Wide Open: A True Story of Surviving a Series of Sexual Assaults, Healing Trauma and Recovering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

Wide Open is D. M. Ditson's dizzying account of unravelling in the wake of a series of sexual assaults that left her with post-traumatic stress disorder. When her past threatens to derail a promising new relationship, Ditson flings herself into her recovery and documents her healing in near real time. Written in the depths of her illness, Ditson shows what PTSD looks like from the inside as she loses herself in time - mistaking the past for the present, the innocuous for danger, and her beloved for a villain. With startling candour, Ditson probes her past to understand how she became so vulnerable to assault, navigates through her trauma, and recounts her excruciating recovery as her body thrashes beyond her control.

 

Transforming from someone who once burned and buried every one of her secrets, Ditson shares all to offer hope, to prove that healing is possible and to show that love is bigger. Wide Open is the recovery memoir Ditson sought and couldn't find when she felt crazy and alone, and yearned for someone who had made it out the other end to reach back into the darkness and share the path to freedom. It's the story of one woman's hard-fought liberation, and countless others have found solace in Ditson's words.

 

"This incredibly brave and powerful memoir is written in prose both luminous and stark. I read it in one gulp, in awe of the author's willingness to surrender to her experience of trauma and of her generosity in sharing her journey with readers. Wide Open will take you to the farthest reaches of what it means to be human."  - Alison Pick, Man Booker nominated author of Far To Go and Strangers With The Same Dream