ABSTRACT

The author, working from the Family Institute in Cardiff, has been treating adult survivors of child sexual and physical abuse for several years, and she has clearly and frankly described her work in this book. She begins be describing the context for working with her clients; then describes the way she has welded systemic thinking and a feminist perspective into a theoretical model she uses to understand the problem and to guide her own work with the survivors. The descriptions of the therapeutic process are, at the same time, profound and simply conveyed. Her work is further clarified by the inclusion of twenty case examples. She shares her own dilemmas about working with adult survivors, and in this way the book offers the reader support for the emotional impact of this work as well as a theoretical framework and suggestions about therapeutic technique.

part One|23 pages

Setting the Context

chapter One|11 pages

Background

chapter Two|10 pages

Feminism and family therapy

part Two|46 pages

Guidelines

chapter Three|3 pages

Hearing the relevant account

chapter Four|3 pages

The question of blame and responsibility

chapter Five|12 pages

The relationship with the abuser

chapter Six|8 pages

The relationship with the "protector"

chapter Seven|18 pages

The wider system

part Three|14 pages

Some Questions and Dilemmas

chapter Eight|5 pages

Dilemmas

chapter Nine|7 pages

Questions