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The Courage to Heal: A Guide for Women Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse by Laura Davis, Ellen Bass
lydiastorytime's review against another edition
5.0
A wonderful guide to healing. I'm sure I'll revisit this book. I had to skip some of the end because of the stories were triggering.
Its a looong book but well WORTH IT. Love love loved this book. It shows a wide range of experiences and covers so many facets of the journey to healing.
Its a looong book but well WORTH IT. Love love loved this book. It shows a wide range of experiences and covers so many facets of the journey to healing.
audryt's review against another edition
1.0
There are many reviews and articles that explain the myriad concerns about how "Courage to Heal" handles its material. Below is a link to a recent one, for starters. It's also worth reading the comments underneath. FYI, the version I read was the first edition from the 90s.
http://www.healthyplace.com/blogs/dissociativeliving/2011/03/why-the-courage-to-heal-isnt-on-my-recommended-reading-list/
I want to encourage any of you who pick up this book to research its checkered past yourself, and not just depend on the opinion of one stranger, whether mine or that in a single review, to understand what the problems with this book are (or were in the edition I read). Fire up google and start searching for the book's title and "complaints" or "retractions" or "false memories" and so on. There's a mix of level-headed, genuine concerns, alongside some overly hostile 90s reviews that, IMO, don't actually focus on the problems of the book, but instead lash out at the changes that our culture was going through in the 90s due to women finally taking a stand for themselves and admitting openly to having been abused. There were men at the time who could not cope with the loss of authority in the arena of psychology, and let that marr any legitimate points they might have made about the book's content and the fact that the authors were not actually qualified therapists themselves. You can learn a lot about the history of psychology in this country, and the complexities of remembering and overcoming abuse, just by doing research on the reactions to this book over the past twenty years.
In my case, I read this book independently at the start of studying psych in college. It got passed around my family and friends thanks to my mentioning it, and I watched in shock as a majority of them spontaneously decided, after reading the book, that someone must have abused them as a child. These were reasonably healthy, centered folks who had never thought such things before they read this book, and their personal issues were far, far different than those of individuals I knew who had vivid and documentable memories of being abused. The contrast between their bizarre out-of-the-blue reactions and the documented suffering of long-known victims was so stark, and the oddness of it so noteworthy, that I later did research on this book (once the internet began to have actual content to research on it -- this was a long time ago) and discovered there were other people who had stories about reading the book, pointing accusing fingers at random male relatives and friends, and then slowly realizing that they had never actually been abused by those males, but that the book had worked them up into a hysterical lather that turned the simple and understandable *fear* of abuse into a false belief of *actual* abuse. I've seen people have normal, healthy relationships damaged thanks to the way the book handles its subject matter, which is very frustrating, since creating imaginary victims negates the genuine pain that real victims go through, along with creating unnecessary pain for people who have not actually suffered that pain.
There are horribly abused individuals who have said this book was useful to them. I can't vouch for this, but assume if you really do have a dark history to cope with, there's definite value to this book. But whatever that value is can likely be found in other, less strident books, and especially found with the aid of a competent, qualified therapist, who will do more for most individuals than a whole raft of self-help books ever could.
On top of which, you will know whether or not a therapist has the actual credetials to say what they are saying going in. Credentials are not required to publish a book, no matter how serious the subject matter.
http://www.healthyplace.com/blogs/dissociativeliving/2011/03/why-the-courage-to-heal-isnt-on-my-recommended-reading-list/
I want to encourage any of you who pick up this book to research its checkered past yourself, and not just depend on the opinion of one stranger, whether mine or that in a single review, to understand what the problems with this book are (or were in the edition I read). Fire up google and start searching for the book's title and "complaints" or "retractions" or "false memories" and so on. There's a mix of level-headed, genuine concerns, alongside some overly hostile 90s reviews that, IMO, don't actually focus on the problems of the book, but instead lash out at the changes that our culture was going through in the 90s due to women finally taking a stand for themselves and admitting openly to having been abused. There were men at the time who could not cope with the loss of authority in the arena of psychology, and let that marr any legitimate points they might have made about the book's content and the fact that the authors were not actually qualified therapists themselves. You can learn a lot about the history of psychology in this country, and the complexities of remembering and overcoming abuse, just by doing research on the reactions to this book over the past twenty years.
In my case, I read this book independently at the start of studying psych in college. It got passed around my family and friends thanks to my mentioning it, and I watched in shock as a majority of them spontaneously decided, after reading the book, that someone must have abused them as a child. These were reasonably healthy, centered folks who had never thought such things before they read this book, and their personal issues were far, far different than those of individuals I knew who had vivid and documentable memories of being abused. The contrast between their bizarre out-of-the-blue reactions and the documented suffering of long-known victims was so stark, and the oddness of it so noteworthy, that I later did research on this book (once the internet began to have actual content to research on it -- this was a long time ago) and discovered there were other people who had stories about reading the book, pointing accusing fingers at random male relatives and friends, and then slowly realizing that they had never actually been abused by those males, but that the book had worked them up into a hysterical lather that turned the simple and understandable *fear* of abuse into a false belief of *actual* abuse. I've seen people have normal, healthy relationships damaged thanks to the way the book handles its subject matter, which is very frustrating, since creating imaginary victims negates the genuine pain that real victims go through, along with creating unnecessary pain for people who have not actually suffered that pain.
There are horribly abused individuals who have said this book was useful to them. I can't vouch for this, but assume if you really do have a dark history to cope with, there's definite value to this book. But whatever that value is can likely be found in other, less strident books, and especially found with the aid of a competent, qualified therapist, who will do more for most individuals than a whole raft of self-help books ever could.
On top of which, you will know whether or not a therapist has the actual credetials to say what they are saying going in. Credentials are not required to publish a book, no matter how serious the subject matter.
darbyart's review against another edition
5.0
This is a great resource for any survivor of sexual abuse - not just children but adults, boys and men too.
tammywaggs's review against another edition
4.0
This is a good book for any survivor of abuse. My only issue with it is that it is highly psychological. I was searching for a book to use for a group of abused women and it was the best that I found. I wish that it didn't leave the church with a bad taste in their mouths. I wish that they would have collaborated with another woman was in a church tradition and I would have loved to see what God added to the psychological spin of their healing. God is the healer, so wouldn't it be interesting to have God and psychology on the same side instead of opposite sides?
Besides the blatant "God is bad" ideals, I found this book to be helpful and would definitely recommend it for anyone who is looking to heal from sexual abuse.
Besides the blatant "God is bad" ideals, I found this book to be helpful and would definitely recommend it for anyone who is looking to heal from sexual abuse.
sweil05's review against another edition
5.0
An incredible resource to use when counseling clients who have been sexually abused.
smileyriley's review against another edition
5.0
A great comprehensive book written from a holistic and inclusive approach. Though predominantly written for female survivors of child sexual abuse, any survivor could find solace and hope in these words.