Book Review: Whole Again by Jackson MacKenzie

Rating: 4 stars of 5

I normally shy away from psychology-type books that aren’t written by licensed professionals. I’m fairly certain the author of this book is not one, but he does seem psychologically informed, and I found the book both compelling and helpful.

The concept of the protective self was one that resonated with me, and I found the practice of envisioning a connection to a source of endless, unconditional love transformative and healing.

I think this book would be helpful for anyone who has endured emotional abuse or been in a relationship with someone who has a cluster-B personality disorder. It can help you work through how such relationships can affect you and what you can do to both protect yourself from harm and heal if you have suffered.

I also think it could be helpful for people who have come out of high control religious environments and are rethinking some of the things they were taught to believe. Some of the things I found thought-provoking about the book were the author’s descriptions of toxic shame, dualistic thinking, and codependency. Though he wasn’t speaking about them in the context of religion, it was interesting to connect what he was saying about each of them with what I know about the language that is used in high control religious environments to control and manipulate people. Seeing how abusive that kind of dynamic is in religious and relational contexts had me thinking about how any theologies that rely on them can be neither healthy or authentic.

There are a couple of things in the book that I didn’t agree with or think were sound, but overall, I would recommend it for most readers with the caution that his approach can be a bit reductionistic or overly prescriptive for those who deal with clinical depression or anxiety and for those who are walking through grief. Seek additional support if you are dealing with any of those things.

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