With the help of an unconventional psychiatrist, a woman struggles to recover from childhood sexual abuse.
Laureen Peltier was the sixth of eight children, the youngest of the five girls. She and all of her sisters were repeatedly and regularly sexually molested by their father when they were children. Each developed their own method of coping – Laureen’s was to pretend nothing was wrong in her adult life. But she could not stand to let herself be touched, or have any form of intimate relationship with a man, and sexual harassment from her boss triggered a crisis that could no longer be covered up. During that crisis, she met Dr. Erickson, a psychiatrist whose unconventional theories – including longer sessions and an information-processing technique called EMDR – offered her hope of a recovery without a lifetime spent in therapy. But could she survive the pain of reliving her past, and stay in the fight to reclaim the strong, loving, sexually-confident woman she knew she wanted to be?
HUNGRY FOR TOUCH is both heart-rending and heart-giving, a painful and beautiful first-person account of a woman’s quest to reintegrate the broken parts of herself, while reliving memories of events no child should have had to face. Peltier is willing to put everything on the page – fear and courage, trauma and resilience, violation and self-protection. This is not an easy read – it is emotionally overwhelming in places, and at times somewhat disjointed, as memories of early childhood tend to be – but it is an inspiring, intimate, and thorough exploration of the process of therapy and recovery from abuse. Descriptions of family interactions in the past and present add depth and context to the story, giving a fuller view of Peltier’s roots, life choices, and relationships. A preface by Dr. Erickson – not his real name – explains some of the theoretical and practical background behind his practices.
HUNGRY FOR TOUCH is a thoroughly wrenching and awe-inspiring true story, offering hope not only for survival of childhood sexual abuse, but also healing and freedom.
~IndieReader