Conquering Incest: My Life as a Trauma Survivor

E. Diane Champé
Dog Ear Publishing (2011)
ISBN 9781457501173
Reviewed by Paige Lovitt for Reader Views (5/11)

“Conquering Incest” is the story of one woman’s journey to recover from a childhood of abuse.  The author Diane Champé shares a very painful story with us. Not only did she suffer from physical, mental, and sexual abuse at the hands of her father, she also had to deal with her mother’s lack of willingness to defend her and her inability give her the loving care that every child deserves. 

As I read the details of Diane’s abuse, I was overwhelmed with not only the trauma that she suffered, but also the lack of involvement from family members in trying to help her. As she unearths the details of her past, she discovers that incestuous behaviors have been firmly entrenched in her family for generations.   She also encounters relatives who acknowledge that they have also been molested by other family members. 

As Diane embarks on her journey of healing, she experiences many setbacks.  Fortunately, she finds a therapist that specializes in counseling survivors of incest. This woman plays a huge role in her recovery.  As she helps Diane to delve into her past, Diane learns that she has multiple personalities that have allowed her to disassociate herself from her pain.  Part of her therapy involves discovering who these personalities are, what role they have played in her survival, and reintegration of them to help her become one again.

In spite of numerous hospitalizations, a failed marriage, and having many fall outs with her family members, over the years Diane is able to successfully promote from an entry level position to an executive position within a corporate company.  Unfortunately, as she has to deal with the painful issues that arise while in therapy, she gets a supervisor who is unsupportive of her as an employee and callous towards her regarding her health issues and need for treatment.  The problems that she develops with this woman cause her to have many setbacks with both her career and her healing.   In time, she finds herself being betrayed by her company.   It is obvious that there is a correlation in how the company treats her and how her family has treated her. It is imperative that her therapy helps her overcome her difficulties in effectively dealing with both.  Having been raised a victim makes it very hard to set boundaries in dealing with friends, family and co-workers.      
           
I appreciate Diane’s willingness to share her very personal details of what she went through as a victim of abuse and the hardships that she faced on her road to recovery.  The cruelty that she was subjected to throughout her whole life is not easy to read about.  However, in the end, readers of “Conquering Incest” will find themselves incredibly inspired by a woman who chose to hang on to life and overcome almost every possible adversity that one can face in a lifetime.  By reading her story, survivors of abuse will know that they are not alone and that they can create a better life for themselves.  Both professional and lay persons who are involved with incest survivors will also gain an incredible amount of understanding of what these people are experiencing. Hopefully, this will help them to respond appropriately to the survivor’s needs so that they won’t have to share the same experiences that Diane did as she went through her healing process.  

Make comment on weblog

FTC Disclosure