Customer Reviews

Opening The Door: A Treatment Model For Therapy With Male Survivors Of Sexual Abuse

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This book is a great handbook for clinicians who are working with male survivors of sexual abuse. It is a rare find, which addresses issues specifically for a male survivor population. The approach is an trans-theoretical one, which focuses on techniques to implement at the different stages of therapy. It is easy to read and to follow. There are even parts of the book which I have shared with my patients for psychoeducational purposes. A must for people working in this field!

First, I feel I must be clear so as not to mislead anyone. I am not male, nor have I ever suffered the particular pain of sexual or physical abuse. My interest in this book was chiefly as research for my writing. That said, I did read the full body of the text. As a reader and writer whose interest is not professional but rather more personal, for research, I have found this book surprisingly accessible. There are too few books out there covering the topic of male victimization, and the particular problems it can present in therapy.

The text is organized in such a way that I was able to find what I was looking for quickly and easily. It is smoothly written, so that a person not familiar with most medical jargon will not be lost. It presents an analysis of the therapeutic approach, breaking down recovery into four frequently overlapping stages, and includes helpful discussion of various techniques a therapist may employ. As a person who has been through therapy on the receiving end, it was fascinating to read more about the treatment aspect of things.

As to whether this book would be helpful for practicing therapists, I'm not really qualified to say. The list of resources at the back, and the examples of various assessment tools and exercises for clients, were extensive. I personally would have liked to read more in depth about the specific techniques, but I suspect that could just as easily be due to my own lack of training and expertise in this field.

I found this book helpful in some ways to my own therapeutic process, from the standpoint that I can better understand some of the specific purposes and goals my counselor has had for me, but of which I wasn't clearly conscious. It may also be helpful for a person who is dealing with loved ones who don't understand the therapeutic process; the book will definitely give you some concrete vocabulary to better express, in general terms, what you're trying to do in therapy.

In my (untrained) opinion, I feel the book gives a good overview of the topic, covering most populations in enough depth that at the very least, it is a starting point. I'm not sure how much use this text would be to someone who'd been working with these populations for a long time, but for somebody just starting out, or for the therapist looking for resources, this is a book to take a look at.

I feel 'Opening The Door: A Treatment Model for Therapy With Male Survivors Of Sexual Abuse' might very well be a groundbreaking book marked down as such by history, and one that society absolutely needs if it is to ever recover from the multifaceted bane of childhood sexual abuse.

In my opinion, this book is:
-- For all the men in the world who have gone unnoticed or flat-out ignored: now there is hope for real help from the community of health professionals who are willing to learn about this often misunderstood subject. Untold scores of men have found great help, support and hope from Victims No Longer: The Classic Guide for Men Recovering from Sexual Child Abuse. But society must also change it's ways in regard to this very real and very damaging epidemic. When the sexual abuse of a child is that toward a male child, rather than a female child, it is NOT a reason for denying the real harm it causes. Until we understand this, our society will continue to be besieged by the endless cost of treating adult survivors of child sexual abuse of both genders as well as the incarceration of adult men who were abused sexually as children. These men often do not 'appear' as though they were somehow 'weak' enough to become victims. Many of these men have never passed on the abuse themselves, but have enormous anger issues. And no wonder. Had women still been denied the understanding of society in these same exact areas, the Women's Movement might possibly now be termed the Women's War! Think about it. These men have a lot to be angry about, beyond the righteous and justified anger over the very real fact of their trauma. They have been ignored, made fun of, and simply and deeply misunderstood by the majority of society. What's worse, they most likely do not understand themselves. They cannot, until someone helps them as so many millions of women have been helped: to heal from the wounds of childhood sexual abuse.

They also cannot hope to recover fully until they have society's understanding and compassion. Therefore, this book should be something that both survivors and significant others of survivors read.

-- For all the women in the world who have been confused by the behavior of significant men in their lives, and even once they have identified the past cause, are still at a loss as to how to be of any real help.

'Opening The Door: A Treatment Model for Therapy With Male Survivors Of Sexual Abuse' is a book written for professionals in the psychiatric and psychology fields of health care, so it is not written specifically for non-professionals.

What I do know from my own personal experience is that with the necessary motivation and a dictionary nearby, I have been able to read and comprehend for the most part, extremely technical books in the psychiatric/psychology fields of medicine. Frankly, even for a college student, this type of text is a 'tough read'. However, motivation is nine-tenths of the 'law' when it comes to reading ability.*

My guess is that many people with childhood sexual abuse in their background who have been desperate for any support, any understanding, and more importantly, any real help with the issues of male childhood sexual abuse will find this book to be of great comfort and hope. It has been my experience that even those being treated for this, when properly motivated, can glean much useful information that can expedite their own healing path from such books.

I would also add, not as a footnote, but as perhaps the most important part of the body of what I'm trying to say here, is that any professional in the field of mental health treatment who is willing to read and follow this book will instantly triple their practice at the very least.

'Opening The Door: A Treatment Model for Therapy With Male Survivors Of Sexual Abuse' is definitely on my Wish List. (If it is no longer on my Wish List, I am, at that point, the owner of this book. As such, I doubt I will need to change anything I've written in this review. That's a big gamble, but one I am willing to take considering the intelligence and usefulness of 'Opening The Door: A Treatment Model for Therapy With Male Survivors Of Sexual Abuse')





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* In regard to "motivation is nine-tenths of the 'law' when it comes to reading ability": I know that because I used to be 6 1/2 grade levels too low for my age in reading comprehension and retention. Those days changed when my librarian supervisor, Ruth May, told me to choose five books to take home and read, increasing reading difficulty of my choices as I became proficient enough to want to read them. Though I thought she was a bit crazy at the time, I thankfully followed her advice, and within 18 months I had jumped 6 1/2 grade levels in reading aptitude. It wasn't speed reading, and it wasn't a trick. It was simply the act of making all my reading material only what I wished to read.