The
Courage to Heal: A Guide for Women Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse
by Ellen Bass (Preface), Laura
Davis (Preface)
There are some people who have been abused sexually
and physically as children, and who have partially or totally blocked the
memories from view. The problem is that these are far fewer than the modern
psycho-babblers would have us believe. This book, which is the bible of
the repressed-memory movement, informs readers that if you feel you've
been abused, even if you don't remember the abuse, you probably have. This
is not at all true. Until lately, it was politically correct to believe
the abused, never the accused. There is some validity to this book, but
the "technology" of modern psychology is so varied and flawed that whatever
results are obtained are highly questionable. Basing personal and family
decisions, and legal actions upon the findings of psychotherapists doing
"repressed-memory" work is ludicrous considering the horrendous state of
the field's methodology.
Reviews
From The WomanSource Catalog & Review:
Tools for Connecting the Community for Women; review by Patricia Pettijohn,
February 1, 1997
The classic and definitive self-help guide
for women survivors of sexual abuse, The Courage To Heal is a tool
for recovery that works. This is also the book often cited by those who
challenge the credibility of incest survivors. Some survivors of childhood
abuse recover memories of these traumatic early experiences years after
the original events, and it is these recovered memories that are said to
be false memories, implanted in the allegedly impressionable minds of survivors.
I was curious to see how this revised and expanded third edition would
differ from the much maligned first. In addition to an Afterword that carefully
analyzes and refutes the false memory syndrome argument, the authors have
made revisions throughout the book which offer guidelines for assessing
confusing memories. The authors' commitment to survivors is clear throughout
the book, beginning with the book's endorsements, which come not from therapists,
but from anonymous survivors. This is a comprehensive, supportive, carefully
worded and often passionate book, as helpful for those who are the partners,
friends or family of survivors, as for survivors themselves.
Synopsis
A new edition of the classic best-selling
guide that has inspired millions of women survivors of child sexual abuse
and helped them down the road to recovery. Bass and Davis respond to the
critics who suggest "false memory," and they update the Resource Guide
as well.
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