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Book Reviews
Title: Gifts from the Broken Jar: Rediscovering Hope, Beauty and Joy, by PJ Long, 2005
Publisher: EquiLibrium Press, Inc., 2005
ISBN: 0-9667393-9-6
Price: paper $19.95 CA
Description: 252 pp.
I was very pleased to have the opportunity to review Gifts from the Broken Jar: Rediscovering Hope, Beauty and Joy, by PJ Long. I have been very fortunate to work as a psychologist in the field of brain injury for the last seven years. My clients have taught me so much about living with and healing from an acquired brain injury but I realize how little I still know after reading this book.
PJ Long's story is both inspirational and educational. She writes about her recovery after sustaining a traumatic brain injury as a result of a fall from a horse. Her book consists of journal entries and emails she sent to a close friend over a three-year period of healing. As you read chronologically through her journal and e-mails you are able to gain some insight into the devastation of a brain injury and how it can wreak havoc on all areas of your life. PJ was mostly effected in the area of communication with severe difficulties in auditory processing. She could input information but then was unable to make links and connections with this information. The writing she did was extremely helpful as she could slow things down and take the time to process what she had read and then respond. In conversations she was lost as it took her too long to process and the other communicator had already moved on. PJ summed up her difficulties well when she described on page 202 how pervasive a communication disorder can be. She acknowledges that it's not simply about finding words, producing sounds, and enunciating. It also can encompass the entire realm of verbal processing and all it impacts in the cognitive domain. PJ's son was diagnosed with central auditory processing disorder shortly after her accident. They were both involved in remedial therapy at the same time. This therapy provided by Dr, Musiek, audiologist was very successful.
PJ Long has had a very slow and uphill battle in her recovery. The factors that appear to be most significant in her recovery are her positive outlook and the support of her family and friends. In my work I have come to see this support and positive attitude as the keys to successful transition through the grieving cycle for individuals with a brain injury.
One of Long's journal entries talks about her acceptance of her new self after her injury. This is a critical stage of healing as many survivors struggle through this stage. Survivors want everything in their lives to return to "normal" including themselves. PJ Long does an excellent job in coming to terms with creating a new self and re-entering the old world with the new self.
Long has provided many powerful messages in her book. She initially wrote the book in an effort to help others move through the healing process, but ultimately it was a tool for her own recovery. At one point in writing the book, she felt she should give it up as it felt very self-serving. Her husband disagreed with her as he felt she needed to keep writing down everything because if she wanted to help other people she would have to offer it all, as you never knew what would resonate with someone else. I would recommend this book to people who plan to work in the rehabilitation field. Especially those who plan to work with individuals with an acquired brain injury. This book is also highly recommended for survivors and their families.
PJ Long provids us with a rare opportunity to understand in greater depths, the complexity of the brain and she was able to give us "language" for the intricate process of healing.
Review by
Carolyn Lord, M.A., C. Psych
Private Practice with WJS Counselling and Counsulting
Instructor, City University, Sessional Instructor at University of Calgary, Grant MacEwan College
Email: CLord@wjsgroup.com
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