Jeanne McElvaney - SPIRIT UNBROKEN - ABBY’S STORY

One out of every 3 women and 1 of 5 men are survivors of childhood sexual abuse. About 50% of them have dissociated their trauma. This changes lives, potential, and how the survivors perceive the world. There is also life-changing opportunities when empowering information "rewires" what we have known and assumed, opening doors to healing. My novel, Spirit Unbroken - Abby's Story, has been out 2 months and already I am hearing from readers. One is no longer considering suicide because she understands what she is experiencing. Others are having healing experiences and one reader said, "Volumes and volumes of therapy books lie dead at the feet of chapter 22". Survivors are breaking years of silence, sharing this book with siblings, seeking help after years of denial. 

Together, we can explore the difference between ordinary memories and dissociated trauma memories that continue to drive choices and feelings long after an event that cannot be recalled. It is the experience of returning soldiers suffering PTSD and also the wound often carried out of childhood sexual abuse. See attachment for an overview.We can talk about the social history of childhood sexual abuse starting with Freud, stopping by the 70's when rape was first considered a crime, and journey into the present when men are stepping forward in record numbers. 
Spirit Unbroken - Abby's Story is a self-help book for survivors of dissociated memories as much as it's a novel about childhood nostalgia in the 50's and 60's and resilient personal spirit. The reader 'experiences' the dissociated trauma of the main character and how that changes everything.