Customer Reviews

My Journey to Peace with PTSD

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This compelling story of growing up and growing wise had me engrossed and curious ... and reflecting on my own disordered behavior and the ubiquitous nature of stress. The author's style of writing doesn't always adhere to conventional 'rules' but it's always coherent and gives another dimension to her personality.

I love stories told honestly in the first person. It adds to my sense of myself to understand another person in some depth. Lady Cerelli has shared openly, and this helps open up one of the last taboos: women reporting abuse including incest. Good girls play along and suffer silently. Lady lets us see the whole of who she is. When such daring is motivated by a desire to help, by the urge to heal, then ego must relinquish the sordid details. Somehow this makes room for expression of goodness also.

Since I enjoyed an idyllic childhood, I need to read and learn what happens when kids face huge problems.
And in reading Lady's account, I remember problems that didn't seem little to me at the time like dealing with that infernal elastic belt and trying to hide the bulky pad between my legs under a skirt in the '50s. Lady's journey has been very different and yet I can relate.

The awareness of personal behavior seems easier when someone else gives a good example. In that regard, My Journey to Peace with PTSD encourages me to come to peace with myself and accept the stresses that have influenced me. Peace seems to be that middle way, a choice of balance with note of the extremes.

Finally, a personal account of PTSD specifically tailored for women sufferers. After years of reading and research into understanding my own struggle with PTSD, Lady's struggle revealed to me the starting point for survival. Her struggles and fears are felt so strongly while reading her life story. A book full of ah ha's for the women who feel so alone and fearful of their own emotions and behaviors. I praise Lady for her ability to provide the painful details of her own life so that others may find hope and healing in their struggles with PTSD.

"My Journey to Peace with PTSD" is a must have for any professional practicing in the field of mental health. It is necessary for women sufferers who find their own story too difficult to discuss to first feel a connection with another woman such as Lady. Only then can we release ourselves from a world of secrecy and shame to make an honest commitment to therapy and the prospect of healing. Lady's book has opened up a clearer pathway for my ability to speak about the details of my own traumas in therapy and with family. That is an amazing step in my own life, one filled with avoidance, and a step that has already provided fascinating results.

This book is an extremely vivid and authentic account of one woman's traumatic experiences, building up from sexual abuse during early childhood and culminating in a brutal rape while she was in the military - all of which remained suppressed until she experienced a breakdown in her early 60's. Throughout her life, Lady exhibited all the symptoms of a PTSD sufferer but no one seemed to notice, least of all herself. When the break-through moment came, she courageously looked at her life and asked for help. Then she turned around and asked, "How can I help others?" I was fortunate to walk with Lady as she recovered her memories and committed them to writing - intelligent, no-nonsense and compelling prose. If you have suffered trauma, or wish to help (or at least better understand) someone who has, please read this book. I promise you will be a changed person when you reach the last page. I was!

Lady's journey, from the child she was to the woman she has become, is heartrending. She takes the reader with her, frame by frame, through some horrible memories, but her journey ends in hope, redemption, and, finally, peace. Read it for someone you love. Read it for yourself. Brava, Lady!

My Journey to Peace with PTSD has helped me connect with myself. Lady is a real Heroine. You have to be very Brave and Strong to expose yourself to others the way she has.

My Journey to Peace with PTSD is a gut-wrenching read. It is well written and easy to understand. It may act a textbook for anyone suffering from PTSD. It will let them know that they did not ask for or cause their personal trauma. It will let them know that they are not alone in their feelings of anger and despair. Reading this book will also
prove helpful to anyone close to a person suffering from PTSD. Ms Cerelli's first person story offers a glimpse of the pain and alienation
suffered by PTSD victims. It was an an act of courage for her to share her story with the world.

"My Journey to Peace with PTSD" combines clear and evocative writing with unvarnished and hard-hitting honesty. The reader feels led through the experiences of the author rather than simply reading about these experiences.

The difficult pieces are softened with moments of grace and even humor. This book, in its entirety, presents the reader with a living crucible of a life purified by trial and pain, missteps and abuse, compassion and forgiveness, integrity and love.

Lady explains what abusers see that will allow them to abuse others; why people commit suicide; have road rage; what human element that would turn a trauma into a life experience. A woman of strength and courage, Lady writes of her dysfuntional life and walks the reader to understanding what adult behaviors look like when one has been a victim of incest. This book is praised highly by social workers who write, "This book will validate and inspire other survivors of PTSD on their own journeys toward peace, and be a resource for those who love them," Irene J. Libretto, LCSW

Reviewed by Paige Lovitt for Reader Views (10/07)


In "My Journey to Peace with PTSD" Lady Cerelli tells her life story. She experienced a great deal of abuse in her life. It began with her stepfather raping her as a child, and her mother's refusal to acknowledge that it really happened. It continues on through her life where she continues to encounter men who brutally victimize her. Along the way, Lady tries to have a "normal" life, but finds herself drawn into inappropriate, self-defeating behavior. It seems like Lady was acting out so that the wounded child within her could be heard. Instead, she encounters more abusive types of people and continues a downward spiral.

Lady's behavior follows a pattern that is common for people with PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). As an adult, she is finally diagnosed with this after she has some seriously traumatic memories surface. While getting help, Lady discovers how her behaviors have been caused by traumas that she has experienced. On the difficult road to recovery she begins making positive changes in her life. Her relationship with her husband also deepens. She learns about real love.

In many ways, it was difficult for me to read "My Journey to Peace with PTSD." It is always hard to read about a child experiencing abuse and not being helped. Lady did have a special older lady touch her life. This made me think about being more careful with the emotionally fragile students that I work with. If I can touch someone's life like she did, I can really make a difference. It was also hard for me to read because it drug up some painful personal memories of my own childhood. These were memories I buried. Lady helped me to understand a lot of my past and why I react like I do. She also provides information about exactly what PTSD is, and will help others determine if they have it and need help. She also answered a question that I had about why people who have been abused seem to attract abusers. This was really informative and thought-provoking.

"My Journey to Peace with PTSD" came into my life at the perfect time. Not the easiest time, but the perfect time. I am very grateful to Lady Cerelli for telling her story. I know that it couldn't have been easy. By doing so, she brings something good into something that was bad. In the six hours that her book has sat on my desk, she has touched three additional lives including my own because people have asked me about it and we start talking. I went to her website and discovered more useful information. This is a book for people who have abusive pasts and those that work with them. It will really open your eyes and help you understand who you are and what you can do to make a difference, either in your life or someone else's.

Received book free of charge.