...
Show More
Sickened is the autobiograpy of a woman who fell victim of her mother who suffered from the psychological disorder, Munchausen's by proxy, and her journey to as "normal" a life as possible.
Ease Reading-Find Your Next Favorite Book
Sickened: The Memoir of a Munchausen by Proxy Childhood
...
Show More
A young girl is perched on the cold chrome of yet another doctor’s examining table, missing yet another day of school. Just twelve, she’s tall, skinny, and weak. It’s four o’clock, and she hasn’t been allowed to eat anything all day. Her mother, on the other hand, seems curiously excited. She's about to suggest open-heart surgery on her child to "get to the bottom of this." She checks her teeth for lipstick and, as the doctor enters, shoots the girl a warning glance. This child will not ruin her plans.
Sickened
From early childhood, Julie Gregory was continually X-rayed, medicated, and operated on—in the vain pursuit of an illness that was created in her mother’s mind. Munchausen by proxy (MBP) is the world’s most hidden and dangerous form of child abuse, in which the caretaker—almost always the mother—invents or induces symptoms in her child because she craves the attention of medical professionals. Many MBP children die, but Julie Gregory not only survived, she escaped the powerful orbit of her mother's madness and rebuilt her identity as a vibrant, healthy young woman.
Sickened is a remarkable memoir that speaks in an original and distinctive Midwestern voice, rising to indelible scenes in prose of scathing beauty and fierce humor. Punctuated with Julie's actual medical records, it re-creates the bizarre cocoon of her family's isolated double-wide trailer, their wild shopping sprees and gun-waving confrontations, the astonishing naïveté of medical professionals and social workers. It also exposes the twisted bonds of terror and love that roped Julie's family together—including the love that made a child willing to sacrifice herself to win her mother's happiness.
The realization that the sickness lay in her mother, not in herself, would not come to Julie until adulthood. But when it did, it would strike like lightning. Through her painful metamorphosis, she discovered the courage to save her own life—and, ultimately, the life of the girl her mother had found to replace her. Sickened takes us to new places in the human heart and spirit. It is an unforgettable story, unforgettably told.
Sickened
From early childhood, Julie Gregory was continually X-rayed, medicated, and operated on—in the vain pursuit of an illness that was created in her mother’s mind. Munchausen by proxy (MBP) is the world’s most hidden and dangerous form of child abuse, in which the caretaker—almost always the mother—invents or induces symptoms in her child because she craves the attention of medical professionals. Many MBP children die, but Julie Gregory not only survived, she escaped the powerful orbit of her mother's madness and rebuilt her identity as a vibrant, healthy young woman.
Sickened is a remarkable memoir that speaks in an original and distinctive Midwestern voice, rising to indelible scenes in prose of scathing beauty and fierce humor. Punctuated with Julie's actual medical records, it re-creates the bizarre cocoon of her family's isolated double-wide trailer, their wild shopping sprees and gun-waving confrontations, the astonishing naïveté of medical professionals and social workers. It also exposes the twisted bonds of terror and love that roped Julie's family together—including the love that made a child willing to sacrifice herself to win her mother's happiness.
The realization that the sickness lay in her mother, not in herself, would not come to Julie until adulthood. But when it did, it would strike like lightning. Through her painful metamorphosis, she discovered the courage to save her own life—and, ultimately, the life of the girl her mother had found to replace her. Sickened takes us to new places in the human heart and spirit. It is an unforgettable story, unforgettably told.
244 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1,2003
This edition
- Format
-
244 pages, Hardcover
- Published
-
September 30, 2003 by Bantam
- ISBN
-
9780553803075
- ASIN
-
0553803077
- Language
-
English
Readers also enjoyed
Community Reviews
Rating(3.9 / 5.0, 100 votes)
5 stars
30(30%)
4 stars
32(32%)
3 stars
38(38%)
2 stars
0(0%)
1 stars
0(0%)
100 reviews All reviews
...
Show More
Reading a book like Sickened really brings it home what sickos we have living with us on this planet. It's amazing that Julie survived her childhood but there is no way she'd not carry the psychological scars of what was done to her. It seems that her grandmother probably did the same to her mother when she was little. The scariest thing is that her mother carried on'adopting' more children so was able to continue doing the same thing and ruining the childhoods and lives of others. I agree with some of the other reviewers, an epilogue would have been nice, just to know the 'adopted' children were removed from her and she would be kept far away from children in the future. It is frightening to know that there is still someone as sick as her mother out there, taking care of children. I wonder how many mothers suffer from Munchausens by Proxy, and am distressed with how difficult it is for doctors to pick up when the mothers can just jump from doctor to doctor.
...
Show More
I had to read this for a class in child abuse and neglect. Very disturbing, yet impossible to put down. It's a miracle the author is alive to tell her story.
...
Show More
This details a truly devastating childhood, almost unbelievable and certainly unbearable. It was a very good read, especially for those interested in psychology and child/family abuse, wellness, and advocacy. A memoir of Julie Gregory's life of Munchausen by Proxy, wherein a parent or caregiver exaggerates or fabricates illness in a child. Not for the faint of heart and much of this story is very disturbing. But if you can make it through the details, Gregory has a raw and important story to tell and she does it very well.
...
Show More
Read many years ago, just remember being really creeped out and well...sickened.
...
Show More
This was quite a disturbing read and difficult to get through how I finished it is beyond me, it made me feel ill reading such a horrific story of abuse Julie Gregory suffered at the hands of a mother with Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy. Utterly shocking and heartbreaking.
*Book #57/72 of my 2019 coffee table to-read challenge, cont. 2020
*Book #57/72 of my 2019 coffee table to-read challenge, cont. 2020
...
Show More
Its about this girl who's parents asumes shes sick and always has her missing school to take her to the doctors. The mom takes her to the doctor and tells the doctor all these simptoms she says her daughter has. The weird thing is that her daughter is not sick her mom is just making it up. Her mom takes her to a hospital where the doctor runs all these heart test because she says her daughter has a heart condition. They run several test but all of them came out negative indicating that nothing was wrong with her so they make an incision in her leg to see and hear her heart beat but still they couldnt find anything wrong with her...She ran wawy from home because she had told some one that her parents where abusing the foster kids and her self so her mom got so mad so she told her to do some work before her dad came home to give her her beating.She ran away and lived in a correctional shelter for teens. Her parents ended up turning the story back to her and making her look bad so she droped the charges she had on her parents....She went home again and bagan feeling better.She did not take pills or anything the doctors over the years prescribed. One day when she spent a night at her friends house her house had burnet down over night. Her parents got all the insurence money and her mom went to Mexico with the guy who lent them the trailer...when she came back she told Julie that her husband and planed to burned down the house and that he killed her dog ..
...
Show More
This is an excellent book about a subject more people should take action on.As a nurse I can personally say I have seen how M.By Proxy syndrome can destroy children.Recommended for anyone interested in psychological disorders!
Leave a Review