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The Courage to Heal

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The Courage to Heal
File:Courage to heal.jpg
Cover of 2008 20th anniversary re-issue.
AuthorEllen Bass & Laura Davis
PublisherCollins Living
Publication date
1988 (original); 2008 (reissue)
Pages640
ISBN0061284335
OCLC213480084

The Courage to Heal: A Guide for Women Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse (first published in 1988) is an extremely popular book written by Ellen Bass and Laura Davis, aimed at a female audience. The book has been through four editions, the most recent being its 2008 20th anniversary edition. Its purpose is to provide support and recovery techniques to female survivors of childhood sexual abuse.

The book has been criticized for creating false memories of abuse, its authors for being unqualified. Bass and Davis have also been criticized for leaping to unwarranted, implausible conclusions with significant consequences and for scientific errors found in the first edition that were not corrected in subsequent reprintings.[1] It has also been lauded by abuse survivors who have found it helpful.[2]

Authors

The Courage to Heal is written by feminist activists Ellen Bass, a poet and creative writing teacher, and Laura Davis, an incest survivor. Bass and Davis attributed efforts to confront incest and child sexual abuse to the Women's liberation movement.[3] Neither Bass nor Davis have any training in psychotherapy or science, and they state that nothing in the book is based on any psychological theories. They have defended their lack of training with the claim that a PhD is not necessary "to listen carefully and compassionately to another human being"; neither author has ever acknowledged the errors they have made in their descriptions of memory and trauma.[1]

Overview

The 2008 edition is divided into the following sections:

  1. Taking Stock
  2. The Healing Process
  3. Changing Patterns
  4. For Supporters of Survivors
  5. Courageous Women
  6. Resource Guide

The book was written as a response to the authors' frequent encounters with women who were the victims of sexual abuse during their childhood and adolescence, and is predicated on the belief that extreme childhood trauma, of which sexual abuse is one, is spontaneously repressed. The claim is backed up by extensive references to other, more scholarly works.[4] The authors suggest that people experiencing dysfunction in their lives (including a wide-ranging set of problems such as depression, anxiety, alcoholism, drug addiction, dysfunctional relationships, dissociative identity disorder, self-injury and suicidal thoughts) or feel there was something traumatic in their childhood should investigate these feelings; Bass and Davis also present what they believe is a path to healing from the trauma of childhood abuse. The latest edition features language more inclusive of male sexual abuse victims.

The original edition of the book contained an influential chapter discussing satanic ritual abuse (now considered a moral panic) and the discredited autobiography Michelle Remembers. Subsequent editions renamed the phenomenon "sadistic ritual abuse". The 4th edition includes a section called "Strategies for Working With Persistent Doubt," which stresses the importance of not being pressured into inventing false memories.[5]

Critical reception

Bass and Davis have no formal training in psychiatry, psychology or any form of treatment for mental illness, with critics stating that as a result they are not qualified to write such a book.[6] Paul R. McHugh, professor of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University and award-winning researcher in the field of memory describes the book as the "bible of incompetent therapists".[7] A report for the Australian branch of the False Memory Syndrome Foundation (FMSF) found the book was linked to nearly 50% of the cases in which a false allegation of child sexual abuse was made based on recovered memories[8] and a 2005 report by the Health Services Commissioner to the Minister for Health of Australia stated that some respondents from families where there were accusations of child sexual abuse called for the book to be banned, believing the book promotes the practice of recovered memory therapy.[9] Frederick C. Crews has criticized the book for appealing not to women who have always remembered abuse, but rather being aimed at those who struggle to convince themselves they were abused as children in the absence of previously-existing memories, and that the author's claim to promote self-esteem are actually based "on a shattering of their readers' prior sense of identity and trust".[10]

Elizabeth Loftus, an award-winning researcher on memory, stated that the book was certainly very comforting to individuals living with memories of abuse, but questioned the effect it would have on people who do not have such memories, and suggested The Courage to Heal may be one of many sources of false memories for some individuals. Loftus also stated that "All roads on the search for popular writings inevitably lead [the book]".[11]

A 2009 newsletter from the American branch of the FMSF criticizes the 20th anniversary edition, claiming "No book did more to spread false memory syndrome" (though the existence of false memory syndrome, a belief that memories can be created through inappropriate therapy techniques, is itself debated). The book was described as vicious, and filled with factual errors about the FMSF and the nature of memory, though the anniversary edition is described as better, without the outrageous features of earlier publications and that in the new edition, the FMSF is not mentioned in the book's index. The book is still dedicated to recovering memories, and does not warn the reader of the doubts scientists have about its premises. The book still contains a section on satanic ritual abuse, without noting the FBI's report that concluded there was no evidence for the phenomenon.[12]

The Third Edition of the book, published in 1994, offers a whole chapter titled "Honoring the Truth," in which the authors respond to the book’s critics. The FMSF criticized the chapter about their organization as filled with factual errors and written by a man who had no known credentials and no scientific publications in the relevant fields; the discussion of the FMSF was removed from the 20th anniversary edition.[12]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Aronson E; Tavris C (2007). Mistakes were made (but not by me): why we justify foolish beliefs, bad decisions, and hurtful acts. San Diego: Harcourt. pp. 121, 263n40. ISBN 0-15-101098-6.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  2. ^ Amazon.com: Customer Reviews: The Courage to Heal 4e lists reader reviews, most of which are positive. The book has an overall customer rating of four and a half stars out of five.
  3. ^ Showalter E (1997). Hystories: hysterical epidemics and modern media. New York: Columbia University Press. pp. 149–154. ISBN 0-231-10459-6. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
  4. ^ Bass, Ellen; Davis, Laura (2008). "Remembering". The Courage to Heal (4 ed.). HarperCollins. p. 74n.1,2. ISBN 978-0-06-128433-5. {{cite book}}: Check |authorlink1= value (help); Check |authorlink2= value (help); External link in |authorlink1= and |authorlink2= (help)
  5. ^ Bass, Ellen; Davis, Laura (2008). "Believing it Happened". The Courage to Heal (4 ed.). HarperCollins. p. 99. ISBN 978-0-06-128433-5. If you're not certain about what happened, there shouldn't be pressure for you to identify yourself as a survivor prematurely. {{cite book}}: Check |authorlink1= value (help); Check |authorlink2= value (help); External link in |authorlink1= and |authorlink2= (help)
  6. ^ Gibbs, A. "The reality of recovered memories" (PDF). The Skeptic. 17 (2): 21–9.
  7. ^ McHugh PR (2008). Try to Remember: Psychiatry's Clash over Meaning, Memory, and Mind. New York: Dana Press. p. 252. ISBN 1-932594-39-6.
  8. ^ Elson, M (1998). "Accusations of Childhood Sexual Abuse Based on Recovered Memories: A Family Survey". Australian False Memory Syndrome Association. Retrieved 2009-02-16.
  9. ^ "Victoria, Australia Health Services Commissioner: Inquiry into the Practice of Recovered Memory Therapy" (PDF). Australia Health Services Commissioner. 2005.
  10. ^ Crews, FC (1995). "Thanks for the Memories". The New York Review of Books. 42 (3). Retrieved 2009-02-19. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  11. ^ Loftus, E (1993). "The Reality of Repressed Memories". The American Psychologist. 48: 518–537. Retrieved 2009-08-17.
  12. ^ a b Freyd, P (2009). "False Memory Syndrome Foundation Newsletter" (pdf). 18 (1). False Memory Syndrome Foundation. Retrieved 2009-04-21. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
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