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Loading... Sickened: The True Story of a Lost Childhoodby Julie Gregory
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will love Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. ladybug74 | Mar 17, 2009 |   Interesting story of a girl whose mother puts her through a lot of torture because she's suffering from Munchausen's by Proxy. It's scary how easily her mother continued to persecute her through time and how no-one really noticed that it was happening. Interesting read, scary stuff, of interest to those who enjoy tales of childhood suffering. (  )wyvernfriend | Mar 15, 2009 | Julie Gregory grew up in an abusive household with a mother that constantly told her she was sick and what her symptons were. Julie was starved, beaten, and taken out of school for doctor's visits and hospital stays. Her mother insisted that every possible test be done, in order to "get to the bottom of this". When one doctor could not find a problem Julie would be taken to another doctor. Julie was punished if she didn't go along with the symptoms her mother told the doctors she had. While attending College Julie learns of a disease - Munchausen by Proxy and an understanding of what she has been through all her childhood is realised. I was a bit disappointed with the ending. ( )dianestm | Mar 10, 2009 | Dark look at the child abuse and neglect that the author endured at the hands of her parents, in particular her mother. A chilling account of how children can easily slip through the cracks of child services and how abusers can continue to be allowed access to these children. ( )mandolin | Feb 26, 2009 | It was well-written in the sense that it was a fast read. However, oddly, the end of the book felt disjointed and confusing. I'd expect this when recalling early childhood memories, but not when recounting dealing with the knowledge of abuse as an adult. (  )gaialover | Nov 3, 2008 | 1  0.096 seconds to build listing  no reviews | add a review
Amazon.com Product Description (ISBN 0553803077, Hardcover)A young girl is perched on the cold chrome of yet another doctor’s examining table, missing yet another day of school. Just twelve, she’s tall, skinny, and weak. It’s four o’clock, and she hasn’t been allowed to eat anything all day. Her mother, on the other hand, seems curiously excited. She's about to suggest open-heart surgery on her child to "get to the bottom of this." She checks her teeth for lipstick and, as the doctor enters, shoots the girl a warning glance. This child will not ruin her plans.Sickened From early childhood, Julie Gregory was continually X-rayed, medicated, and operated on—in the vain pursuit of an illness that was created in her mother’s mind. Munchausen by proxy (MBP) is the world’s most hidden and dangerous form of child abuse, in which the caretaker—almost always the mother—invents or induces symptoms in her child because she craves the attention of medical professionals. Many MBP children die, but Julie Gregory not only survived, she escaped the powerful orbit of her mother's madness and rebuilt her identity as a vibrant, healthy young woman. Sickened is a remarkable memoir that speaks in an original and distinctive Midwestern voice, rising to indelible scenes in prose of scathing beauty and fierce humor. Punctuated with Julie's actual medical records, it re-creates the bizarre cocoon of her family's isolated double-wide trailer, their wild shopping sprees and gun-waving confrontations, the astonishing naïveté of medical professionals and social workers. It also exposes the twisted bonds of terror and love that roped Julie's family together—including the love that made a child willing to sacrifice herself to win her mother's happiness. The realization that the sickness lay in her mother, not in herself, would not come to Julie until adulthood. But when it did, it would strike like lightning. Through her painful metamorphosis, she discovered the courage to save her own life—and, ultimately, the life of the girl her mother had found to replace her. Sickened takes us to new places in the human heart and spirit. It is an unforgettable story, unforgettably told. (retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:58:05 -0400) The first test round has been closed. Visit the Open Shelves Classification group for details. |
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I would like to think that doctors today would be more educated about mental disorders and would call Child & Family Services to investigate this family. I am a social worker and can say from experience that this does not always happen. Though there is more information out there today about various types of mental illness, there are still so many doctors and other professionals who would rather just "pass the buck" because this is not their area of specialty. (