Black Swan: The Twelve Lessons of Abandonment Recovery: Featuring, the Allegory of the Little Girl on the Rock [Paperback]

Susan Anderson (Author), Marcia Gerardi (Photographer)

Product Details

• Paperback: 112 pages
• Publisher: Rock Foundations Press (1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0967375517
• ISBN-13: 978-0967375519
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.6 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (28 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #69,260 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #72 in Books > Health, Fitness & Dieting > Mental Health > Abuse & Self Defense > Sexual Abuse
  • #79 in Books > Self-Help > Abuse
  • #82 in Books > Parenting & Relationships > Family Relationships > Dysfunctional Relationships

More About the Author

Susan Anderson, CSW, is a psychotherapist who has specialized in helping clients deal with heartbreak, loss and abandonment for more than 25 years. She has led workshops on abandonment recovery, conducts seminars and lectures, and has appeared on radio and television speaking on the related issues of addiction, parenting and abandonment.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Very depressing and Anderson does better elsewhere, November 27, 2007

By 

bjbobbie - See all my reviews

This review is from: Black Swan: The Twelve Lessons of Abandonment Recovery: Featuring, the Allegory of the Little Girl on the Rock (Paperback)

If you want a great guidebook on abandonment recovery, read Anderson's "Journey from Abandonment" (and see my review of it). I found this fable extremely depressing, and some of the hideous self-loathing the little girl goes through may have some psychological validity, but finding her sleeping on piles of rags while enjoying her own excrement crossed a line, of what I am not sure. My experience of being an abandoned child (by a mother with severe emotional problems and a father who was in denial and/or at work most of the time) made me into a superachiever and driven by fears of not being good enough in the eyes of others. I would have never let myself disintegrate the way the little girl did - although it is, yes, an allegory for one's inner self. I didn't identify with that part at all. The fear is the main thing that has sabotaged a good bit of my journey in relationships. Anderson is fabulous in her other work that explains the five stages of abandonment feelings, and also offers wonderful daily exercises that have transformed my life in just a few weeks. Maybe this book just isn't everyone's cup of tea - but I want those who are turned off of it or maybe would not give Anderson's work a chance because of it or some of these reviews - please read her other work. She is amazing.

28 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Story to Illustrate the 12 Lessons, June 28, 2005

By 

Penelope "texaspenelope" (Texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Black Swan: The Twelve Lessons of Abandonment Recovery: Featuring, the Allegory of the Little Girl on the Rock (Paperback)

I was under the impression that this was a book discussing abandonment recovery; however, this is the story of a little girl abandoned in the woods by her father. This story goes through the emotions and feelings this girl experiences in her journey. Although, I did enjoy this story and was able to grasp the concepts the story was illustrating, I was looking for a book more like Susan Anderson's other book on abandonment recovery.

28 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Highly recommended for the non-specialist general reader., April 6, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Black Swan: The Twelve Lessons of Abandonment Recovery: Featuring, the Allegory of the Little Girl on the Rock (Paperback)

Black Swan is designed for readers needing help with abandonment issues from childhood, as well as those currently dealing with love-loss. Susan Anderson uses an allegorical treatment approach to convent her twelve lessons of abandonment recovery developed over twenty years of research, clinical practice, and workshop experience. Black Swan is enhanced for the reader with a preface, postscript and two appendices. Each of the "twelve lessons" is clearly marked within the chapters, as well as outlined in the appendices making them readily accessible for further reflection. Black Swan is highly recommended for the non-specialist general reader struggle to cope with the emotional traumas of abandonment and loss.