Kathy was an overachiever—an economist, technical writer, and classical singer married 27 years to her college sweetheart. It looked like Kathy was fine. But deep within her hid a pain from infancy so severe that a cascade of adult life crises finally triggered it. And once it exploded, the pain was unbearable.
Kathy was suffering attachment disorder, a psychological condition potentially affecting almost half the US population. Caused by traumatic stress in the first three years of life, attachment disorder correlates with the nation’s 50 percent divorce rate and widespread mental health issues. Yet no one talks about its prevalence, so many sufferers go untreated, forced to live with their pain in silence—without a hint of its cause.
This was certainly true for Kathy. But when her initial forays into psychiatric help failed, Kathy decided to treat herself. It was a mistake that almost cost her life.
Told with candor and quirky, ironic humor, Don’t Try This Alone will resonate with anyone suffering attachment damage. It knows no boundaries; it strikes those who believe they had wonderful childhoods as well as the obviously abused. Yet there’s hope! Kathy’s story also shows: help and healing are out there.
Read full book online: http://attachmentdisorderhealing.com/book/
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CHAPTER SUMMARIES
1. Preface, Pt I: The Silent Epidemic, July 18, 2013
How I accidentally regressed myself back to infancy and healed it all
Are parts of your brain dark? Silly, you say. Well, did you ever have a broken heart? Closer to home? Hey, I had such a successful global career that I didn’t know it for decades, but parts of my brain were dark, and my heart was ‘way far broken. So goes Attachment Disorder…
2. Preface, Pt II: This Is Gonna Hurt, July 26, 2013
“Don’t Try This Alone” takes you along on my journey to the center of the brain, tripping down what felt like my old New York City apartment building’s incinerator shoot, blind and alone, after the first professionals I saw called the wrong shots.
3. Forward, Pt I: The Day That Einstein Feared, August 2, 2013
OK, 50% of Americans have some degree of Attachment Disorder. How can there be so little information on it available to parents, pediatricians, people who care for children? In the wake of his son Matthew’s suicide, Pastor Rick Warren of Saddleback Church said in a July 26 statement: “America’s mental health system is irreparably broken.”
4. Forward, Pt II: Hole in My Heart, August 9, 2013
The Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) can accurately diagnose Attachment Disorder quickly. Why isn’t our system set up to send us at least for one AAI check when we “feel lousy” for years? Why haven’t more than a small minority of therapists even heard of the AAI?
Read full book: http://attachmentdisorderhealing.com/book/