文章基本信息

标题：Partners in Recovery. - book reviews
作者：Catherine Browning
期刊名称：Whole Earth: access to tools, ideas, and practices
印刷版ISSN：1097-5268
出版年度：1993
卷号：Winter 1993
出版社：Point Foundation

Partners in Recovery. - book reviews

Catherine Browning

Childhood sexual abuse is definitely not a comfortable topic. In fact no matter how clinical or educated one is, a wave of nausea always accompanies any mention of the subject. That's why Beverly Engel's book ushers in some squirm-free relief -- it's short concise, and right to the point You can delve, learn what you need to learn, and be done with the book while you still have your sanity intact

Engel introduces basic terms, myths, and hard facts about sexual abuse (much of this is of necessary re-hash of her book The Right to Innocence), covers coping strategies for the seven stages of recovery, and ends with pioneering suggestions for dealing with sex, power, and commitment in o relationship. Partners concludes with a thorough reading and resource list.

Engel emphasizes that prosurvivors take good care of themselves during their significant others long haul to recovery. She offers practical coaching and confidence-building inspiration for dealing with this process. --Catherine Browning

Survivors frequently attract two extreme kinds of partners: those who control the survivor, or those who allow the survivor to control them. The chances are very high that in your relationship with a survivor, one of you tends to be more dominant and the other more passive. Also, one of you may tend to be abusive in some way, while the other may tend to allow himself or herself to be abused.

In some cases, we are talking about overt, extreme domination and abuse, but more than likely we are talking about more subtle forms of domination and control. While you and your partner may have settled into a rather comfortable and familiar way of dealing with each other, this does not automatically mean that your way of relating has been a healthy one for either of you.

Partners in Recovery Beverly Engel. Fawcett Columbine, 199 1; 160 pp. ISBN 0-449-90675-2 $8 ($10 postpaid) from Random House Inc./ Order Dept, 400 Hahn Road, Westminster, MD 21157; 800/733-3000