South worked on a couple's farm and established her own farming business while being active in local Native American drum circles. But drowning her unhappiness with whiskey every night, she sought answers from the wisdom of Native healers whose culture she had long studied. When her employers invited her to explore the wooded Native American graveyard behind their farm, her experiences there led to remarkable events, including soul readings, shamans, indigenous ceremonial rituals, medicine wheels, dowsing rods, and, ultimately, not only communion with the dead, but undesired bodily possession.

What began as "communication and love" eventually brought unwelcome, all-consuming mind-body possession, as spirits inhabiting South spoke through her against her will. Exorcisms were attempted, and other interventions undertaken. Finally, a gentleman named Bryan Redfield, who learned of South's predicament, spoke regularly with her about the specifics of her agonizing experience. Ultimately, it was co-author Redfield alone (who shares his own incredible story in one chapter) who, applying his own nightmarish familiarity and study of psychology, finally alleviated South's suffering. She now describes herself as healed, having tended fully to her mental health through understanding and acceptance.

The hallmark of South's story is her reassuring emphasis that readers are "not alone." One need not struggle with multiple personalities (dissociative identity disorder) to know the unbearable experience of "inexplicable mental anguish." South's empathy connects intimately with readers through this remarkable memoir of self-acceptance toward mental health. Beyond the author's compassionate approach, the profound subject matter of her life story is decidedly unlike that of most other personal memoirs exploring the human psyche. While the arc of South's story bends, ultimately, to mental health, the "emotional freight train" she often describes is terrifying. That such psychological distress can lead to newfound peace for the writer is a testament to the miraculous possibility of healing.

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