Customer Reviews

At the Side of Torture Survivors: Treating a Terrible Assault on Human Dignity

5 star:		(1)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book was written by the working clinicians of a German outpatient treatment clinic for survivors of torture and similar atrocities. As a result, the chapters are somewhat uneven in depth and breadth, as well as in sophistication. What is not uneven is the selfless caring and patience these professionals all bring to the people with whom they work.

The first two chapters, written by two psychotherapists, are as moving as anything I have read in a very long time, and worth the price of the book; they earned it the five stars all by themselves. They make clear that so much cannot be repaired, and nothing can be undone -- but there are ways to help many people regain their sense of self, their footing in the world -- and that it asks a great deal from those who do the treating.

This book reminded me of the opening minutes of Wim Wender's movie 'Wings of Desire' -- the heart of compassion witnessing the enormous poignancy of man's life on Earth.

If you work with damaged people of any sort, whatever your orientation, you will gain something important from this book.