Customer Reviews

A God Called Father: One Woman's Recovery from Incest and Multiple Personality Disorder

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Even though I found this book hard to read at times because of the author's struggle -- presented in such intimate detail -- I found a thread of hope that compelled me to continue. This is a beautifully written book, real literature, that explores the human spirit's capacity for transformation in the face of tragic and overwhelming human depravity. As a victim of incest myself, I found it very encouraging. I recommend it!

This is a very personal and immediate account of a woman who was a victim of father-daughter incest. I felt as if I were sitting in the room with her as I read her journal entries describing the challenges she faced and the hard victories she won. Her honesty about this difficult subject is admirable. The book is a good case study of how an excellent therapist worked with MPD/DID and childhood abuse issues. I recommend it to those who are survivors of any kind of abuse and to those who love and care for them. This book really helped me understand incest and MPD in a new way. A real book of hope!

This book held my attention and read more like a suspense novel than an autobiographical true story. I wouldn't usually read a book with a "Christian" view, but this one is down to earth, real, gritty and honest. If you have been a victim of abuse this book offers realistic hope.

I have found this book very helpful also as a professional therapist because it gives a clear inside look into the world of someone with DID. And therefore I recommend it also to other professionals as well as lay counselors in this field. Of course every story is different but to be able to take a peak into someone's head, so to speak, is very valuable. I admire the writer for having the courage to be willing to be so vulnerable in entrusting her head and heart to paper, also to help others who were victimized the same way and to help us professionals to understand better.

Just as encouraging to read the second time around as it was the first. I recommend it for anyone diagnosed with DID or living with someone with DID. Especially if you have religious questions like "what about God in this whole picture ? Where was He, where is He, and does He even care?"

This book is well written, honestly and accurately written, with true, practical answers. It gives the only answer to a person's needs, God, as He reveals Himself in Jesus Christ, but in a way that is easily grasped by a person who has gone through what she has gone through.

Dear Karen, as the author of the book A God Called Father, I appreciate your open and honest personal response to my book. At the same time, I felt you were judging my healing process and implying that my experience lacked integrity. The truth is, the integration of my splits took more or less two years. Maybe that doesn't happen often, but that is exactly what happened in my case. True, I was in therapy for nearly three years BEFORE I realized that I had any splits, spent two years integrating most of the trauma and the personalities and then another 5 years in therapy dealing with the residual impact. So I was indeed in therapy for about ten years. I left both my children out of the book (both were young adults when I was writing) out of respect for them and a desire to allow them to define their own experience. Indeed I had a lot of guilt in relation to my kids and eventually had to deal with that but God brought full and complete healing in those relationships, too. Maybe that seems "unrealistic" to you. Maybe it is unrealistic FOR you. But I believe it is possible. I KNOW it is because I experienced it. I did not end the book because I wanted to get it published. The truth is, I never expected it to get published. A friend gave it to a publisher in Holland and when they contacted me for publication, I had to pray hard about whether or not it was something I really wanted to do. I finished the book because I felt it said what I wanted to say at the time. Perhaps I'll write another book one day with more of my story which encompasses so much more than just the fact that I once had DID. I live in Costa Rica now and work with children who are abused, who are being commercially exploited, who need love and hope and vision for a brighter tomorrow. Actually, I guess that's why I wrote my book in the first place. To give women who have suffered like I did love and hope and a vision for a brighter tomorrow and this is what I wish for you, too, Karen. Warmly, Judith Machree

Judith Machree tells her devastatingly true story of being molested as a child and the ramifications of Multiple Personality Syndrom that followed. Through her remarkable faith in God and support from her husband, she is able to share her story today. The book is written in a journal format and relates the different struggles she lived through, but through it all, there is a deeply spiritual aspect interwoven. It is an excellent testimony to God's healing powers and the strength He gives us to overcome even the most horrendous events in our lives.

I have found this book very helpful also as a professional therapist because it gives a clear inside look into the world of someone with DID. And therefore I recommend it also to other professionals as well as lay counselors in this field. Of course every story is different but to be able to take a peak into someone's head, so to speak, is very valuable. I admire the writer for having the courage to be willing to be so vulnerable in entrusting her head and heart to paper, also to help others who were victimized the same way and to help us professionals to understand better.

I was impressed with the strength of the author to get through the long process and the healing as it took place(step by step). The most outstanding part to me was the way she was able to turn to God through all of it and draw upon her faith. I believe anyone who reads this work will be blessed in some way. I know that it gave me much "food for thought" and reaffirmed my own faith. We all have struggles,of one kind or the other, and this book can help give direction for handling anything. I intend to recommend it to all my friends. Bravo!!