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Breaking Free: My Life with Dissociative Identity Disorder | 
 enlarge | Author: Herschel Walker
Creator: Jerry Mungadze
Publisher: Touchstone
Category: Book
List Price: $24.95
Buy New: $12.47
You Save: $12.48 (50%)
New (31) Used (7) Collectible (2) from $12.25
Avg. Customer Rating:  7 reviews
Sales Rank: 4786
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 256
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 9.3 x 6 x 1.2
ISBN: 1416537481
Dewey Decimal Number: 362.196852360092
EAN: 9781416537489
ASIN: 1416537481
Publication Date: April 14, 2008 (New: Last 30 Days)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Brand New. 100% money back guarantee. All books shipped from Strand Bookstore, New York City, USA.
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Product Description
The NFL legend and Heisman Trophy winner shares the inspiring story of his life and diagnosis with dissociative identity disorder.Herschel Walker is widely regarded as one of football's greatest running backs. He led the University of Georgia to victory in the Sugar Bowl on the way to an NCAA Championship and he capped a sensational college career by earning the 1982 Heisman Trophy. Herschel spent twelve years in the NFL, where he rushed for more than eight thousand yards and scored sixty-one rushing touchdowns. But despite the acclaim he won as a football legend, track star, Olympic competitor, and later a successful businessman, Herschel realized that his life, at times, was simply out of control. He often felt angry, self-destructive, and unable to connect meaningfully with friends and family. Drawing on his deep faith, Herschel turned to professionals for help and was ultimately diagnosed with dissociative identity disorder, formerly known as multiple personality disorder. While some might have taken this diagnosis as a setback, Herschel approached his mental health with the same indomitable spirit he brought to the playing field. It also gave him, for the first time, insight into his life's unexplained passages, stretches of time that seemed forever lost. Herschel came to understand that during those times, his "alters," or alternate personalities, were in control. Born into a poor, but loving family in the South, Herschel was an overweight child with a stutter who suffered terrible bullying at school. He now understands that he created "alters" who could withstand abuse. But beyond simply enduring, other "alters" came forward to help Herschel overcome numerous obstacles and, by the time he graduated high school, become an athlete recognized on a national level. In Breaking Free, Herschel tells his story -- from the joys and hardships of childhood to his explosive impact on college football to his remarkable professional career. And he gives voice and hope to those suffering from DID. Herschel shows how this disorder played an integral role in his accomplishments and how he has learned to live with it today. His compelling account testifies to the strength of the human spirit and its ability to overcome any challenge.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 2 more reviews...
 Unbelievable May 10, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I thought long and hard about commenting on Mr. Walker's book because, I'm certainly not an authority on DID. However, after reading "Breaking Free," I'm convinced that Herschel Walker is a shy man who, as a result of being rejected, ridiculed and beat up by his childhood peers, has a bit of false humility, guilt and an incredible determination to view himself as someone greater than what he really is.
A biography about overcoming would have been stellar because Mr. Walker's accomplishments are truly extraordinary. Instead, Mr. Walker chose to cloak his suicidal tendencies and marital unfaithfulness as "alter" generated actions as opposed to taking responsibility for the fact that he's human just like everybody else.
I'm shocked at his therapist, and feel that Mr. Walker was somewhat willingly used to advance awareness about a diagnosis that may, in fact be valid...only not valid for Mr. Walker. Depression, narcissism and plain old pretending to be someone you're not, might have been more suitable 'labels' for him.
To Cindy...I'm sorry that he couldn't just 'man up'.
**For the record, I'll be returning my copy of this book to the library tomorrow, and am glad that my dollars did not support this bunkum.
 More of a Football story.... May 6, 2008
Just finished reading Hershel's book and found the story very interesting as story about how to survive the crueling life of a football player but not informative enough about the DID diagnosis. I purchased this book because I was excited to hear of someone else who had this condition. As I read on I was hoping to read more about the alters and how the alters "switched" in and out to complete any one task. Since I survived my horrific childhood with "alter" help, I had hoped to read more detail. I'd be interested in meeting and sitting down with Hershel to share some of the "alter chaos" that wasn't written in his book and my story. I, like Hershel, felt the importance of sharing my story as to help others understand the amazing way our minds can protect us while we are suffering through abuse. I believe DID/MPD is a God sent coping mechanism. I shared my life story in the book, "Switching Time" by author Richard Baer.
Although no two cases are the same I found too many differences that have me wondering whether or not this was truly a case of DID? For me, my "alters" weren't so consistant. I accomplished many great things but could never have spent many years in a rigorous exercise schedule to accomplish something as great as becoming a professional football player. However,I've spent many years watching my son play baseball and witness the change in his personality when he is concentrating on baseball. He is in a zone and nothing around him distracts him. I also imagine that those who serve our country, as in the Marines, switch into combat mode when needed. They are also in a different "zone" to fight and protect. I know this because my son is also a Marine who served in Iraq. And he does not have DID. I wonder if Hershel's experiece is more of being a very disciplined athelete determined to succeed by changing his sense of self to accomplish great things regarding sports, rather than actually having DID?
I am glad Hershel survived all that he had. I know, first hand, how hard it was being a victim. I wish him well and future success.
 very well put together book April 18, 2008
4 out of 7 found this review helpful
Herschel Walker was one of the Most gifted Talented Athletes that I have ever seen. this book deals with DID and how he is dealing with it. this has to be very emotional for him or anyone else to acknowledge and speak on and I applaud Herschel Walker for speaking out on it and not holding back. very detailed book and it speaks on so many things he was dealing with and this answers alot of his own issues he was dealing with. a must read.
RICK SHAQ GOLDSTEIN SAYS: READ THE BOOK & YOU'LL KNOW WHY HERSCHEL SAYS D.I.D. CAN BE A POWERFUL EFFECTIVE TOOL FOR SOME PEOPLE" April 16, 2008
8 out of 10 found this review helpful
The author, Herschel Walker was a Heisman Trophy winner, an All-American and an NCAA Football Champion at the University of Georgia. He was also an outstanding player in the NFL for 12 years gaining over 8,000 yards rushing, scoring 84 touchdowns and having a career total of *18,168* total net yards which at the time of his retirement was second best in the entire history of the NFL! At the height of his career he was involved in the biggest trade in NFL history when the Dallas Cowboys traded him to the Minnesota Vikings for FIVE PLAYERS AND SIX DRAFT PICKS! Herschel was also devoted to physical fitness and his usual daily routine included - 2,500 sit-ups and 1,500 push-ups. "He followed the same pattern for more than twenty-eight years, 365 days a year come rain or shine, feast or famine, on the road or at home." In the process of writing this book, "he calculated what that all meant: 17,500 sit-ups a week; 910,000 per year; 25.480 MILLION since it all began back in Wrightsville, Georgia", as a chunky, stuttering sixth grader. By Walker's calculations, "it will take him a little more than twelve and a half more years to reach 37 million - the number of miles the Earth is from Jupiter. His allusion to another planet is deliberate; for a lot of his life, he felt like an alien, and tried to put a great distance between himself and other people." This feeling led him to walk into a Doctor's office, "facing perhaps the greatest challenge in his life. Trying to understand what was happening to him, Herschel bluntly asked Dr. Mungadze, "DOC, AM I CRAZY?"
Herschel Walker had been diagnosed with "DISSOCIATIVE IDENTITY DISORDER (DID) shortly after his playing career ended. To the everyday laymen you may be used to calling this illness "MULTIPLE PERSONALITY DISORDER" and most likely images of the famous movie "SYBIL" starring Sally Field comes to mind. According to the author his personal demon's started forming in the sixth grade as a defense against mean children who constantly taunted him about his being overweight and his stuttering. He was also horribly terrified of the dark and developed a mental "switch" he could flip "to signal the entrance of one of his "alters" (personality) that could calm and reassure him." He eventually needed "alters" as an enforcer, an "alter" as a sentry, an "alter" as a hero, and so on... he now understands that there may have been as many as TWELVE distinct "alters" enabling him to cope with his reality.
"His hope for this book is to educate people about DID. Truth be told, until he was diagnosed with the disorder in 2002, he had never heard of it." What really surprised/shocked/impressed me the most about the author's objectives in this book, is that one of his main goals is to emphasize the positive of this disorder. I will quote the author directly on his illuminating conviction: "What made me different, and what characterized my distinct form of DID, was that for the majority of my life, the alternate personalities that I developed did far more GOOD than harm. That I believe DID can be a powerfully effective tool for some people is likely to be the greatest shock you will encounter in reading this account of my life and role DID played in it. Since there is so much "information" out there about DID that I believe is distorted or inaccurate, I've decided to risk the shame and potential pity my revelation will elicit in order to come forward to reveal the truth about my mental illness."
Herschel, you're worthy of being an ALL-AMERICAN now more than ever!
Great Courage in Revealing Truth April 15, 2008
14 out of 17 found this review helpful
I am very moved by the great courage it took for Herschel Walker to write this book and disclose this deeply personal and difficult aspect of his life. I am also very grateful to him. I hope his brave choice to share this will help validate those of us that struggle with the stigma of DID. His ex-wife should also be commended for her willingness and courage to support him and speak out on the subject. I had a chronically traumatic first 16 years of my life. I've been in therapy for nearly 10 years now trying to heal and help this gift of DID that I was blessed with to survive my childhood; become more functional in adulthood. It's my hope that it will help to remove the stigma and shame attached to DID as well the intense social fear and denial. To be honest, there are moments I wish I still had the luxury and privilege of denying the reality of DID, the very difficult work of healing, and the severe long-term abuse that is usually associated with it causing the mind to fragment in this way. Most of the time though, I am grateful God created within the human mind the ability to cope and survive what the human mind was never intended to endure or suffer---the horrendous, often unthinkable, cruelties of other human beings. I've been encouraged by friends, family, and therapists for the last 10 years to write a book about my life and DID. An article on NFL's website quotes Walker, "I feel the greatest achievement of my life will be to tell the world my truth." I've been feeling exactly the same way for a very long time now. It's my hope that when I'm ready to write my book, the inspiration I feel from his choice will motivate me. Thank you Herschel Walker for your strong, and exceptionally brave spirit.
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