To Be Loved

A Story of Truth, Trauma, and Transformation

By: Frank G. Anderson MD

Narrated by: Frank G. Anderson

Rarely does a trauma therapist disclose their own trauma history...yet it's the untold, brutally honest, incredibly heartbreaking story of Dr. Frank Anderson that made him the world-renowned trauma expert he is today.

Known for his magnetic and radiant personality, Frank spends his time training thousands of clinicians around the world on how to help clients with complex trauma make sense of their suffering. But underneath this charismatic exterior are his dark family secrets, including the marks of child abuse from his father and the invisible scars of shame.

In To Be Loved, Frank shares his confusing experience of growing up an outsider in a typical Midwestern Italian American home that was at one turn fiercely loving, but at the same time unaccepting, abusive, and rife with secrets.

After enduring six years of therapy as a child in the 1970s, he was programmed to be something that he wasn't for decades, and became driven to create the perfect life—until it all fell apart.

It was only then that he realized resilience, forgiveness, and facing his trauma were the keys to living an authentic life—and finally knowing what it feels like to be loved.

©2024 Frank G. Anderson (P)2024 Tantor

Masterfully written and narrated.

The message, while not identical, was easy to apply to my life's generational trauma and Cptsd. Im a huge fan of Bessel vanDerkulk The body keeps the score and Richard Schwartz IFS and alignment was unmistakable and beautifully written.

A surprisingly healing story that helps me understandmyself

I started to listen 👂 the audiobook without knowing what to expect. Yet, the level of empathy that ignited in me and the connections with my life were beyond any expectation. This book 📚 helps me understand some of my behaviors and how being successful has been my way to being socially and family-accepted. However, what really fills me up is the sense that everything is going to be better 🌟, not perfect, just be good in the end. It'll require hard work, but it has helped me be conscious of family issues and wounds I hadn't realized until now. Thank you, Frank, for sharing your journey and dragging us empathetically into your life and healing process. Thanks!

A gift to a everyone’s healing journey

Frank is warm, honest and full of love. I couldn’t stop listening!!! I have the outmost gratitude for this gift.

Oh my heart.

Thank you for sharing your journey with us. I see my reflected in it and it helps me to continue my journey into healing and I feel proud of myself.
Thank you again!

Indeed, a great book!

For some reason, the first chapters didn’t sit well with me. I sensed a lack of authenticity and perhaps constriction in the story. I have C-PTSD and somehow I couldn’t relate to this book. I was thinking about not wasting my precious time and return it but I’m thrilled I didn’t.

No spoilers, but a big opening changed everything and made me realize that what I sensed on the previous chapters made sense. From there on, I found the book so relatable and precious. I wonder how those chapters would read if that opening came earlier…

It’s stunning how Frank navigated and negotiated the turmoil with his complicated family dynamics, plus the integration of his personal life and finding his own healing and authenticity.

This story definitely warms my heart and gives me hope, but at the same time it frightens me. Not everyone has the resources and capacity to move through such upbringings. Of course I’m still processing and absorbing parts of this book. For sure, re-listening is a must.

Frank, thanks for shining your light. I too love Frankie.