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

By Anna C. Salter and Anna C Salter

Book Overview

A scholar and clinician of great courage, wisdom, and empathy, Anna C. Salter has written an outstanding book. Pulling together diverse research and theory, she challenges unexamined assumptions and routine interventions. She has created a thoughtful, practical guide that deserves to be on every clinician′s bookshelf. --Ken Pope, Ph.D., ABPP, Private Practice, Los Angeles, and author of Sexual Involvement with Therapists "Highly recommended. Contents include sadistic versus nonsadistic offenders; effects of child sexual abuse; victim thinking, links between offender and victim apology, and forgiveness managing chronic pain." --Family Violence & Sexual Assault Bulletin Book Club How does trauma affect the worldview of victims? What are the steps of therapy for adult survivors? How do sadistic and nonsadistic sex offenders think differently, and what are the different footprints they leave on the psyche of survivors? And how can trauma be transformed, not just endured? If you′re working with adult survivors of child sexual abuse and child sex offenders, these are some of the questions that you must address. Anna C. Salter extends the way in which victimology is construed in this milestone volume, using clinical illustrations as well as an empathetic approach. At the same time practical, accessible, and scientific, this book also introduces new concepts, such as "benign transformation" and "malignant competition" and provides a thorough discussion of affective flashbacks and triggers. Transforming Trauma is an essential resource for all professionals and advanced students working with adult survivors of child sexual abuse and child sex offenders. "A fascinating text on the treatment of adult sexual abuse survivors. . . . Building on the insights of Treating Child Sex Offenders and Victims, Dr. Salter refines what we know and provides new tools and perspectives. This new book constantly acknowledges the micro and macro social environments in which the abuse occurred and the survivor lives, and incorporates this awareness into therapeutic theory and practice. . . . This is an important book, and our field is exceedingly lucky to have it." --from the Foreword by John N. Briere "With Transforming Trauma, Anna C. Salter establishes a milestone in the expanding consciousness of sexual victimization. . . . Until now, we have dared look only at pieces of the victimization picture puzzle, like gathering corners, frames, and central clusters without risking the difficult moves that would integrate the several fragments into a coherent picture. Transforming Trauma puts these pieces together." --from the Foreword by Roland C. Summit.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 080395509X
• ISBN13: 9780803955097
• Release Date: May 1995
• Publisher: Sage Publications
• Length: 376 Pages
• Weight: 1.33 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 8.9" x 6.0"

Customer Reviews

Awesome, but Caution

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.

Understand the effects of sadistic and non-sadistic abuse

I read the chapter about the after effects of sadistic sexual abuse and non-sadistic sexual abuse (after searching all over for a book that addresses this aspect of child abuse). The examples were horrifying, so I do not recommend this book to everyone. This is one of the few books on sexual abuse that talks about sadistic abuse, and as a survivor I know how important it is to understand the unique effects of this kind of sexual abuse. Reading this chapter helped me to understand the motivations behind the cruel acts that were committed against me, and the after effects that I experience. I could see myself in both the survivors of sadistic abuse and non-sadistic abuse because I was abused in both ways at different times during my life. This book offers important insight into a painful topic. Anna C. Salter has written other books on the issues of sadistic abuse and psychopathic sex offenders. I also highly recommend her book: Predators.

A must-read for survivors *and* therapists.

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!

Therapists and survivors should read this.

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.