In a remarkable memoir that reads like a novel, Jill Root’s mind shattered without warning one morning, and a strange child’s voice crashed like a stone through the surface of her apparently normal life. Beneath that surface lay an abyss of confusion and denial that ripped Jill’s consciousness into unrecognizable pieces that would take years of work with three very different therapists to reassemble.
The mystery of her symptoms unfolds layer by layer, along with her struggle to accept a reality quite different from the idyllic childhood she had believed in. Dialogues with her charismatic father and emotionally distant mother create portraits of denial, and actual transcriptions of therapy sessions provide unique insight into the process of healing. This book will give reassurance and hope to survivors of trauma, and guidance to the partners and mental health professionals who struggle to help them.
Table of Content
Note to Readers, vii
Part 1: Texas Panhandle / Maine, 1
1. The Voice, 3
2. Unmoored, 17
Part 2: Chicago, 33
3. Hello Again, Dr. B, 35
4. Me-My-Own-Self, 53
5. Tipping Point, 65
6. Rat in a Maze, 77
7. Between Scylla and Charybdis, 91
8. Disillusionment, 105
Part 3: Springfield (Illinois), 129
9. Beyond Yesterday, 131
10. White-Water Rafting, 147
11. Cameos on Black Burlap, 157
12. Neither Here nor There, 171
Part 4: Albuquerque, 181
13. Starting Over-Again, 183
14. Forward Motion, 195
15. Forests of the Mind, 209
16. The Confession, 227
17. She Loves Me, She Loves Me Not, 243
18. The Spiral Staircase, 259
19. Lost and Found, 275
20. French Braid, 291
Home, 305
Acknowledgments, 309
About the author
For forty years Jill Root was an editor and publications manager for environmental consulting firms, government contractors, and academic publishers. She is the author of Play Without Pain: A Manual of Playground Safety; Interstate 90: A Guide to Points of Interest You Can See Without Stopping; and scripts for three educational multimedia CD-ROMs: Lewis and Clark Rediscovery; Centuries of Scenic Byways; and El Camino Real. She enjoys a busy retirement near her children and grandchildren in a Northern California suburb with her husband and her English Labrador Retriever.
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