Breaking the Chains of Abuse: A Practical Guide

by Sue Atkinson

Overview

Sue Atkinson, author of the highly acclaimed Climbing out of Depression and Building Self-Esteem, turns her attention to the subject of sexual and emotional abuse. Writing from her own experience, she gets alongside survivors to offer hope and guidance. The book is written in practical style with concrete advice and excellent pointers. The text is broken up into short sections to make it easy to digest.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780745959078
Publisher:	Lion Books
Publication date:	10/18/2012
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	224
File size:	899 KB

About the Author

SUE ATKINSON is the author of CLIMBING OUT OF DEPRESSION, a highly successful book which has proved invaluable to many sufferers because it is written from the point of view of a sufferer rather than an 'expert'. She is a specialist in mathematics education and has co-authored a definitive maths teaching scheme. The wife of a CoE archdeacon, she has four grown up children and lives in Norwich.

Table of Contents

Contents
Introduction 7
Ways to use this book 9
Part 1 The start of it all 13
1 Wallowing in it? 14
2 All abuse hurts 18
3 Problems with trauma 25
Strategies for dealing with panic and anxiety 31
4 Problems with memory 34
Strategies for dealing with flashbacks and similar startling triggers 38
5 Abuse and depression 43
Strategies for getting better from depression 49
Strategies for getting rid of negative thinking 50
6 The emergency stage 52
Strategies for surviving the emergency stage 59
Part 2 Deciding to heal 63
7 Images, dreams and reality 64
Practical strategies for learning from dreams 70
8 Transforming moments 73
9 Making friends with our Inner Child 77
Part 3 Understanding the chains 87
10 What’s keeping me chained up? 88
Strategies for dealing with shame and low self-esteem 94
11 Fears and phobias 96
Strategies for dealing with anxiety, fears and phobias 100
12 Hurting ourselves 102
Strategies for dealing with eating disorders 109
Strategies for dealing with self-harming 110
Strategies for dealing with suicidal thinking 111
13 False memories? 114
Part 4 Working through the pain 123
14 Our feelings matter 124
15 Where is God when it hurts? 127
16 The shadow and the shame 133
17 Who am I? 139
Strategies for getting rid of self-loathing 144
18 Why do I switch off? 147
Strategies for dealing with switching off 151
Part 5 Starting to heal 155
19 Healing with puffins 156
20 Beginning to feel angry 162
21 Understanding anger 168
Strategies for dealing with our anger and pent-up rage 174
22 Healthy boundaries 177
Strategies for dealing with our ‘core issues’ 183
23 Forgive and forget? 186
Strategies for exploring forgiveness 194
24 Struggling with forgiving 199
Strategies for forgiving ourselves 206
25 Reflections 208
Further resources 220

Editorial Reviews

According to recent statistics, one in four girls and one in six boys are sexually abused before age 16; the rates of physical abuse are even higher. This self-help manual aims to address those populations with useful facts, survivor anecdotes, and healing exercises centering on topics such as trauma, phobias, self-harm, anger, and boundaries. It also acts as a poignant narrative of Atkinson's (Climbing Out of Depression and Building Self-Esteem) struggle to recover from her own abuse. Her story effectively illustrates more universal themes. And although her firsthand knowledge of the subject is the book's greatest strength, it is also its greatest weakness, at times making for a patchwork quilt of abuse-related topics having little overall conceptual underpinning. Atkinson's polemics can also obscure the complexities of the psychological issues. She insightfully addresses current hot topics in abuse survivor treatment, e.g., repressed memories, but sometimes in overly narrow terms. For example, her decidedly Christian consideration of forgiveness might be of limited use to non-Christians. Nevertheless, her passionate and engaging book deserves a place in larger public libraries, next to Laura Davis's The Courage To Heal Workbook: A Guide for Women and Men Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse.
—Joseph A. Lipari

Library Journal

"Passionate and engaging." —Library Journal

From the Publisher