Victims of Cruelty: Somatic Psychotherapy in the Healing of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder [Paperback]

Maryanna Eckberg (Author), Peter A. Levine (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 22, 2000

In Victims of Cruelty, Maryanna Eckberg incorporates work with Vietnam veterans (the first to be diagnosed with posttraumatic stress disorder) and the Chowchilla kidnapping victims. This personal testimony of how people can heal after trauma is also a professional book describing the effects of personal and political repression and how we can liberate our bodies and minds from terror.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Dr. Eckberg stresses bodywork and verbal therapy. Her work points to the need to choose from a growing repertoire of possibilities addressing traumatic shock today."
—Michael Eigen, Associate Clinical Professor of Psychology

"Maryanna Eckberg reached with simplicity and effectiveness to the core of every wound. In her work in Spain beginning in 1981, many of us received her healing energy. Some of us have followed her in the psychotherapeutic method linking body and psyche. Psychotherapy showed up living in Maryanna—she was a great master."
—Jesus Landa, psychologist and psychotherapist, Madrid

About the Author

Maryanna Eckberg devoted her career to helping trauma victims and the victims of political torture. She worked for many years in El Salvador with the Commission on Human Rights, and at the Universidad Jose Simeon Canas. Her work during the last years of her life focused on publishing and speaking on somatic and verbal interventions in the treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder. She died in October of 1999.

Product Details

• Paperback: 250 pages
• Publisher: North Atlantic Books (November 22, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1556433530
• ISBN-13: 978-1556433535
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 0.9 x 8.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #963,876 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #72 in Books > Health, Fitness & Dieting > Mental Health > Dissociative Disorders

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

65 of 71 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not for clients of the therapy, May 23, 2001

By 

A. Hawley (PORTLAND, OR USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Victims of Cruelty: Somatic Psychotherapy in the Healing of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (Paperback)

I read "Victims of Cruelty" as both a client and a student of Somatic Experiencing™, at the recommendation of my SE therapist. Eckberg gives some clear and fascinating insights into the value of somatic therapies for sufferers of PTSD, with a particular emphasis on her own specialty, victims of political and other forms of torture. The explicit conclusions she draws are hopeful and uplifting. The implicit conclusion, however, is not.

As a student of the work, I found the book less technical than I would have hoped--it seems aimed at a lay audience, and yet the emphasis on fairly unusual and extreme forms of trauma makes it too specialized for general interest or "self-help." Eckberg mentions but does not elaborate on the specifics of her clinical methods.

As a client of the work, I found the book distressing and even frightening: one of Eckberg's most haunting and memorable client cases, and then Eckberg herself, developed cancer at the successful conclusion of trauma therapy, and both eventually died of it. The book, published after Eckberg's death, seems to say that a natural outgrowth of recovery from a lifetime of PTSD is to find peace and then die. This would NOT be a message I'd want to give clients struggling to recover from trauma.

"Victims of Cruelty," therefore, stands as an interesting narrative of one woman's journey as a trauma victim and a healer, but failed to teach me much as a healer and actually detracted from my work as a client.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the Two Best PTSD Books I Ever Read!, April 10, 2006

By 

Sunshine Rain - See all my reviews

This review is from: Victims of Cruelty: Somatic Psychotherapy in the Healing of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (Paperback)

I have a vast collection of PTSD books on my shelves and I have to say this is one of the two best books on PTSD I have ever read. (The other one is Rebuilding Shattered Lives: The Responsible Treatment of Complex Post-Traumatic and Dissociative Disorders, by James A. Chu). Maryanna's story is the closest I have ever come to reading my own story! I related to so much of it that I underlined or highlighted more than half of her story. It was incredibly validating to find out that someone else had experienced the same things as me, including all of the dissociation. And it was inspiring to hear that she had found ways to recover. I highly recommend this book to anyone who has endured severe trauma and wonders if anyone else has ever experienced anything close to what they have experienced. You just might find yourself relating to her story, too!

10 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars great book, highly recommended, February 12, 2005

By 

wilheminasmith (panamacity) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Victims of Cruelty: Somatic Psychotherapy in the Healing of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (Paperback)

This is the best book on PTSD I have read.
I found the spiritual and psychological insights uplifting. It is a powerful read.
As the previous critic stated, it is not a "technical" book with exact somatic therapy techniques listed.
I did not find it extremely upsetting that the Author and one of her most important clients had passed away, death is an inevitable part of life.
Although I appreciated how the Author explained her own experience of recovery -- this was at first overwhelming to me. It took longer to integrate thisfor me.

For This reason I would not necessarily recommend it to a recovering client of PTSD.

However, I think the examples she used to demonstrate her experience with clients were fine because although you might not relate to their exact situation this is helpful to distance yourself yet still be conscious of how tragedy can strike anyone.