Sex, Love, and Violence: Strategies for Transformation [Paperback]

Cloe Madanes (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0393700968 | ISBN-13: 978-0393700961 | Publication Date: May 17, 1990 | Edition: 1

This work proposes a model for choosing the right intervention to solve the problems which are brought to therapy. The emphasis is on how to understand and control the many forms of violence (including incest and sexual abuse) that constitute a primary therapeutic problem of our time.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Cloe Madanes has ventured into the complex arena of working with families where there is violence and sexual abuse. She has developed with elegant simplicity a set of guidelines for helping these families heal. Her work embraces the spiritual dimension that must be a part of the healing process in these families. (Carrell A. Dammann, Ph.D. )

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company; 1 edition (May 17, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393700968
• ISBN-13: 978-0393700961
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #196,306 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Pioneering Work, November 17, 2008

By 

Margaret W. Jones, Ph.D. "From Survivor to Th... (Bristol County, Massachusetts) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sex, Love, and Violence: Strategies for Transformation (Paperback)

Several years ago I attended a seminar at Boston University's School of Social Work. Cloe Madanes work with young sexual offenders was cutting edge. It not only inspired me professionally but, as an abuse survivor, it touched me. When the mother on the video said that no one had ever apologized to her when she had been abused, I choked back my tears. No one had ever told me they were sorry, either.
I shared my experience with the people closest to me and eventually included it in Not My Making: Bullying, Scapegoating and Misconduct in Churches. I finally got around to reading Madanes book this past week.
Madanes has done pioneering work with young sex offenders. I think she correctly approaches abusive behavior from a moral perspective. It isn't just that sexual offenders cannot control their sexual impulses rather that they don't want to. It is a failure of moral development and conscience. Perpetrators do not empathize with their victims and do not recognize their moral obligations to care for and protect individuals weaker themselves.
I was surprise that Madanes did not appear to recognize the importance of religious faith. She refers to religion as decadent and implied it was a counter force to therapy. Given her own therapeutic approach I had expected her to recognize that religion was the source of her own morality and that without it humankind would devolve into primitive and amoral behavior.
Despite her negative comments about religion Madanes' conceptual framework for family interactions are useful. I will certainly apply it in my own work. The core of the book contains clinical vignettes which are an invaluable reference for psychotherapeutic work.