Recovering from Sexual Abuse, Addictions, and Compulsive Behaviors: "Numb" Survivors [Paperback]

Carlton Munson (Author), Sandra L. Knauer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 8, 2002 | ISBN-10: 0789014580 | ISBN-13: 978-0789014580 | Edition: 1

Explore the connection between sexual victimization, addiction, and compulsive behaviors!

This book demonstrates clearly what lengths survivors of sexual abuse will go to in attempting to avoid dealing with the pain resulting from their sexual abuse. Anyone who has been sexually abused is likely to have one of the addictions or compulsive behaviors described herein. The information in Recovering from Sexual Abuse, Addictions, and Compulsive Behaviors regarding codependency is especially useful to survivors of sexual abuse who now find themselves in abusive relationships.

Survivors of abuse who have gone without treatment sometimes become either sexual perpetrators or sexual addicts and may experience many different types of psychological dysfunction. Recovering from Sexual Abuse, Addictions, and Compulsive Behaviors examines issues that survivors often have regarding:

• trust and friendship
• sexuality and sexual addiction
• marriage and family
• religious addiction as opposed to spirituality
• alcohol and substance abuse
• workaholism
• weight issues and eating disorders
• violence as the result of shame, fear, and depression caused by abuse

Recovering from Sexual Abuse, Addictions, and Compulsive Behaviors is more than a litany of the problems that survivors face. This valuable work will show you:

• HOW the survivor came to employ addictive or compulsive behaviors
• WHY the survivor continues to employ these self-abusive behaviors despite the pain caused by the addiction
• WHAT the survivor needs to do to aid recovery
• WHERE the survivor can turn to obtain the help that is needed to recover from addictive or compulsive behaviors

With its complete bibliography and up-to-date information on sexual abuse, addictions, and compulsive behaviors, Recovering from Sexual Abuse, Addictions, and Compulsive Behaviors will show you the full course of sexual abuse and its aftermath, bringing you from the beginnings of sexual abuse through the steps that lead to addiction and compulsion, and ultimately, recovery.

Product Details

• Paperback: 398 pages
• Publisher: Routledge; 1 edition (February 8, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0789014580
• ISBN-13: 978-0789014580
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,721,619 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A comprehensive resource for connecting compulsive behavior to abuse, November 18, 2007

By 

Jon Person (Denver, CO, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Recovering from Sexual Abuse, Addictions, and Compulsive Behaviors: "Numb" Survivors (Hardcover)

As a survivor of abuse as a very young child, it was very difficult for me to connect my own destructive, compulsive behavior to abuse. By researching the stories of many other survivors in this book I've been able to piece together what most likely happened. Survivors should be prepared for some potentially triggering content while reading, but it's still a good resource. Topics from eating disorders to alcohol and drugs are covered, and I'm starting to "get it" that all escape behaviors can be tied to childhood abuse, neglect, or shame of some kind.

The three-star rating would have been more if the content were not so triggering, and because my own recovery draws more from authors such as Patrick Carnes and John Bradshaw. Yet, for prepared survivors, and perhaps even more so for therapists, this is a good book to understand the wide variety of negative repercussions which result from abuse.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent!, July 16, 2006

By 

Anayat "57 HAT" (Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Recovering from Sexual Abuse, Addictions, and Compulsive Behaviors: "Numb" Survivors (Hardcover)

This book was the first one I found which discussed the affects of child sexual abuse it has on us as adults. This was an excellent book in making me understand better why I do what I do and joining the dots for me.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Most helpful book I've read, May 4, 2010

By 

M. Taylor (East Coast, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Recovering from Sexual Abuse, Addictions, and Compulsive Behaviors: "Numb" Survivors (Hardcover)

This is a very insightful book which I fully intend to read again and keep as a reference. This book is for those abused who are ready to explore the inner needs which drive us to utilize useless and/or harmful coping mechanisms without knowing why. It is also for those who love us and need to develop patience through understanding. Having been the recipient of physical, emotional, & verbal abuse for much of my life, initially from the very people who were supposed to love & nurture me (and later from the broken record of their hateful words in my head), it was very interesting to see myself in each and every chapter. I saw my withdrawn & untrusting nature within these pages. I can better understand now my tendency to alternate between long periods of "numbness", when no one can penetrate my thick emotional armor, and those unwelcome periods of extreme emotional fragility when I must retreat to my "cave" in order to survive the pain. It gives me strength to understand that my reactions are normal given what I have been through. Also, through her apt descriptions of addictions and compulsions, which I had never thought applied to me, I better understand now my compulsive bird/mouse-like behavior of actively seeking and collecting "pretty/shiny things" as if they will somehow fill or repair the empty holes in my life. They don't. They only put holes in my bank account and clutter up my home. While reading her book, I found it helpful to replace "sexual abuse" with "abuse" in general, as the majority of the abuse I experienced was not sexual in nature (though not completely void of it). In doing so, I found that the majority of her insights clearly apply to my experiences, too. I imagine there are many others who would benefit from reading this book, as long as they don't give in to the easy temptation to say, "This book is not for me as I wasn't sexually abused." All labels aside, abuse is abuse, and rare is the adult who doesn't still have a little child inside who is hurting.