"When Rabbit Howls"

I am currently reading an autobiographical book called "When Rabbit Howls" written by Truddi Case (with the assistance of Robert Phillips, Ph.D.).

Since we recently covered domestic violence and sex crimes, I wanted to share some the content of this book. I have been reading it for a few months now. Most books do not take me as long to read, however, this one contains disturbing and confusing content- so I've had to take a break quite often.

Anyway, this is book is told from the point of view of a sexual abuse victim, Truddi Chase. She was raped and abused by her stepfather as little girl. Her mother had known about the abuse and done nothing. As a way of coping with the horrible things that she lived thru, Chase began repressing the memories of the abuse. She developed multiple personalities- 92 of them to be exact.

Mental health is a big interest to me. I worked in a locked-down adult crisis inpatient unit, which is where my interest in mental health began. This book reminded of a client I had worked with before- and although my client didn’t suffer from dissociative personality disorder, she had been molested by her own father.

I think that this book shows how sexual abuse has lasting effects on any individual- the author of this book didn’t even tell her story until some 40 years later. As a child, she was told that the abuse was her own fault (as a two year old). This book was confusing to read since (depending on her mood and outside stresses) different personalities would “take-over” so to speak, so the reader isn’t always quite sure who is talking.

I would suggest this book to anyone that is interested in going into mental health, especially those interested in learning about personality disorder. As with many things we’ve talked about in class, I think that women seeking any kind of health services do not always get the type of assistance that they need. I think that the stereotypes on women lead some professionals to not take a woman’s complaints or concerns seriously. One of the more notable things I saw in this book was that Chase was referred to several people and places before she found a psychotherapist that not only discovered that she had multiple personalities, but that she had been abused as a small child. Had she found someone sooner, the healing process she underwent may have happened sooner.

This is a great book (from what I've read so far), and I highly recommend it.