For survivors of abuse, symptoms of trauma can persist long after the relationship ends. Feelings of numbness and emptiness, depression, perfectionism, rumination, excessive caring for people or the desire to please them, the need for total control—the list, according to the author, is endless, and will be unique to each person. Having spoken with thousands of such people, whom he rightfully considered his fellow sufferers, Jackson MacKenzie concluded that people are capable of successfully overcoming these symptoms. Speaking about codependency, addiction, post-traumatic stress, as well as borderline, narcissistic, and other personality disorders, MacKenzie deeply empathizes with everyone and shares how to learn to forgive and let go of false shame. The techniques he discovered allow us to work on the defensive self we create in our psyche so that we can continue to move toward a full and authentic life, experiencing lightness, freedom, wholeness, and a willingness to give and receive love.