Brave : A Personal Story of Healing Childhood Trauma

'The story of a successful journey from broken and dissociative to integrated and fully aware.' This personal memoir describes a woman's journey through pyschotherapy. In middle age, Janyne began to sense that her wonderful, successful life was a cover for deep inner pain she called 'the dark cloud.' During her first EMDR therapy session, three fractured adult parts made a perfect three-point landing in her conscious awareness. Thus began three years of intensive therapy, as she fought to heal from sexual abuse that began in a home daycare at the age of three. With a sometimes conflicted faith in God, and with the support of both her therapist and her husband, Janyne fought to heal and integrate.

This is Janyne's story but also a tribute to how a therapist and client worked together as a team to heal attachment wounds and increasingly tragic memories. Insights into the early wiring of unmet attachment needs, as well as dissociative coping mechanisms, are included throughout. Both pain and hope for healing are present on every page. Janyne is both vulnerable and triumphant in her writing and will help her readers believe healing from childhood trauma is possible.
Table of Contents Foreword / 9 Introduction / 11 PART I: BRAVE / 15 1. From the End of the Journey / 18 2. From the Beginning / 30 3. I Went to Therapy / 37 4. The Three Chairs / 43 5. The Reason I Fractured / 53 6. Working Through Layers / 63 7. Healing an Infant / 77 8. Three Chairs Integration / 85 9. Trying To Survive / 94 10. The Effects of Abuse / 105 PART II: BROKEN / 116 11. Setting the Stage / 118 12. Early Childhood Years / 125 13. Early Elementary Years / 139 14. Upper Elementary Years / 154 15. Middle School Years / 169 16. Teenage Years / 178 17. Young Adult Years / 193 18. Adult Years / 213 PART III: BREATHING / 217 19. The Curriculum / 218 20. Writing My Future / 233 21. Epilogue / 240 Addendum: Childhood Trauma / 244 Acknowledgments / 253