Beyond These Walls: The True Story of a Lost Child's Journey to a Whole Life

When I was younger I read Sybil many times, over and over. I was fascinated by this idea of multiple personalities and how to help someone who has many people, men and women trapped inside of them. I have enough trouble keeping my life together at times without having multiple personalties so imagine Hanna's distress. Rachel Gunner has expanded on her therapy with this book, this book is the true story of Hanna Gabriele and the 26 men and women she has inside her, each one is thoroughly explored in Rachels book. This book will spread the word that therapy can be a very positive experience in the case of multiple personaltiy disorder. This book had to be therapeutic to Hanna and Rachel during her therapy. Multiple personality is very seldom talked about and very few people know much about it. I beleive this book will open the doors to educating people about DID (Disassociative Identity Disorder)and the fear, despair, and pain that goes along with it. Rachel has done an outstanding job of sharing Hanna's story, you will see inside the mind of someone who is struggling with this disorder, how hard it is, and how it can be handled. I am very happy to see that Hanna chose life, because after reading this book, the easy choice for her would not be life. An exceptionally moving story that we can all learn from.

This compelling story about multiple personalities is also about so much more: the exercise of power over the powerless, child abuse in it's rawest forms, and the interplay of good and evil. The book is also about hope. In the face of such pervasive cruelty at such an early age, Hanna's creative mind found ways to survive. And when the abuse stopped, this mind reached out for help and eventually, miraculously, found Rachel, whose equally creative mind found ways to help Hanna cross bridges to reality. Not "back to normal" -- for Hanna's existence from infancy was never normal -- but forward to health, stability, productivity and peace. It is also about family: many personalities formed their own internal family which perpetuated the already chaotic beginning-of-life lessons learned from an external abusive family. This internal family, helped Hanna survive a life of great peril. This is the genius of dissociation. Hanna's life and Rachel's work proves that survival and healing are nearly always possible. It also shows that love is a legitimate and necessary component in therapy, if it is genuine and freely given and courageously accepted.

Reviewed by Beverly Pechin for Reader Views (11/06) From the very first words you read in "Beyond These Walls" you are going to realize that this will be an amazing trip. The authors worked together to create not only the basic story of a girl who's world revolves around Disassociative Identity Disorder or Multiple Personality Disorder but of the therapist involved in making her life worth living again. The story itself reads like fiction. Even those who have been fairly well versed in the health field regarding DID or MPD will find the intensity above and beyond anything considered 'normal' under these terms. With twenty six men and women trapped inside the mind of this one woman, you will not only loose your sense of reality while reading it but truly become so involved that you seem to absolutely understand what's going on. Based on the true story of a young lady, Hanna who suffers from DID/MPD, you get to become involved on so many levels of her care that you feel as though you're a part of the process. Not only do you get to see an inside view of the therapist's ideas and techniques, often completely unlike any other technique ever used in these situations, but one of the authors is the patient herself. Speaking from all of the different personalities involved you get to see and begin to truly have an understanding of each of the characters in Hanna's mind. This is the first time in my life I have ever read a book about DID/MPD and felt like I truly did understand what was going on and not just feeling the insanity part of the disease. Whether you get this understanding from the therapist's side or the patient's side I'm not sure, but I think the combination of the two together gives you a complete understanding like no other. The therapist learns with the patient and shares what she learns. Not only does Hanna learn not to attack the many personalities, especially the 'bad' ones but truly try to work with each and understand their basic needs. You witness each of them come out of their shell to slowly but surely trust the one person they've learned never to trust, an adult that's a therapist. After reading some of what the patient has gone through you will not only feel so deeply for her but begin to wonder what our mental health system actually is about. Techniques that seem logical to me as a lay person were unheard of in the industry and Rachel Gunner (the therapist/author) seems to have broken new ground in an area that formerly was very black and white about how to handle these type of people and their problem. As Gunner treats each of the personalities as a person, wrapped up inside one body, you realize that this is a first for Hanna Gabriele and your heart simply aches for all she's been through as a person diagnosed with DID/MPD. Not only do you get to witness some of the most intimate moments of the patient/therapist relationship but you get to hear what each was thinking while they worked together. To

"Beyond These Walls" masterfully tells the story of the relationship between a woman and her therapist as they try to integrate the many personalities of this woman into one cohesive person. The book effectively gives both the client and the therapist a voice by alternating authors each chapter. It is both uplifting and disturbing, sweet and full of anger. You won't be able to put it down.

This book touched me very deeply. Not only is it beautifully written and well-constructed with alternate chapters written by therapist and client (so that you have both perspectives), but the story and the process of healing is truly mesmerizing. I simply could not put the book down! I read it straight through in 24 hours without taking time to sleep. The story gives tremendous insight into the destructive aftermath of child abuse. The book helped me to completely understand why Hanna Gabriele (the patient) developed multiple personalities. No one should ever have to suffer the abuse that this woman suffered as a child. It is truly devastating to know that such cruelty exists in the world. I was heartbroken by the book and moved to tears many times while reading it. At the same time, however, in reading the book, I had the experience of witnessing Hanna's healing journey in being restored to a place of peace and wholeness in her soul. What a great privilege for the reader! Throughout the story, the therapist Rachel Gunner stands firm in her receptiveness to Hanna, remaining committed in her love and devotion to helping her heal, no matter how challenging the process may seem at times. Some therapists may feel that Rachel's level of commitment broke boundaries in a way that would be considered unorthodox. I feel that this book will put most therapists to shame. It was Rachel's very means of helping Hanna that gave her true and lasting healing.... something none of Hanna's other therapists had ever been able to do for her. It was Rachel's unconditional love and acceptance, not to mention her obvious brilliance as a therapist, which succeeded in truly helping Hanna. I highly recommend this stunning and moving book with all my heart. It is proof that love and acceptance are the most powerful forms of healing. What an inspiration!