that I offer this foreword to a book that describes Christine's long and successful journey. It has been my great pleasure to know and work with her. I hope that her book provides encouragement and strength to others in similar circumstances. Recovery is possible. - Dr. Doug Jurgens
