God Is My Architect

Hurley’s debut combines a story of his personal experiences with a “blueprint” of the skills he currently employs on his road to mental health.
Raised on a 500-acre South Dakota family farm with his 15 siblings, Hurley absorbed the work ethic drilled into him by agricultural necessity, church and tradition. In college, however, his personal affairs began to go awry. After law school, he became a hardworking, wealthy California lawyer—his license plate read “PD2WN” (“Paid to Win”)—but he was “blindsided” when his first wife took their child and left. His legal battles began then and intensified after his second marriage, which gave him more children, ended in divorce. Although the author’s subsequent stories of custody fights are a bit self-indulgent, his riveting chronicle of his struggles in New York City on September 11, 2001, during the World Trade Center attack, demonstrates his considerable writing skill (“Emergency lights flashed. Anguished people spilled out of the ferries”). As his chronic insomnia intensified, he was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, and soon his behavior, which included night terrors and depression, led to his being unable to practice law in the State of California. The book’s second half offers helpful advice to people who are fearful of being stigmatized as mentally ill. Hurley nimbly combines biblical teachings with sound cognitive behavioral therapy practices that he learned through research and therapy with a “Dr. S.” Hurley writes, “Cognitive behavioral therapy is not simply the power of positive thinking….Rather, it is the recognition that your thoughts about a situation or event…are being automatically interpreted and distorted in a negative way.” The author outlines seven reasonably detailed skill sets to show the way, which include recognition, reflection, retreat, renewal, recovery, rejoice and reliance. In this book, Hurley effectively argues that “there is no Happy Pill,” but that the brain can be trained to think constructively and positively after negative experiences.
A persuasive guide to living with PTSD that blends autobiography and advice.