Discovering My Scars

Book excerpt: Discovering My Scars is a moving account of a young woman’s struggle with unexplained depression that leads her to cope with self-injury. One dramatic day in her college dorm, self-injury lands her in the surreal world of a psych ward for 74 hours. Those traumatic hours define her life for many years, until she comes to see the trauma through the lens of self-forgiveness, ongoing recovery, and God’s grace of revelation. Within Discovering My Scars, Stephanie Kostopoulos makes herself vulnerable and invites readers into her reality with raw and visceral depictions of non-suicidal self-injury. The journey encapsulates life during her 20’s, while stepping back to childhood, revealing abuse that explains the events of her young adult life. Discovering My Scars commands attention and has a powerful message that lies in Stephanie’s first-person experience and authenticity. It is packed with revelations about what can underlie inexplicable anxiety and depression, and lets readers know it’s okay to “discover your own scars,” through the process of ongoing recovery and forgiveness.