Memory and Abuse: Remembering and Healing the Effects of Trauma [Paperback]

Charles Whitfield (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 1995

Remembering what happened in any traumatic experience is basic and crucial to healing. For over 100 years the memory of abuse survivors has been questioned and challenged by all sorts of people, ranging from perpetrators to family members. More recently, this memory has been challenged by a combination of accused family members, their lawyers and a few academics who claim the existence of a "false memory syndrome."

In this groundbreaking book Charles Whitfield, voted by his peers as being one of the best doctors in America, brings his clinical experience and knowledge about traumatic memory to us. He examines, explores and clarifies this critical issue that threatens to invalidate the experience of survivors of trauma and handcuff the helping professionals who assist them as they heal. This thorough, insightful work provides crucial information for anyone affected by a traumatic experience.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Charles L. Whitfield MD is a pioneer in trauma recovery, including the way we remember childhood and other trauma and abuse. A physician and front line therapist who assists trauma survivors in their healing, he is  the author of fifty published articles and ten best-selling books on trauma psychology and recover.

For over twenty-three years he has taught at Rutgers University's Institute on Alcohol and Drug Studies. He has been a consultant and research collaborator at the CDC since 1998. He has a private practice in Atlanta, Ga, where he provides  individual and group therapy for trauma survivors and people with addictions and other problems in living. 

Product Details

• Paperback: 375 pages
• Publisher: HCI; 1St Edition edition (July 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1558743200
• ISBN-13: 978-1558743205
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #263,706 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Charles L. Whitfield, M.D., is a physician, psychotherapist, and internationally recognized expert on mental illness, behavioral problems, and recovery. He has been on the faculty of the Rutgers University Summer Institute of Alcohol and Drug Studies since 1978, and in private practice of medicine and psychotherapy since 1976. He has been voted by his peers as one of the Best Doctors in America every year since 1994. He lives in Atlanta, GA, and is in private practice with his wife, author and therapist, Barbara Harris Whitfield.

For the most up-to-date information about Dr. Whitfield and his work, please visit:
Barbara-Whitfield.Blogspot.com

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

35 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Scholarly AND compelling, July 13, 2000

By 

J. C. Hemeyer (Muncie IN USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Memory and Abuse: Remembering and Healing the Effects of Trauma (Paperback)

This is a closely-reasoned, scholarly, and somewhat clinical book. Not an "easy read" by any means (it has over 700 reference endnotes!). Well-done charts and lists do help make a great deal of information more manageable. That said, I found it gripping, because he describes my own experience of both trauma and healing so accurately. There is good information on post traumatic stress disorder and its relationship to sexual abuse. He addresses the debate over "false memory syndrome" extensively and, I think, quite well. Throughout, his tone is compassionate and engaged. As both a survivor and one who supports others in their journeys to wholeness, I highly recommend Dr. Whitworth's book for clinicians as well as survivors and those who support us.

42 of 49 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent look at PTSD and exposure of the FMS foundation, April 9, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Memory and Abuse: Remembering and Healing the Effects of Trauma (Paperback)

Charles Whitfield is compassionate toward the survivors of sexual abuse. He addresses the effects of PTSD. He validates the memories of survivors, and blows the lid off the "False Memory Syndrome" which is actually not a valid psychologically substantiated syndrome at all. He also exposes the history of False Memory Syndrome Foundation--a "foundation" that will accept anyone who is accused of committing sexual abuse against a child and was founded by parents who were themselves rightly accused of sexual abuse. Hat's off to Charles Whitfield. He has once again provided help and compassionate insight which will aid in the healing of child sexual abuse survivors.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars False Self/True Self, January 10, 2008

By 

Zadius Sky (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Memory and Abuse: Remembering and Healing the Effects of Trauma (Paperback)

I picked up this book with a keen curiosity, as it came to discuss about the difference between the ordinary memory and the traumatic memory, the causes, and how one can heal those traumatic memories. Whitfield also addresses the issues of the "false memory" syndrome and the claims of FMSF, which was the highlight during the early 1990s, which, by the way, I had never heard of.

On another note, I personally like the part about how author talked about false self and true self where one is experiencing a trauma, a false self becomes created and takes over and the true self goes into hiding (since the true self didn't know how to deal with the trauma in the childhood years).

"Memory and Abuse" by Charles Whitfield is well-written and easy to read. It is also a very interesting book and worth a read, in my opinion.