Customer Reviews

Memory, Trauma Treatment, and the Law (Norton Professional Books)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book is the Bible for all those who are interested in the most scientific and thorough understanding of the treatment of trauma survivors, the current understanding of how memory functions and the law as related to both therapists and patients. The authors had to spend several chapters undoing the misinformation that has been prominent during the last few years both in the popular press and in books without scientific merit. These books that have misinformed the general public and professionals are now corrected by this book. It deserves the award it has been given and more. It is a must read for all professionals, patients, lawyers and journalists who wish to honestly write about these areas of the field of psychology.

Brown, et al, have produced a book reviewing the state of the art regarding memory, trauma and treatment that is unbiased and complete as I have seen. Their views are supported by the research and thoroughly scientific. Lawyers, judges, and especially clinicians will benefit from the clear rendering of standards of care and methods of trauma treatment. This book suggests treatment protocols that will reduce the liklihood of "false-memory" litigation and increase the frequency of positive treatment outcome.

Invaluble as a one-stop text for clinicians seeking to understand the dynamics of memory in and out of the therapuetic arena. Useful as a reference for researchers, attourneys and judges. Memory research, Trauma Treatment and legal cases pertaining to the false memory controversy and current memory science are all critically reviewed. The authors cover issues in the recovered memory debate, as well as research on the emotion and memory, flashback memory, autobiographical memory, and memory for trauma. Memory recovery through hypnosis is discussed along with current practice of phase oriented trauma treatment. This book is an invaluble reference.

This book recently won another Guttmacher award! Alan Scheflin, a law professor at Santa Clara University, co-authors another thought-provoking and informative work. Well worth the price.

This award winning APA book is a remarkable and notable contribution to the literature addressing impact of traumatic
exposure in memory and culture, specific to the legal arena. Brown, Hammond, and Sheflin have researched and synthesized considerable information about clinical practice, theoretical
and research perspectives on approaches to trauma treatment,
and adjudication of related disputes and damages in the
courts. A must for anyone - clinician, lawyer, judge,
client, clinical instructor, educator, law enforcement
professional, and others who find themselves involved in
these issues.

This is a magnificent work, skillfully combining research, case review and practical guidelines for clinicians who are practicing in the complex field of trauma recovery. It is both an essential core reference work and a key guide to negotiating the thorny interaction of psychology practice and the law. My highest recommendation.

This book really should be the final word on the "debate" about whether, and the degree to which, traumatic memories can be repressed. The authors thoroughly and rigorously examine the scientific evidence showing that traumatic memories are indeed often forgotten. They also show, at great length, the many logical holes in the arguments of many of the proponents of the so-called "false memory" position.

Yet the book's great strength--its thoroughness--is also its weakness. Presumably because so much of this so-called debate so clearly disregards scientific evidence, the authors go to exhaustive lengths to show the scientific evidence for amnesia of these memories. That's a wonderful and important thing to do. But it also doesn't always make for the most exciting reading. Thus the one-star reduction: in their desire to make sure that every angle is covered from any possible attack, the authors end up repeating themselves a fair amount. The book (weighing in at more than 650 pages of text) could probably have been cut to about 450 pages without losing anything. Then it would certainly have been a five star book.

This book presents a well rounded and unbiased review of the subject. It is easy to understand, especially for such a scholarly and comprehensive text. My only complaint, is that dissociative syndromes were not included.

I eagerly awaited the arrival of this book, hoping for a definitive overview of Trauma Therapy within the law. In fact, much to my surprise, and happiness, I may add, when I received said book, my expections increased. With the first chapter, however, I questioned the actual agenda of the book. As I read chapter after chapter, the agenda was clearly impressed upon my mind. This was not an unbiased study of Trauma Treatment within the law. This was an uninterrupted argument against the need to hold the Therapeutic community personally responsible for their actions. It was a legal argument of the courtroom drama presenting a single sided view of the 'Memory Debate'. Example after example of mal practice litigations that won settlements were presented, and then discounted. Example after example of 'Trauma Treatment' cases were given to prove the efficacy of said treatment. I may have been more convinced of the arguements presented, had they left out words such as 'rediculous' and the like. Chapter 15 (Suing Therapists) contains a statement in its first paragraph that is the crux of this matter. "Lawsuits againt mental healers have been extraordinarily rare". Therapist have enjoyed freedom from accountability for years. This book is a response to the threat to that freedom. Writing a book that represents both sides is a tough one indeed, as is clearly proven by this book.