Customer Reviews

Transforming Trauma: A Guide to Understanding and Treating Adult Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse

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Anna Salter's "Transforming Trauma" is a must-read for survivors, therapists and anyone interested in the field. She starts off with an often overlooked component of the abuser/victim cycle -- getting into the mind and thought pattern of the abuser. It is *essential* to thorougly understand this, for it is only then that the competent therapist can truly help the victim. The abusers are masters of introjecting their sick thought patterns into the victim's mind, and any help at recovery must begin with teasing out that subtle "other voice" -- so subtle, the victim might not even recognize that he/she has heard it ever since the abuse.

Even therapists who have experience in this area would do well to read this book. It goes into some typical pitfalls in which well-meaning therapists-- unwittingly -- fail their clientele. A particularly good section deals with how to help the client move from victim to survivor and beyond -- to thriving person. It is powerful, direct, readable even from a non-clinical point of view.

Some political questions are raised about so-called "false memory" syndrome, statutes of limitations, prison/rehabilitation for perpetrators, and an excellent section regarding apologies from perps--and how they can go wrong.

I can't rate this highly enough. Please, read this book!

I'm not a therapist, just a sexual abuse survivor with access to a university library. This book was both comprehensible and original, and most of all, several of its concepts just clicked with me as the best explanations I'd ever heard for some of my own behaviors. Most notably, her discussion of the sadistic vs. the nonsadistic abuser, and the different effects they leave on their victims' psyches, described my situation better than anything else I'd ever read about abuse survivors (and that's nearly everything in the university library). Fascinating and useful.

I am a physican and mentalhealth professional, and I was found the book to be one of the better books on the subject because, for the first time, brought you into the mind set of the perpetrators AND the victims.

However, the first half of the book, that deals with the perpetrators, was disturbing mainly bc the quotes the various perpetrators. The quote where simply chilling.

I caution anyone reading this book, bc the quote alone could cause vicarious trauma in the reader.

As a survivor, I can tell you that Anna Salter knows what she is talking about. Reading her book was like spending time with a person who is wise, informed, experienced, witty and kind. Even, at times, poetic. When I finished reading, I felt known and respected. Helen Bonner, author of The Laid Daughter (Amazon.com)

Actually of the book I read the last part that is helpful. The first part is full of statistical details. Maybe it is important for professionals (and it really is a book for professionals) but for me not. I read the book as a partner of survivor and the last part really explained a lot to me.

Ms. Salter has a deep understanding of offender therapy as well as survivor therapy. Without understanding the psychology of the offender's distorted cognitions and behavior patterns, it is not possible to succesfully assist the survivor's healing. Specifically because a survivor internalizes the shame, self-loathing messages, and lack of empathy towards the self that rightfully belong to the offender. The book begins with the presentation of what is an offender's background and profile. Do they have personality disorders? Do they suffer from mood disorders? Some of them suffer from those conditions, but many have an outwardly normal looking appearance and behavior to the casual observer. It is their abusive behavior towards their victims and thought cycles used to justify such behaviors that liken them more to alcohol addicts. Then, the author discusses the defenses used by enabling parents and relatives, and survivors. While the other family members use such defenses to protect whatever they perceive as being their sense of security and sanity, the survivors use a number of defenses for protection from painfully intruding traumatic memories and triggers. I was very impressed by the description of a variety of dissociative behaviors that survivors will resort to. Dissociation can hinder comprehension and in some cases, some patients have been known to forget how to read. I also liked the in depth coverage of the confrontation process. Since offenders are very likely to retraumatize survivors, all the necessary precautions are outlined. And finally survivor therapy covers what therapy is and is not; what type of therapist is needed for effective recovery, and therapeutic recommendations that therapist and patient can work on together.

Dr. Salter has written another excellent book. I began reading this book after I read her book entitled, "Predators". Dr. Anna Salter has a unique understanding of the victims because she has taken the time and energy to interview the predators. She has interviewed rapists, murderers, and child molesters who are in prison. The offenders do not even consider what the victim is feeling. They think only of themselves. The victims think of what the person who did this to them might be feeling. They also tend to blame themselves.

Dr. Salter has many years experience treating victims of sexual abuse. She has also attempted to understand the thinking pattern of the predators.

One of the most enlightening thoughts included in this book would be that victims spend the rest of their lives trying to feel safe.

I would recommend this book to anyone who has experienced sexual abuse and to all of the people who counsel sexual abuse victims.

Dr. Salter references many sources for her book. I would estimate that she referenced at least 100 books. I appreciated that she learned from what others had written and chose to share those insights.

"Transforming Trauma" is an excellent read for a couple of reasons. Not only does the book explore how predators (another phenomenal book by Anna C. Salter) operate, but it looks at how predators 'imprint' their destructive reasoning on to their victims. Understanding this 'imprinting' is an essential component in the treatment of survivors of childhood sexual abuse.

This is the best book on the subject of how childhood sexual abuse affects its victims thinking and behaviours that I've ever read. I am a survivor of mother-daughter incest. My mother was a pillar of her community who won awards for her volunteer work. She was also sadistic abuser who took great pleasure in causing pain.

I sought treatment from mental health professionals for my PTSD symptoms for years. Most were not helpful, although some were certainly a sympathetic presence in my life. Many were actually harmful. I worked in human services so I got to see what was going on from both sides of the desk.

The professionals I saw treated me in ways that would have been helpful to the victim of a seductive abuser. They totally missed the boat with me and I often ended up trashed by my "helpers" when they failed to understand what I was trying to tell them about my life. Eventually I found this book, understood the impact of the sadistic abuse I'd endured and was able to at least explain this to my therapist. Finally we were on the right track.

I recommend this book to any therapist, survivor or friend/partner of a survivor--actually, with one out of four women in the US having been molested by the age of 18 (cf. Russell, et al), I would recommend this book to anyone. It will help you to understand the pervasive and long lasting effects of childhood sexual abuse.

Anna Salter is just the BEST at putting complex information into understandable language. A must read for anyone interested in becoming conversant in this subject matter.