Nothing prepared me for revisiting the most painful times of my life – then being criticised for it. We need industry-wide guidelines to help
I called her Terri The World Gets. She was the outward-facing me, the woman I’d spent decades curating. And Terri The World Gets was about to be rocketed into space, never to return.
September 2019, a Friday afternoon, and the Bookseller announced that I’d written a memoir, Coming Undone, to be published by Canongate the following summer. A memoir, the press release explained, about (deep breath): poverty, self-harm, physical abuse, sexual abuse, anxiety, depression, dissociation, suicidal ideation, alcohol and drug abuse, and being sectioned in a New York psychiatric ward.
Terri White is a journalist and the author of Coming Undone: A Memoir
In the UK, call the national domestic abuse helpline on 0808 2000 247, or visit Women’s Aid. In the US, the domestic violence hotline is 1-800-799-SAFE (7233). In Australia, the national family violence counselling service is on 1800 737 732. Other international helplines may be found via www.befrienders.org
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