Martha Beck

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This page is for the therapist and author, Martha Beck.

Dr. Martha Nibley Beck (born 29 November 1962) is a sociologist, therapist, and best-selling author. She contributes regularly to Oprah Winfrey's O magazine ^[1] and served on the board of the international Special Olympics. She received all three of her degrees from Harvard University. ^[2]

1 Best selling books
2 Controversies
3 Sources
4 References

[edit] Best selling books

Beck co-authored Breaking the Cycle of Compulsive Behavior with her husband, John, in 1990 ^[3] with a large portion of the book dealing with overcoming homosexuality, although the two have since divorced and both are now openly gay^[4].

Beck is the mother of three children, one of whom inspired her to write her 1999 book Expecting Adam ^[5], which is a story about her decisions to give birth and raise her son Adam who has Down Syndrome.

She has since written Finding Your Own North Star, The Joy Diet ^[6], and The Four Day Win as a supplement to weight-loss programs. ^[7] and multiple other self-help books ^[8]

[edit] Controversies

In 2005, she received national attention for her book, Leaving the Saints: How I Lost the Mormons and Found My Faith. Released in March 2005, the book is a narrative in which Beck describes memories of sexual abuse by her father ^[9], prominent LDS academician Hugh Nibley; her sexual relationship with her husband; Feminism; religiosity; her experiences teaching at Brigham Young University; cultural dissonance and anomalies in Utah; her spiritual journey leaving The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; and her research and use of controversial hypnosis and self-hypnosis methods to recover repressed childhood memories (including the alleged abuse) [11], [12]. The book was originally conceived as a novel, loosely based on her life (with the main character being male), but was changed to relate her personal experiences at the encouraging of her publishers, according to a review in the Mormon magazine Sunstone^[10]. Beck has been criticized for failing to mention her current sexual orientation in the book, which purports to explain her sexuality; for her portrayal of Latter-day Saints and Utah culture; and for her accusations against her father and others.^[11]

On February 24, 2005, weeks before the scheduled release of Leaving the Saints, an article in the New York Times reported how Beck's memoir had already become controversial in Mormon circles ^[12]. Hugh Nibley's family and many of his associates had denounced the book ^[13], and praise for it from Oprah Winfrey on her website and in her magazine had prompted 3,500 protest emails^{[citation needed]}. Beck's seven siblings had denounced the book's accusations against their father as "false" ^[14]. Beck claims that a relative who supported her version of events spoke "only on the condition of anonymity after receiving threats of physical violence because of her support of Dr. Beck."^{[citation needed]}

Sunstone Magazine published a review of "Leaving the Saints" where the reviewer, Tania Rands Lyon, applauded Beck's prose, declaring that "By the end of the first reading, I was persuaded. I hated most of the book, doubted many of the details,was disappointed in her relentlessly negative and ridiculous caricature of the LDS Church and culture, and questioned some internal inconsistencies; but I believed that she had been abused by her father." The author of this review, however, goes on to describe how a second, more careful reading revealed how many of Beck's claims unraveled. She criticizes Beck's "exaggerations," internal inconsistencies, and use of innuendo, noting that many of Martha's family members have declared that she has distorted the past. Lyon concludes that "Martha's own reliability does not stand up well under the weight of close scrutiny." ^[15]