Customer Reviews

Smiling Through Tears

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Before I read this book, I was living in hell, not knowing what had happened to my loving daughter. I knew that she was being influenced by an unlicenced praticioner, but I could not find anything written that told me specifically what was going on. This book provides a blueprint of what happened to my daughter and now what has happened to my family. My husband and I are devastated because a woman who had no business providing "therapy" needed to make money and deal with her own issues through her patients. After reading this book I at least feel I am not crazy. I almost have a sense of relief that I can put a name to this madness and that I am not alone in this syndrome. I read something from this book almost every day. It is really helping me cope. The authors know their stuff.

Using cartoons, case histories and critical analysis, the authors argue forcefully against the theory of repressed memories being brought to the surface by therapists. The case histories are descriptions of patients who supposedly "recalled" previously suppressed memories of terrible incidents earlier in life. Most of the "incidents" were extremely serious, allegedly involving sexual molestation, murder, and satanic rituals. It was only through the skills of a therapist that these memories were brought to light and the "guilty" punished.
Unfortunately, this was a line of therapy that yielded very little in the way of positive results. The "memories" generally turned out to be a fabrication, to the eternal shame of the counseling profession. Many of the people who were accused of these horrific crimes had their lives severely damaged, even after they were exonerated. I remember some of these stories as they were circulating through the various rumor channels back in the 1980s. There were stories of parents using their children in satanic worship, being forced to eat feces and even kill other children. Some of those stories appear in the case studies in this book and it is disturbing to read of the actions of some of the "therapists." I still remember reading one such story in a news magazine in the 1980s were a repressed memory therapist defended his actions by saying "The job of a therapist is to support their patient." Of course there was no attempt to justify the tactics where it appeared that the cure being executed by the therapist was far worse than the disease.
It is no accident that these stories vanished once the repressed memory craze faded. It is also unfortunate that the pendulum shifted so far in the direction of disbelieving repressed memories. Now that it has been so discredited, those incidents where they are genuine tend to be dismissed.
This was a disturbing book to read, I commend the authors for writing it and including the cartoons. By using them to lighten the message, it made the book easier to read.

What the propents of regressed memory don't have and proponents of false memory syndrome are asking for is what we believe in this country. It falls within our bill of rights.
Its to face accusers and that the accusers have more than just their "say so". This idea that we haev to err on the side of anything is false. Truth is falling to those that say that people never say these things unless they are true are doing so with NO OTHER COOBERATING evidence.
The attack by another "reviewer" is classic. There is no other physical or witness evidence, and when that is carefully scrutinized these cases go under. Try the Ingrams, the Rutherfords, and many others.
We have made accusations in this country with NO OTHER EVIDENCE and that is against all of our principles.
and for those that want to "err" on any side remember the discussion between Thomas Moore and his son in law about Satan.
The son says he would tear down any law in England to get Satan, and Thomas Moore replies to the effect of where would he then hide after tearing through all the laws that would protect him.
Its time to go back to sanity. I know its frustrating to those that have been hurt by real crime, but REAL crime is being foisted onto the innocent who have never done anything by thie "erring" in anyway.
Have other evidence than "he said she said" or learn to move on in your life.

Skip this pseudoscientific rubbish or, better yet, read it and see the lengths that denial will go to. Ziggy on the cover. This says it all, folks. If you want to read a substantial work on this subject read Betrayal Trauma : The Logic of Forgetting Childhood Abuse by Jennifer J. Freyd. Jennifer being the daughter in this family.

For those interested in the subject of repressed memory and who are looking for a relatively light treatement of a very difficult and painful subject, this is the book. It has all the necessary information, reads easily and can be given to family or friends who want to know more about the topic. The cartoons help make the book more readable.