Stop Child Abuse Now (SCAN) - 1480

Tonight's special guest is Roberta Brown from Minnetonka, Minnesota, a survivor of child abuse and author of the book "The Shoulding; A Story of Resilience and Hope" which is available on Amazon. "I spent years in therapy, 31 years with the same therapist and put my life back together," she says. Roberta continues, "I decided a few years ago to write a book, my memoir.  I needed to tell my story, stand in my truth and be my authentic self." She explains, "I was raised in a middle class Jewish home in a first-ring suburb of Minneapolis. I knew from the time of age three that I was terrified of my father. He was angry, full of rage and in a way unpredictable. With my mother and sister, things weren't so clear cut until much later. As I got older, I realized I was terrified of everything, all of the time." She goes on, "The turning point in my life came when my father actually tried to kill me when I was 16." Out of her youth, Roberta's later life was set up for disaster. "I found every abuser, or should I say, they found me because I was easy prey. I was in a series of abusive relationships and high drama. As I got into my 20s I developed Agoraphobia and spent 2 years in my apartment. I had problems with OCD and panic disorders. After much therapy, I realized I suffered from PTSD and the other anxiety problems were subsets of that." She eventually spent over three decades in therapy. Then she wrote her memoir, "I had realized I was living with three narcissists and I wasn't like them at all. But because I was the 'oddball.' They told me I was sick and there was something wrong with me all of the time. Who would have known I'd turn out to be the only healthy one!!"