Today's amazing guest is\xa0 Amy Nordhues. Amy is an author, passionate Christ follower, and a married mother of 3 who became an expert on the healing God provides after suffering sexual abuse at the hands fo a mental health professional. Her book, \u201cPrayed Upon\u201d tells the true story of her escape from the abuse of a respected, Church-going psychiatrist. Amy strives to help other victims understand themselves and know that they're not alone.
Amy first met her psychiatrist 7 years before the abuse started. She had sensed something amiss immediately and had not gone back. Upon finding and falling in love with a church community, where he was one of the elders, Amy found herself sucked in again. Other Church-goers praised the doctor\u2019s work, and when a friend gave Amy her session for free, the grooming had begun.\xa0
Amy says that part of her recognized the malpractice right away, but she struggled with an internal monologue that explained away any of the red flags she noticed. Her desire to be polite in front of an authority figure, as well as her history of being abused as a child, had removed the word \u2018No\u2019 from her vocabulary.\xa0
Amy had confided in a friend from Church about what was happening in her sessions multiple times, but it wasn\u2019t until she decided to speak with her pastor that change began to happen.\xa0
The moment that Amy was able to get out of her abusive situation was by having her friend sit with her through the scheduled timeof her therapy, which was now three hours long. The doctor called nine times while her friend manned the phone. When the three hours were over, Amy knew that by not going once she would never go again.\xa0
Connecting with others allowed for Amy to see the harsh reality she had been in. Not only was she not alone in her trauma, she was not defective or at fault because of it. Throughout her recovery, Amy re-learned how to be vulnerable and how to connect with her husband and family, a journey that has transformed her married life.\xa0
Writing her book, \u201cPrayed Upon\u201d allowed Amy to understand herself. The book took about 7 years, but by putting it on paper, she let herself understand what had happened and forgive herself for not leaving earlier. The book cover, of a bird sitting in a cage with the door open, symbolizes her internal struggle of why she didn\u2019t leave earlier. The book has helped Amy and other women know that, \u201cIt\u2019s not just me.\u201d\xa0
Listen in to hear Amy\u2019s account of how her experience affected her marriage, what modalities of healing she sought out in recovery, and how her relationship with God facilitated her recovery.\xa0
Resources Mentioned
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