Either I'm crazy,
Or the people I love are crazy.
That's the context in which clients need TIST and where this book begins,
But having these ideas and having worked in these ways still required that I write the book,
And so it's a labor of love because it takes the survivor through the journey from I'm either crazy or the people I love are crazy.
And the other thing that happens,
Which is a huge,
Huge problem,
Is remember that part that hovers above and carries on as if nothing has happened,
Because for that part nothing has happened,
Or to that part nothing has happened.
That part,
Which I call the going on with normal life part,
That part often leads to feelings of being fraudulent,
Of faking it.
So years later,
That going on with normal life part is doggedly functioning,
Is carrying on despite parts that are anxious,
That are angry,
That are suicidal,
That are depressed and hopeless,
And it's such a cruel result of trauma to believe that being able to carry on with normal life is pretending,
When in fact it requires enormous courage to carry on with life when you are imploding and dissolving inside.
And also it's a terrible misunderstanding because instead of feeling proud that part of them carried on all those years in spite of everything,
Clients feel as if they have no true self or else their true self are the feelings of fear,
Shame,
Anger,
And grief,
Which would be very sad if that were true,
Because that would mean that we are only our parts and there's no part of us available to listen to them.
