The Courage to Heal : A Guide for Women Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse - Softcover

Bass, Ellen; Davis, Laura

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0749309385 ISBN 13: 9780749309381

Publisher: Cedar, 1991

Synopsis

Drawing on the authors' personal experience and professional knowledge, this book is aimed at women who have been victims of sexual abuse as children. It offers advice on coming to terms with the past while moving positively into the future, and provides an explanation of the healing process, first-person accounts of recovery, and practical suggestions derived from the authors' work with hundreds of survivors. The book also contains insights and strategies for partners and counsellors of survivors, and a resource section which includes useful addresses and further reading.

About this title

About the Author:

A pioneer in the field of healing from child sexual abuse, Ellen Bass currently teaches in the MFA program at Pacific University in Oregon. Her poetry books include Mules of Love and The Human Line.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.:

If you don't feel respected, valued, or understood, or if your experience is being minimized or distorted, that's a sign that you're in bad therapy, or at least that there's a bad fit between you and the counselor. If you feel there is something wrong in the therapy relationship, or if you get upset or angry with your counselor, talk about it in your session. Afterward, you should feel you've been heard and understood. However, if your counselor discounts your feelings or responds defensively, then you're not getting the respect you need. Look elsewhere.

If you feel your therapist is pressuring you to say you were abused, you're seeing the wrong therapist. No one else can tell you whether or not you were abused.

About this edition

• Publisher: Cedar
• Publication date: 1991
• ISBN 10: 0749309385
• ISBN 13: 9780749309381
• Binding: Paperback