Having written a bestselling book at 22, survived a harrowing battle with anorexia nervosa, and pursued a successful career as a clinical psychologist, Lucy Daniels has led a remarkable life. In With a Woman's Voice: A Writer's Struggle for Emotional Freedom, her first book in 40 years, Daniels shares the experience of overcoming emotional hardships and gaining valuable insights from them, through psychoanalysis, that has enabled her to help others. With a Woman's Voice is Daniels' memoir of the struggles she faces as a writer and a doctor of psychology, struggles that began at a very young age and continued long after the success of her two novels. As the child of a wealthy newspaper family, Daniels was emotionally deprived by her demanding parents and plagued by her own feelings of inadequacy and helplessness. Sent to a mental hospital for treatment of her anorexia, she spent years enduring brutal regimens of electroshock therapy, insulin injections, and force-feedings. It was during this time that she wrote Caleb, My Son. Caleb, My Son became a national bestseller, earning accolades for its portrayal of racial and generational conflict in the South of the 50s. Her second book, High on a Hill, was a fictional account of the time she spent in the hospital. Her novels won her a Guggenheim fellowship and extensive praise. After this early success, Daniels succumbed to writer's block that lasted several decades. She tells in her memoir of her decision to examine and resolve her problems, leading her to seek psychoanalytic treatment while pursuing a doctorate in clinical psychology. After years of examining her difficulties and learning how they could be treated, she created a foundation that helps artists overcome emotional disorders and gain creative insight from both self-examination and psychotherapy. With a Woman's Voice recalls these achievements, and the difficult years that led up to them, with insight, humor, and wisdom. Daniels provides a moving account of
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In 1951, at age 17 and just over 50 pounds, Daniels was admitted to a mental hospital, where she remained for several years. While enduring electro-convulsive shock therapy, insulin injections, and force feedings, she wrote a best-selling novel, Caleb, My Son, addressing generational conflict and racial inequality in the South in the 1950s. A few years later, with a Guggenheim fellowship, she wrote High on a Hill, a fictionalized account of life in a mental hospital. With this memoir (clearly steeped in Freudian psychoanalytical theories and principles), Daniels provides accounts of her anorexia nervosa, writer's block, continuous psychotherapy sessions, and the road to finding her voice. Reliving the past in writing the memoir (her first book in 40 years) must have been both painful and releasing for Daniels, who has been a practicing clinical psychologist since 1977. Readers will experience her sense of loss and her struggle to clarify childhood experiences that became the focus of adulthood therapy sessions. The result is occasionally difficult and painful reading. Most suitable for public libraries and for autobiographical collections. Jeris F. Cassel, Rutgers Univ. Libs., New Brunswick, NJ
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Review
A fascinating experience for anyone interested in psychoanalysis, art, and the relationship between the two. A wonderful stand-alone story of a very bright young woman's struggle with mental illness and her ultimate victory at forcing her creativity to triumph over the confusion and conflict she faced. (Bryant Welch, PhD, JD Psychologist-Psychoanalyst Newsletter )
Lucy Daniels mines the past in an effort to understand the present and take hold of her creativity. In following this journey of self-discovery, you can't help but look into the mirror of your own life. (Louise Bourgeois )
Daniels provides accounts of her anorexia nervosa, writer's block, continuous psychotherapy sessions, and the road to finding her inner voice. Reliving the past in writing the memoir (her first book in 40 years) must have been both painful and releasing for Daniels, who has been a practicing clinical psychologist since 1977. Readers will experience her sense of loss and her struggle to clarify childhood experiences that became the focus of adulthood therapy sessions. (Library Journal )
Lucy Daniels mines the past in an effort to understand the present and take hold of her creativity. In following this journey of self-discovery, you can't help but look into the mirror of your own life. (Louise Bourgeois )
Daniels provides accounts of her anorexia nervosa, writer's block, continuous psychotherapy sessions, and the road to finding her inner voice. Reliving the past in writing the memoir (her first book in 40 years) must have been both painful and releasing for Daniels, who has been a practicing clinical psychologist since 1977. Readers will experience her sense of loss and her struggle to clarify childhood experiences that became the focus of adulthood therapy sessions. (Library Journal )
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
a compelling, wrenching read,
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This review is from: With A Woman's Voice: A Writer's Struggle for Emotional Freedom (Hardcover)
Lucy Daniels' story of overcoming her upbringing by narcissitic parents and of surviving anorexia (and the various "cures" for it imposed on her as a teenager) is an emotionally-draining read. Daniels is a woman who went through a private hell from childhood and into adulthood, but managed to finally free herself. In her 40's she was able to go to college, acquire a PhD, and start a career as a successful clinical psychologist. She attributes much of her great progress to the help of her psychotherapist. This book is a confirmation that good therapy is worth the investment (both of time and money) even late in life. I highly recommend it!
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
With a Woman's Voice: A Writer's Struggle for Emotional Free,
By A Customer
This review is from: With A Woman's Voice: A Writer's Struggle for Emotional Freedom (Hardcover)
Lucy Daniels captures my complete attention with her courageous story about growing up in a prominent NC family, struggling with anorexia, surviving mental institutions in the 1950s, and emerging, after finally receiving the treatment she so desperately needed, stronger and determined to help others. I was so immersed in the story, each chapter pushed me into the next! A must read!!
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Compelling style--reads like a novel,
By A Customer
This review is from: With A Woman's Voice: A Writer's Struggle for Emotional Freedom (Hardcover)
Lucy Daniels has written a book that will inspire hope in all readers who struggle to master the trauma of childhood. She is a gifted, award-winning author, whose compelling style combines with stunning candor to make this book read like an intriguing novel. And yet this is her true life story --one of enormous courage, creativity, and ultimately redemption.
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