Product Description

This manual is designed to help survivors of child sexual abuse. It updates the first edition, and investigates all the effects of child sexual abuse, which often persist into adult life - guilt and shame, depression and anxiety, eating disorders, fear of relationships and sexual problems. It includes discussion of false memory syndrome and female abusers, and draws on accounts of survivors who want their voices to be heard, offering a positive and optimistic approach to help survivors break free from the past.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #8871 in Books
• Published on: 2000-04-14
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 310 pages

Customer Reviews

After feeling doomed for 32 years, I am a new person
For my entire life I had felt different to everyone else. I truly believed that I could never be helped and that I was doomed into being insecure, neurotic, jealous, saddened, unstable, out-of-control with my emotions, unable to trust others and unable to trust my behaviour. I felt that "I knew" that there was irrepairable damage to my psychology, and that other people could be helped "but not me, that it had hurt me too much". Over the course of the 2 weeks that I put aside to read this book, I experienced about twenty different revelations about myself and the abuse that I endured. Blimey, it was a rollercoaster ride. This book was a book about my brain and my emotions. And this book was the one that got me about 80 percent of the way to being healed. It opened a floodgate, and at the time it was so incredibly difficult.

The book is absolutely ram-packed not only with explainations as to why the psychology of a sexually-abused person develops in the screwy way that it does, it is also full of other people's personal stories and that helped me not to feel isolated and alone along the journey. Sometimes a persons experience about how they felt during the 'dark times' was so uncannily similar to mine that it made me want to find that person and have them listen to me. This is a gem of a self-help book. Being English, it was also the only book that I could relate to, i.e. the use of language, the cultural references etc.

Five months on from first reading the book, I'm flying. I'm elated. And I'm still getting happier with every single new day.

This book is a must-buy. The book cannot help alone, however, it's the perfect companion whilst you go through essential psychological therapies (cognitive and behavioural). And it'll teach you so much about yourself and how sexual abuse hurt you that save you'll be able to speed up your treatment with a psychologist (therefore saving you a fortune in fees!!).

Excellent book using practical, real life material.
A practical up to date self-help book for survivors of child sexual abuse. It focuses on the findings of the therapists using real life writings of their clients different feelings and situations. This makes it very accessible to the lay person and professional alike. It offers survivors strategies for coping and obtaining support when embarking on breaking free from their past, which can be very upsetting and painful. It also helps anyone who wants to gain more understanding of the issues that face people who have been sexually abused and how to overcome them. An excellent resource book which should be found in every library and book store.

Once And A While
One and a while a book will come along that will change the perception you have for yourself. In this case, my own case, a child of sexual abuse-I was fortunate enough to find several books that have helped me to understand,learn and grow past the abuse. Those books are: "Breaking Free: Help for Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse", "Nightmares Echo" and "Courage To Heal".
If you want your life to change, even if you have not been abused but suspect of someone that may have been-It's time to read these books!