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 sexual abuse and who seek to overcome the associated trauma generated by it.

Many websites discuss "The Courage to Heal,". The recovered memory movement is hostile to the book and has asked for it to be banned in some countries.[1]

1 Overview
2 Supporters' view
3 Critics' view
4 External links and references

[edit] Overview

The book has been issued in several editions, and has sold more than a million 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 present a path to healing from the trauma of childhood abuse. They additionally suggest that people experiencing dysfunction in their lives, who feel that something traumatic happened in their childhood that they do not currently remember, should investigate these feelings. They say that extreme childhood trauma, of which sexual abuse is one, is often spontaneously repressed to allow the child to continue growing up. The authors outline how the damaging effects of child sexual abuse can be wide-ranging: depression, anxiety, alcoholism, drug addiction, dysfunctional relationships, dissociative identity disorder, self-mutilation, suicidal thoughts and others. The latest edition features language more inclusive of male sexual abuse victims.

Since writing 'The Courage to Heal' Laura Davis has written books/produced tapes ('I Thought we'd never Speak Again' and 'The Last Frontier: Is Reconciliation Possible After Sexual Abuse?) that deal with reconciliation of families, many of which have been torn apart due to allegations of abuse [[2]].

[edit] Supporters' view

Many men and women who have suffered child abuse have found this book a turning point in beginning the process of healing from child sexual abuse. The book tells abuse survivors that they are not alone, but that one in four girls and one in seven boys have been similarly victimised. It gives specific and detailed steps about how other survivors have healed from abuse.

The book encourages men and women to trust their feelings; if they know or suspect that something traumatic happened to them as young children, they should not ignore it. By going back to deal with the childhood trauma of sexual abuse, the victim can unravel the many physical and emotional symptoms that continue to plague their adult lives, and thereby overcome often lifelong obstacles to functionality.

Survivors, therapists and mental health workers often recommend this book as a starting point for those who have decided to confront and deal with their abuse history. They say that the merit of the book's advice is in the improved quality of life of those who have recovered memories of abuse and healed as a result. Some mental health practitioners insist the book be used only as part of ongoing therapy, while others are less strict about its use. The book itself recommends that survivors seek out a therapist or support group.

In the book's defense, supporters also point out that many survivors who recover abuse memories do so [3] without the aid of therapy. Because of extreme anxiety and fear instilled at the time of the abuse, many victims remain silent for years and never report it to police or confront the perpetrator.

[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 inconclusive.

Critics contend that because Bass and Davis have no formal training in psychiatry or psychology, they are not qualified to write such a book.

In Australia a 1998 study by psychologist Merle Elson showed that 'The Courage to Heal' was associated with 47% of cases in which it was alleged false accusations of sexual abuse were made - see [4]

Psychologist Distinguished Professor Elizabeth Loftus is a world expert on 'recovered memories' and has written many articles/books on the subject (see references below). She is skeptical about the authenticity of 'memories' of trauma recovered after decades of complete 'forgetting'.

Though survivors claim 'The Courage to Heal' has been invaluable for them in dealing with the effects of child sexual abuse, critics claim that the spontaneous recovery of memories of childhood trauma itself damages and traumatizes the survivor.

Criticism of the book also comes from 'The False Memory Syndrome Foundation', an organization whose rank and file membership is made up primarily of men and women (and associated family members) who have been accused of being abusers by people who have "recovered memories" of past sexual abuse. Some critics claim that to date there has been no scientific (as opposed to hearsay/clinical) evidence that memories can be completely repressed (as in amnesia) for decades and then later reliably "recovered." See [5]

The Third Edition of the book, published in 1994, offers a whole chapter titled "Honoring the Truth," where the authors respond to the book's critics.