A compelling story of the resilience of the human spirit.

ARIZONA, UNITED STATES, June 1, 2022 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Hunter Publishing announces the release of the memoir, "A Pin Drop: Surviving Narcissism, PTSD, Acute Anxiety, and a Contorted Heart" by Diana Phillips who tells her amazing story with striking clarity.

Please email pindrop@hunterpublish.xyz for a complimentary copy. Read the first page at the end of the press release.

The eBook goes on sale today. Click here to go to Amazon.

A narcissistic mother and an absent father raised the author in America’s Heartland in the mid-century. Anxiety with roots in childhood worsened as an adult, yet Phillips obtained a doctorate, worked in politics, and lived in Kabul, AF as a civilian. However, stress eventually overwhelmed her.

On a seemingly typical morning at work, blood rushed into her heart with such intensity that it changed shape. The condition is takotsubo cardiomyopathy, and it primarily strikes post-menopausal women.

According to the Japanese scientist who identified the condition, the misshapen heart looks like a takotsubo, a basket for catching and containing octopuses.

The condition usually occurs after a traumatic “event,” like witnessing a homicide but any powerful emotion can trigger the condition. The author’s “event” was the prospect of spending a day in a small room watching Fox News with three individuals spouting far-right views. However, the overwhelming emotions with origins in a chaotic childhood were the real "event."

Takotsubo is also known as “broken heart syndrome,” an inadequate term that conjures images of fainting women and smelling salts when the condition is serious; it can and does kill.

Reported cases of takotsubo are minimal (about 2% of cases that are seen for a heart attack) but the condition is often diagnosed incorrectly or missed altogether. (Some people speculate that actress Debbie Reynolds died from this condition although a stroke was the official cause.)

The author suffered from takotsubo at age 60 after a lifetime of challenges mainly stemming from being raised by a narcissistic mother. Interestingly, substance and/or sexual abuse were not issues. Instead, a narcissistic mother wreaked emotional havoc on the author’s life.

"I was in my mid-thirties before I realized that my childhood was not normal," Diana recalls. "It took another 25 years to realize narcissism was at play."

Estimates of narcissism are low – about 6 percent of the population – but it is also often undiagnosed. Narcissists will not seek mental health help because they see nothing wrong with themselves. The problem is everyone else.

Diana Phillips explores the historical and psychological links between these events in this memoir.

Please contact Phillips by email at pindrop@hunterpublish.xyz. She will reply within an hour to emails sent from 7 am to 5 pm PST. She is also available for interviews.

Go to Amazon to purchase.

References:

Cohen, S. (30 December 2016). “Did Debbie Reynolds die of broken-heart syndrome?” Associated Press. https://apnews.com/article/5cf8f1a09c4f4b529feb92f910b7f54d

Stinson, F. S., Dawson, D. A., Goldstein, R. B., Chou, S. P., Huang, B., Smith, S. M., Ruan, W. J., Pulay, A. J., Saha, T. D., Pickering, R. P., & Grant, B. F. (2008). “Prevalence, correlates, disability, and comorbidity of DSM-IV narcissistic personality disorder: results from the wave 2 national epidemiologic survey on alcohol and related conditions.” The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 69(7), 1033–1045. https://doi.org/10.4088/jcp.v69n0701

Tomich, E. B. (n.d.). “What is the prevalence of takotsubo (stress) cardiomyopathy (broken heart syndrome?” Medscape. https://www.medscape.com/answers/1513631-56488/what-is-the-prevalence-of-takotsubo-stress-cardiomyopathy-broken-heart-syndrome

Wittstein, I. S. (February 2007). “The broken heart syndrome.” Cleveland Clinic Journal of Medicine. 74 (Supplement 1). https://www.ccjm.org/content/ccjom/74/2_suppl_1/S17.full.pdf

First page:
Chapter 1
Dressed in black academic regalia with a gold tassel and blue sash, I took a long drag from a cigarette as I stood staring at the 20-foot concrete wall directly in front of me. Coils of barbed wire stretched across the top, and Afghan snipers, with weapons drawn, hunched in watchtowers.

I stood alone in a hidden, grassy nook behind the administration building on the American University of Afghanistan campus in Kabul, away from a crowd gathering on the main grounds.

The weather was perfect with mild temperatures, a slight breeze, and puffy clouds. The spectacular, snow-capped Himalaya Mountains loomed in the distance.

I leaned over and began gently heaving. Panic attacks—sweating, pounding heart, racing thoughts, nausea— have plagued me since childhood.

As a rule, a person with anxiety issues should avoid war zones, but I was broke, needed a job, and ignored red flags.

Still, a shadow of a doubt lurked. Deep down, I knew my decision-making track record was flawed, so I consulted my former shrink, Dr. H. Although he had diagnosed me with Generalized Anxiety Disorder or GAD a few years earlier, we did not discuss it much. My impression was that GAD was a failing, and if I were more like the Karate Kid, it would go away. The reality is quite different.

Regardless, Dr. H was enthusiastic about Kabul.

“It’ll be good,” he assured me. “It’s all good.”

His blessing gave me confidence that Afghanistan was the right choice.

A year later, I found myself escorting the Class of 2011 – AUAF’s first graduating class – across campus, from the administration building to the gym/auditorium where the ceremony would occur, about 300 feet.

Diana Phillips
Hunter Publishing
pindrop@hunterpublish.xyz
Visit us on social media:
Facebook
LinkedIn