The Courage to Heal
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The Courage to Heal: A Guide for Women Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse (first published in 1988) is a book written by Ellen Bass and Laura Davis, aimed at a female audience who have suffered child abuse (or suspect they have), and who seek to overcome the associated trauma generated by repressed memory of the abuse.
Many websites discuss "The Courage to Heal," although views on the book are generally polarised – people either being firmly in the "Survivors" camp, or firmly in the False Memory Syndrome camp. While the book has its devotees, many mainstream mental health professionals have charged Bass and Davis with perpetuating various errors and unproven therapeutic methods.
Contents |
[edit] Overview
The book has been issued in several editions, and has sold hundreds of thousands of copies. The most recent edition, at the time this article was written, has the book divided into the following sections:
- Taking Stock
- The Healing Process
- Changing Patterns
- For Supporters of Survivors
- Courageous Women
- Honouring the Truth: A Response to the Backlash.
(The sixth section was added to respond to negative reactions to previous editions, notably the claim that the book promotes false memory.)
The book was written as a response to the author's frequent encounters with women who were the victims of sexual abuse during their childhood and adolescence. The authors attempt to present a path to healing from the trauma of childhood abuse. They additionally suggest that many women who do not currently remember abuse may have been abused as children, but have repressed the memory. The authors believe that the negative effects of sexual abuse can be wide-ranging: depression, anxiety, sadness, listlessness, or any number physical maladies from the minor to the chronic. The latest edition features language more inclusive of male sexual abuse victims.
[edit] Supporters' view
Many men and women who have suffered child abuse have found this book useful in beginning the process of healing from child sexual abuse. They believe that child sexual abuse is a wide-spread phenomenon that often leaves little evidence. Additionally, family members are often reluctant to admit to having permetrated the abuse. The book tells women that they are not alone, but that millions of other girls and women have been similarly victimised.
The book encourages men and women to remember what happened to them (or seek help recovering lost memories if they think they were abused, but don't have a clear memory of it), seek support from friends and family, confront their abuser and seek therapy for the negative emotions and behaviors that confronting the abuse will stir up.
Victims (called "survivors" throughout the text) and therapists often mention this book as a starting point for those who have decided to confront and deal with their abuse history.
[edit] Critics' view
Though critics recognize that child sexual abuse is very common, and that there are confirmed cases of amnesia regarding sexual abuse, whether these are cases of "repressed memory" is still highly contested. Many critics further contend that The Courage to Heal is rife with errors, misconceptions and bad advice.
Critics contend that because Bass and Davis have no formal training in psychiatry or psychology, the book dangerously encourages confabulation and/or the creation of false memory.
Critics claim that The Courage to Heal has caused widespread harm to many innocent people - including the alleged perpetrators of sexual abuse, but also the accusers, who may become traumatised by potentially false revelations.
Elizabeth Loftus and others affiliated with The False Memory Syndrome Foundation go so far as to claim the repressed memory is entirely non-existent. this link for a detailed article on repressed memories, by Elizabeth Loftus.
Though The Courage to Heal has helped people deal with the affects of child sexual abuse, critics claim that the spontaneous recovery of memories of childhood trauma seems itself to damage and traumatise the survivor. Critics postulate that the supposed healing that memory recovery is meant to provide never eventuates, and that people get stuck in costly therapy.
