The Sum of My Parts: A Survivor's Story of Dissociative Identity Disorder

For personal reasons, I started reading this book at Chapter 8. It is truly captivating regardless of your start point. When I was ready, I read the book cover to cover without stopping... and then I read it again.While reading "The Sum of My Parts", Olga Trujillo--at the tender age of three-- immediately became my hero. She endured horrific abuse at the hands of people that should have been trusted family members. This is an amazingly incredible, haunting read and one that I will surely never forget. Her memoir takes the reader from the depths of an emotional pit, one that you think she couldn't possibly survive, and she ends her book with an uplifting and final message of hope. From a healing standpoint, reading this book is quite possibly the best decision I have made.Olga's book details her life of abuse at the hands of her father, brothers and outside perpetrators and chronicles the events to present time. She endured a life of abuse, panic, agoraphobia and consequently DID. Olga has gone on to become an accomplished attorney, advocate and author.I had the absolute pleasure of meeting Olga recently and I can say that I am truly amazed and humbled at the person she has become as a result of abuse of this magnitude.Please, if you are an advocate for childhood abuse, a teacher, a parent or a survivor...this book is a must read. Thank you, Olga, for shedding light on this subject and educating us on DID. You are my hero.

I thought the book was very well written. Her story was so captivating yet painful almost to read. I really think the author did a great job showing how abuse or anything challenging can change people mentally in order for to cope. I think anyone suffering from anything should read her book. I really admire her and she seems very intelligent. I think if abuse was articulated in the way she does it, more often people would not feel afraid to talk about their own issues and these types of things would not be seen as taboo. I honestly feel like she opened up my eyes to a lot of issues in my life. This really was a good read that I stumbled on. She really met her purpose when she said she wanted to enlightened people about her condition. I really also believe making a movie out of this would be a good way to spread the word. Her tale of courage, bravery, sustenance,self belief, and the fact that I can tell she clearly has a special beautiful soul, is not something that only a few people should know about. A story like hers deserves to be shared. I sincerely believe this is the best money I have spent in a long time on something that has changed my life. This story actually penetrated my soul and spoke to my heart. It is a story I am very unlikely to forget. I also think she has great writing skills. I wonder if she ever tried writing fiction? :)

Highly recommend for those also looking to learn more about what DID is and how it affects people. I picked this up wanting to learn more to understand this mental condition after meeting someone with DID, and this book gave such a vivid, detailed way of just how our minds can work in inconceivable ways to protect us from the horrors and traumas and abuses we face, yet how at the same time such mechanisms can negatively impact one’s life if not addressed and healed properly. The book starts off extremely graphic though, which the author does warn about and suggests that those who do not or can not read through such graphic details of physical, sexual, and emotional trauma skip ahead to the chapters that focus on their adult life. But while the first chapters were difficult for me to read just because of the sheer amount of amuse that this person went through, it has also left me with a much deeper sympathy and understanding of how the brain finds such creative ways to deal with and cope with life in order to protect us. Thank you, Olga, for bravely sharing your story with us all.

I am so sorry for what u went thru. I had to put this book down so many x. I could not believe someone could do this to their child. My mother mentally touted me. I was the oldest girl in a family of 3 younger brothers. I was accused of everything that went wrong.It was always my fault, my mother took everything out on me. I started nursing school when I was 21. My mother started kicking me out of the house @ 13, I had to fend for myself. I worked,starting @ 13.she wasn't interested in my nursing school n neither were my brothers. I re when I got capped(it was a big show @a church, I had invited her-every time the door opened I looked to see if it was her-it wasn't. My graduation was 12/17/73 she was killed by a drunk driver on 12/16/73 I have no recollection of my graduation. I didn't even feel bad when she died. That's enough. This book brought all that up again after 46 year. It was very cathartic. God Bless You. I loved your book.

My husband had read this book at the request of his therapist because of the trauma he endured during his childhood. He is male who was raped by his older sister from the age of two until he was thirteen and she married then moved away. She invited her girlfriends to participate as well. My husband was well into retirement before he got help for his nightmares and he wanted to understand why he felt anger so easily. Many parts of Olga's story he related to so I wanted to have a greater understanding myself. Thank you Olga for your courage.

This has taught me a lot about DID and I am forever changed in my way of approaching mental health. Highly recommend.

Very vivid narration, a wonderful story of how to overcome hardship. Also very important how it shades light on mental illness, one in particular with lots of stigma.

Thank you for sharing your story. As someone who's experienced trauma it helps a lot to feel less alone and hear someone else's experiences of the journey I find myself on.

One of the best books I’ve read so far. Olga’s story is so touching, you really get to understand her journey and how difficult it is to recover. Thank you for sharing that.

Very well written and moving book. We all need compassion, and it's a reminder that negativity manfisted comes from pain that may be healed with small gestures of friendship, care and concern.

What Olga over came and has achieved is seriously inspirational. I read this book to learn more about DID, but found it helped explain some of my own coping mechanisms.