All This Healing is Killing Me

At age 20, Gabrielle Pelicci returned from her modeling career in NYC to her hometown of Scranton, PA where her mother suddenly passed away. At her mother’s funeral, Gabrielle had a spiritual experience that left her reeling and set her on a heroine’s journey to learn about both the scientific and mystical explanations of human consciousness. Gabrielle studied a dozen healing practices, from alternative medicine to yoga, including travel immersions in Europe, Asia, and Africa. Over the next 10 years, her complex PTSD symptoms persisted. Little by little, Gabrielle’s childhood experiences of domestic violence, and her parents’ mental illnesses and addictions are revealed. At age 30, still grieving the loss of her mother and disgusted with the fact that she can’t overcome her anxiety and depression, Gabrielle attempted to take her own life. Luckily, she survived and continued her journey of healing and trauma recovery, earning a Ph.D. and becoming a professor of Holistic Medicine, with a dissertation on Women Healers. In this deeply personal and vulnerable account, Gabrielle reveals how childhood trauma impacts our physical and mental health — as well as our adult relationships. She explores how you are only as sick as your secrets and telling your story is the medicine that can save your life. All This Healing is Killing Me is a brave narrative that reckons with the hold of the past over the present, the mind over the body and celebrates one woman’s ability to write herself a happy ending.