Strong at the Broken Places: Overcoming the Trauma of Childhood Abuse - Softcover

Sanford presents a perceptive and empathic examination of why and how victims of abuse either take the downward path to violence and destruction or become responsible citizens, good friends, and reasonable people. This nonempirical, descriptive study of 20 survivors of childhood abuse details how childhoods dominated by physical, mental, or sexual abuse can be transformed. The book belies the idea that survivors of childhood abuse are doomed to repeat the pattern of abuse. The emphasis is on overcoming, attaining understanding, and gaining positive feelings about oneself. Sanford notes that most studies to date have concentrated on survivors who came to the attention of researchers by way of the criminal justice, mental health, substance dependence, or social service agencies. A fascinating and positive book that shows how an abusive childhood can be transformed.
- Jodith Janes, Cleveland Clinic Foundation
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Sanford, a Massachusetts psychotherapist who since 1973 has counseled adults who were victims of childhood violence, here counters the conventional wisdom that such people are forever "doomed to be damaged goods." She convincingly argues that her clients differ little from others in therapy who were not traumatized as children and presents case histories of 20 adults, all of whom experienced some form of childhood trauma--abuse or neglect--yet were able through various paths to turn their hurts into assets. Sanford stresses that her findings belie the myth that survivors of childhood abuse invariably become abusive parents themselves, repeating patterns of self-destruction. Readers will find this a hopeful, helpful guide to overcoming post-traumatic disorders. Author tour.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.