Creating Myself: How I Learned That Beauty Comes in All Shapes, Sizes, and Packages, Including Me

admin — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 17:04:00 +0000

Imagine growing up with these parents: Steven Tyler from Aerosmith and Cyrinda Foxe, a popular actress and model from the 1970s. At first glance, it might seem luxurious, glamorous, exciting, and fun to be part of this family, but Mia Tyler tells the real story of her experiences with her rock 'n roll mom and dad in Creating Myself.

From the first lines of the book, which reveal Tyler's intention to commit suicide in 2001, readers will find riveting details, shocking stories, and jaw-dropping secrets. For example, as an eight-year-old, Tyler had to pour her mother's vial of cocaine into the toilet, and later in life she struggled with her own drug addictions and self-mutilation.

But this book is much more than an exposé of a celebrity family; it is Mia's story of coping, growing, forgiving, moving on, and finding herself amidst the chaos and confusion of a rollercoaster home life. Stories and memories are shared, along with descriptions of birthdays, romances, family tension, crazy social sprees, and her work as a plus-size model. Tyler recounts her trials with using men, drugs, and food, and working to overcome these addictions. She even provides a detailed examination of her own sanity at different points in her life, and how her psychological well-being impacted her choices and the way she encountered the world.

Tyler's candid stories and honest self-evaluations reflect a woman who has been through a lot, has taken a good hard look at herself and the world around her, and has chosen to take the best approach possible by forgiving herself and her family, moving on, and deciding to take care of herself. She comes out stronger in the end, with seemingly endless love and wisdom to share.

Creating Myself will hit home with all readers, even those who don't share Tyler's celebrity status or her extreme past. Those who choose this book will find out that it is possible to take on—and overcome—all that the world has in store for us.

Written by: Amanda Moss, August 30th 2009

Cutting: Understanding and Overcoming Self-Mutilation

admin — Wed, 22 Nov 2006 18:43:00 +0000

By Steven Levenkron

WW Norton

Cutting isn’t just about cutting. It’s about burning, fainting, fingernail scratches, hospital visits, and apparent suicide attempts. It’s about what the author calls self-mutilation (though many sufferers prefer the term "self-injury" as "mutilation" implies that the goal is the scar, which isn’t always the case). These girls (and they are mostly girls) act out their anger or sadness on their own skin, inflicting pain but not attempting suicide. The author has worked with girls and boys who hurt themselves for years as a therapist, and he has written this book for both therapists and loved ones. He understands why some people choose to hurt themselves, something that is often a repulsive mystery to others. Self-mutilation, he says, is a "barrier" that keeps us from seeing someone in honest psychological pain. Self-mutilators, who are predominantly, but not exclusively, adolescent girls, have no way to express their anger or pain, whether because of socially imposed norms or because they simple haven’t learned the words. Anger is turned inward and expressed on the self. The girls feel alone, with no one to trust. Often physically or verbally abused, the girls have severe attachment disorders. The book is never too technical for the lay reader, though therapists can learn from it as well. Full of dialogue from his own practice, Levenkron really gets into the minds of these girls and boys. While he discusses treatment, however, he also argues for the recognition of self-mutilation as a psychological disorder in its own right, not merely as a symptom of disorders like borderline personality disorder or depression with anxiety. Though self-mutilation can stem from these, he argues, it can manifest itself without. Just as he argued for anorexia nervosa to be recognized as a disorder, so he argues for self-mutilation. This is an excellent book on a little-understood phenomenon.

Written by: Janine Peterson Wonnacott, November 22nd 2006