CRAZY

There is much debate in psychological and psychiatric studies surrounding traumatic memory recall and how the human brain functions and processes related PTSD symptoms. In: “Crazy: Reclaiming Life from The Shadow of Traumatic Memory” (2022) author Lyn Barrett recalls her life altering battle to reclaim her sanity, which nearly ended her life before she entered a psychiatric facility and began therapy to slowly understand and accept her fragmented personality and character.

“Cognitive memory is fluid; this is a true story…” is the first statement opening Barrett’s intriguing and fascinating memoir. By the time Barrett was in her late thirties she and her husband were a successful professional couple, he taught sociology at a college university level, and she was a teacher at a small private religious school. At times Barrett felt her life was “picture perfect”— the couple had three children, they also owned a charming multi-storied home located in a nice neighborhood near a Philadelphia, PA. suburb. As time passed, she was finding it difficult to accept that her husband was having affairs and was increasingly alarmed at her inner void of emptiness, lack of genuine emotional connection, and her inability to feel love for her children.

The storyline evolves over decades, as readers observe Barrett careening and crashing from what was considered a workable marriage to single motherhood. Her adulterous abusive former husband blamed all their problems on Barrett’s actions and psychological behaviors—rejecting his paternal duty and/or obligation to financially support and co- parent their children on any regular basis, and flatly refused any support of Barrett in her counseling/therapy process. Not surprisingly, their children failed to thrive and suffered a great deal of trouble and trauma (in several instances/events) as they matured. As a gifted popular teacher and later a school principal, Barrett excelled on a professional level with the purchase of her own home, eventually adding a greater level of stability in her family life.

Barrett was diagnosed with DID (dissociative identity disorder) aka Multiple Personality Disorder when she was 45. As Barrett studied the controversy surrounding the False Memory (Syndrome) Movement during the !990’s-- some therapists followed and promoted the ideology or practice related to accountability and confrontation of abusers, which led to additional individual and family trauma and scientific studies questioning psychological credibility of memory recall. Instead, Barrett recalled her (realistic) therapeutic focus centered around personality integration and management of emotional triggers and symptoms where alter character traits dominated her actions and behavior choices.
After Barrett retired, she has used her experience in education, administration, and theology as a facilitator of memoir writing studies and workshops helping others affected with dissociative disorders. Barrett has remarried, and lives with her husband in the Adirondack’s. **With thanks to Koehler Books via NetGalley for the DDC for the purpose of review.