"Why don’t you come sit on my lap, so you don’t have to crank your neck?"

I didn’t have bruises.

She never left him.

He didn’t actually rape me.

Maybe I wasn’t worth believing.

Maybe it wasn’t that bad.

What if emotional abuse is so hidden that its effects remain unchallenged for decades, masquerading as personal failings?

Believing Me is an emotionally gripping memoir that gives language to the hidden and ineffable nature of childhood trauma and how it can imprint on a person, resulting in fractured self-esteem, addictions, perfectionism, and a string of abusive relationships.

Ingrid Clayton had been in the pursuit of healing for a lifetime including becoming a clinical psychologist and trauma therapist, but she never fully understood what she was healing from. Growing up in a fog of gaslighting made her question her reality. It wasn’t until she sat next to Dr. Bessel van der Kolk (The Body Keeps the Score) as he shared a case study so similar to her life that a seed was planted. “Trauma” might be a word that was personal to her.

When her stepfather died, Ingrid felt a calling to write her story, and these were the truths reflected in her words. By recounting vivid childhood memories, she wrote her way through patterns of lies and denial that had infected her entire family. She came to face the feelings she had minimized for so long.

By reclaiming her story, Ingrid transcended the role of healer into someone becoming healed, showing us what real healing looks like in the process.