Stop Child Abuse Now (SCAN) - 746

Tonight's special guest is Dan Hays from Texas, is a returning NAASCA family member, an abuse and PTSD survivor and author of "Freedom's Just Another Word." Dan was diagnosed with chronic and severe Post Traumatic Stress Disorder from two incidents in his childhood, only remembered when he was an adult. In 1987, as his life was spinning out of control, Dan was trying to put together pieces of his past, to remember some piece of his past that struggled to come to the surface. He was broke, unable to go look for a job, at times suicidal and mystified by it all. After years of struggle with PTSD symptoms, Dan remembered a violent incident with his alcoholic father when he was 17. Dan's book describes the steps he took, out of desperation, to try to make sense of his life. As he revealed old wounds and began to heal them, he was able to embrace the journey toward forgiveness of his father. In 2003 Dan began to remember events when he was eight years old, when his grandmother threatened to have him locked up in an insane asylum if he became a writer. This led to a substantial writer's block and was the second source of his PTSD. Dan is working on his second book, to be entitled "Healing the Writer," which describes his healing process from the abuse by his grandmother, through a number of inner child exercises, therapy and using other healing tools. The book will describe how he has reclaimed his writing gift, and now works as a freelance writer.