A heavy, incredible story of hope and resilience among the destruction of everything you thought was real. The author has a solid style that takes you through the darkest, most desperate moments of his life because of his DID, how he tries to do what he thinks is best, and the effects this has in his life.

Wow this is a very honest and heartfelt book. What an incredibly strong person to go through all he did to come out the other side, with or without having DID on top. The read at times is brutal but I feel the author was truthful to himself and gave the reader a honest look at everything he has been through and continues to deal with.

Memoir of a Mangled Mind by Steven Simmons Shelton is a gripping and raw account of living with dissociative identity disorder (DID) resulting from severe childhood trauma. It's not always an easy read, but I do believe it is an important one. I have a close friend with DID and I felt like this helped me understand them better.

The memoir takes you down some really difficult paths with the author - and vividly captures the true devastating impact of DID. There's lost time, fractured memories, as well as uncontrollable behaviors. It gets very dark and very difficult at times. However, the writing is compelling and it's a great resource for anyone looking to learn more about mental illness and trauma - and specifically about DID.

As with any other health condition, keep in mind that this is just one person's experience with DID, so don't assume every person with the disorder has the same experience. Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!

I’m shocked that he went to a psychologist and with him telling her about his symptoms and severity that she didn’t send him to the hospital right away.

The story feels a bit fabricated.

I don’t want to say that I enjoyed this book, but it was difficult to put down because I was interested throughout. The time jumps were understandable and I felt myself going through the emotions with the author. I would recommend this to people with an interest in psychology like myself, or even those who don’t.

Memoirs of a mangled. Mind by Steve. Simmons Shelton is a very raw Memoir which details the authors battle with dissociative identity disorder (DID). Shelton recounts that as a response from childhood abuse, he had to navigate life with multiple personalities and how he moves from childhood into adulthood becoming a lawyer. This book is professionally written with raw emotions, and empathy as you read how living with D.I.D. and the disturbing stories of not only child abuse but bullying and parents who ignore him.
Shelton did not seek help but tried to hide his disorder from everybody. He gets into trouble with the police and loses a lot of time but eventually everything comes to a halt when he is faced with police and guns pointed at him whilst doing a bank robbery which he reckons is due to one of his personality’s. A remarkable book on Mental illness which is dark and terrifying for many individuals who suffer with this disorder. Thanks to NetGalley and to the publishers of this book for giving me a free advance copy of the book to preview and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Heartwrenchingly sad book written by Steven Simmons. Very explicit in some parts, but it needed to be, to tell the whole story. He lurches from disaster to disaster due to his alter egos taking over, with no control over what is happening to him due to his MPD. I was glad to see that the story had a happy ending. I really enjoyed reading this book. Highly recommended.

DID is a rare an often misunderstood disorder. Books about or containing it are incredibly rare (understandably so though given how entwined it is with trauma). I can't speak as to how typical the author's experience of it is in the broader community but I can tell you that he does an incredible job illustrating the anguish that can come from living with it. He shares his trauma, some of what his alters have done (although he doesn't know a lot of it and they don't want him to know) and his fear and confusion as he tries to figure out what's wrong with him and what might have happened in the missing parts of his life.

Although the book handles some rather dark and difficult topics, the writing style is incredibly readable. I think this would have taken a lot longer to get through had the writing been as heavy as the topics. It is not an easy read. There are a lot of disturbing and terrifying scenes which I can only imagine how hard they must have been to actually live through. I'm glad the author finally got the help he needs and I appreciate that he was strong enough to share his experiences with the world. The story jumps around in time which I know doesn't work for everyone so I thought I'd just mention it. But don't let that turn you off! It's still easy to follow and very much worth the read.

If somebody asked me what the most heart-breaking book I read this year, I would choose MEMOIR OF A MANGLED MIND: HOW CONCEALING MY DISSOCIATIVE IDENTITY DISORDER UNLEASHED MULTIPLE PERSONALITIES by Steven Simmons Shelton.

The most striking difference this memoir has with other books on mental health is the author's position on himself: that somehow he, after turning 18, bears the whole responsibility for his mental well-being. Dismiss: adults who used his vulnerability physically and emotionally. Ignore: low self-esteem and distorted sense of love after years of sexual abuse. Forget: a therapist who avoided his self-diagnosis of DID. The magical number 18 also nullified the failure of the grown-ups, responsible for the author's well-being, to help him during his childhood and teenage years. In the memoir, I saw a lost, disoriented child. My heart broke multiple times for that child: raped by men (sometimes multiple men at a time), ignored by his parents, and bullied at school. A woman walks in on her 4-year-old son being molested by a male babysitter - and pretends it never happened. How?! How could she not see the signs that her son had been constantly raped by two older boys for two years?! The first thing she told her adult son when the son's boyfriend left was, "I told you all men leave." The author's only supportive adults were his aunt and uncle, yet even they knew nothing - or pretended not to notice - how miserable their nephew's life was. Adults failed little Steven, and when he turned 18, his trauma didn't disappear on a whim.

I can't fathom how much courage it took to re-live such a horrible life experience and finish the memoir.

I can't recommend MEMOIR OF A MANGLED MIND to any 'normal' person ('normal' in quotes because, as my therapist says, there are no normal people, we all just pretend to cope with reality). Any sane individual will stop reading the book after the first pages. At the same time, I'd highly recommend it for reading to see the inner workings of the mind, haunted by DID, and maybe, recognize the signs of DID and help an abused child before it's too late.

I received an advance review copy from Netgalley, and I'm leaving this review voluntarily.

This is not an easy book. This is not a fun book. If you can get through it this is an important book for both the writer and the reader. This is obviously a way for the writer to deal with what had happened to them. And for the reader that also deals with similar problems this can also be extremely helpful to show that they are not the only one.

Wow. This book is a WILD ride.

Simmons divulges his long history with Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) and its origins in his most formative years, a time when he was abused, neglected, and regularly sexually assaulted. It's written in such a way that it feels like we're time traveling through journal entries. Trigger warnings aside, book is not for the faint of heart.

Simply put, I didn't know how much I didn't know. DID is so hard to comprehend and imagine as someone that doesn't struggle with it, and Steve's experiences truly terrified me. The level of literal self sabotage escalated so exponentially and he wasn't even privy to it, having instead to piece it together like a detective. Sadly, while Steve often blamed himself for not seeking help sooner, I don't know how much good it would have actually done. His fears of being "thrown into the loony bin" weren't unfounded. And when he did finally trust the system enough to help him, it let him down substantially. ("Take an [unpaid] mental health month." 🥲 Sure, thanks.)

I'd heard from someone else recently that their experience with DID is like being on a bus, you're not always driving the bus, but you're there and following along for the ride. That is apparently not the case for everyone. I hope Steve has found the peace he deserves.

Thank you, NetGalley, for the opportunity to read an advance reader's copy of this memoir in exchange for my honest review.

Wow, to say that this was difficult to read is an understatement. Steven Shelton retells his lifetime of sexual, physical, and emotional abuse from classmates, friends, family members, and even a neighbor, starting at the age of four and going well into his adulthood. Even throughout these incredibly challenging experiences and spiraling mental health, Steven is remarkably bright, driven, and successful at almost every stage of his life, from athletics and debate to a competitive career in law.

"Part of me wished I had a brain tumor, something I could understand."

Above all, this book touches on very important aspects and barriers to getting help for severe mental illness. With the threat of judgment, rejection, confusion, and, worst of all, disbelief from others, Steven, like so many, kept his trauma-induced dissociative identity disorder a secret for as long as he could. Unexpectantly, a serious consequence during one of his blackouts ended up being the thing he needed to turn his life around.

Had the adults in his life protected him as a child, this 40-year spiral of mental illness might have been entirely prevented. My heart goes out to him and the millions of other children raised in chaos, neglect, and abuse.

"..of the many things I wish for you, mercy is nowhere to be found."

I am grateful to have received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. This was a heartbreaking read, addressing topics including but not limited to child abuse, rape, and dissociation, that may cause the reader to deeply sympathize or empathize with the author, and could also trigger or activate the reader. I applaud the author for having the courage to share his story, including elements of his story that the readers may not support. The writing is clear and to the point, and a style that caused me to not be as connected to the author as I would like to be, however this did not take away from the informative, insightful, and vulnerable stories Steve Simmons Shelton shares. This memoir will teach the reader a lot about the dark, confusing, terrifying, and exhausting experiences of some individuals who experience Dissociative Identity Disorder, and therefore, is an immensely valuable memoir to offer the world.

I found this an intriguing read. There are not many books out there that have a strong focus point on dissociative identity disorder so it was really great to see this area discussed and explored so intently. It shows the resilence and determination of the individual.