Customer Reviews

Helping Victims of Sexual Abuse

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I appreciated this book for the incite it can give to a skilled helper. It helped me see into the world of someone who has suffered from sexual abuse even though I myslef have never been. The authors did an outstanding job at peering into the images and messages that are acquired as a result of having suffered such an emotionally, and spiritually damaging act as sexual abuse. As a Christain counselor I aprreciate how the authors highlighted the truth of God's Word in setting the tone for true healing. I have used this with one client an have had great success in making them feel understood, and in helping them see hope.

This is an excellent textbook for those going into the counseling ministry. I not only enjoyed the book but gleaned alot of helpful information.

I've had to read more than my fair share of these books in my field of study, and many books have inflated "fear mongering" statistics and a lot of misinformation on the nature of sexual abuse based upon cultural and media bias. This book is opposite. This book very accurately describes abusers as a homogeneous group rather than the trench coat wearing dirty old man image we conjure up when we think of sex offenders. In order to prevent sexual abuse, we must recognize the reality of sexual abuse, not the myths society believes about it. The facts is, most sexual abuse occurs in the home by trusted friends or family members. Not all are pedophiles. There are a variety of reasons why people commit sex crimes. Thankfully this book recognizes this fact, unlike many other books I've read on the subject.

Another good point made by this book is understanding what it REALLY means to "forgive" the offender. It is NOT excusing, not punishing him/ her, or forgetting the pain caused. Forgiveness is about not allowing the past to dictate your life any longer.

Most importantly, recover is a PROCESS, not one single event that instantly transforms you. I think many times we base our faith on those "miracle" stories we see on TV, when the reality is most of us continue to struggle even after we are saved.

This book offers a nine-step recovery process for abuse victims, and the steps address many of the feeling abuse victims endure as a result of the abuse they suffered.

The only things I feel should be addressed in the future if they revise this book again is the impact of sex offender laws in regard to barriers to treatment. The harsh nature of many sex offender laws offer incentives for family members to keep mum about the abuse or risk losing a loved one for life.

this book is very informative and can help those that have a hard time wrapping their brains around the 12 steps to help with their past abuse.

I found this book very helpful in understanding the consequences of childhoold sexual abuse (CSA). I wanted something with a thoroughly biblical perspective. Many books on this subject are either very humanistic and Freudian in their approach. Others that are more biblical in their perspective often give overly simple explanations of the problem, giving pat answers that do not go deep enough to solve the real-world consequences of abuse. The authors of this book provide a balanced perspective that remains true to Christian worldview while honestly addressing the difficulties of this subject and how contributions of psychological research fit into a Christian worldview.

This book helped me to understand that sexual abuse (or physical abuse) at an early age can affect the actual brain development of a child and adolesent causing problems that may require the survivor to re-learn simple things we take for granted like trust. Fear serves as a defensive mechanism during the abuse and releases hormones like ephinephrine that heighten the persons senses to danger, but later works against the survivor by preventing them from getting close to other people and trusting them in natural ways. I especially found the insights on "hyper vigilance" helpful.

I would recommend reading "Learning to Trust Again" by Christa Sands along with this book to get an inside view of sexual abuse from a survivor perspective.