Zack Bonnie recounts the well-intentioned, but ill-informed, ways that we attempt to deal with attachment issues, impulsivity, and substance abuse, which are so often the repercussions of sexual assault and developmental trauma in teens. His book, Dead, Insane, or in Jail: Overwritten, serves as a reminder that healing trauma must begin with targeting the underlying brain state, a concept still largely misunderstood in treatment facilities.
—Sebern Fisher, Author, Neurofeedback in the Treatment of Developmental Trauma: Calming the Fear-Driven Brain
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In Overwritten, the second volume of his well-written memoir, Zack Bonnie explains some of the standard methods of mind control used to break down people’s identities, to force them to dissociate, and to overwhelm them. Institutions like the one Zack endured, Rocky Mountain Academy, seem to behave the opposite of what a therapeutic environment should be. I applaud Zack Bonnie’s bold, honest description of his journey through abuse. I commend him for wanting to understand it, dissect it, and digest it – and integrate it in a way that will help others.
The people who have healed the most are the ones who haven’t tried to put the experience in a closet, or tried to forget it, or say that they’re fine.
Healing happens for people who are willing to courageously and honestly look at what happened, and undertake reparative strategies and therapies with skilled and trained practitioners. I believe that having had these experiences ultimately makes us stronger as human beings. I applaud Zack Bonnie’s bold, honest description of his journey through abuse. I commend him for wanting to understand it, dissect it, and digest it – and integrate it in a way that will help others.
—Steven Hassan, author of Combating Cult Mind Control and Freedom of Mind: Helping Loved Ones Leave Controlling People Cults and Beliefs; Director, Freedom of Mind Resource Center, and Lead Investigator at Freedom from Undue Influence, a division of Dare Association, Inc. http://freedomfromundueinfluence.org
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Zack Bonnie has provided us with a book which is well written and engaging, edgy and humorous, in his continuing memoir of doing time in the troubled teen industry. Transporting us to this so-called school, Zack invites us into the daily routine, depicting what one must do, how one must adapt and conform, in order to survive. And survive Zack did, long enough to be able to bring his story into the light of day, and provide for his former classmates, and other similarly disenfranchised voices, a chance to be heard. If speaking out, like art, can be an antidote to the impacts of abuse, then I think Zack’s book will be a helpful tonic for those who were in teen re-education camps, and for those who want to understand.
—Diana Pletts, Director, The Phoenix Project http://www.icsahome.com/arts/phoenixproject
