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Rating: 
Summary: Life affirming
Review: Having just accepted my own history of abuse, I was desperate for any help in dealing with the waves of emotions I was feeling. Passages in the book proved especially helpful to me in coming to terms with the truth and beginning to build my own bridge to recovery. Specifically, "A child doesn't have the power to give informed consent." p. 237, and the warning against "compensatory grandiosity" in a therapeutic environment on p. 252. (Both references are to the paperback edition.) I would like to thank the author for his unflinching bravery in recounting his story. It offers hope for recovery and wholeness. While I will continue to seek other resources, including those mentioned by the author, this was so helpful in dealing with the shame and guilt that I have carried in silence for too long.
Rating: 
Summary: A case study, not a resource for men with history of abuse
Review: I was expecting a book in which the author related his personal experiences then sought to use his experiences as a therapist and a man who suffered through abuse to offer some guidance to others who have experienced similar trauma. Instead the book reads like a barely edited journal that the author kept during his time in therapy. EVERY personal detail, no matter how small, is included. The reader will get to experience all the negative emotions that the author goes through as well as getting descriptions of day to day living.
I also could not relate to the "insiders" part of the therapy. The insiders are various beings that the author sees as he works through his trauma. I have no reference for this so I found little use for the great attention paid to the changing relationships and states of being of these alternate beings. This book may be useful as a case study but I find little to gain from it as a person who is seeking broader perspectives on how to move beyond the pain caused by such abuse. The book is too focused on the author's individual experiences.
Rating: 
Summary: healing from sexual abuse trauma
Review: In candid, intimate words, this author details his long and courageous fight to overcome the ravages of sadistic child abuse. He makes the reader hear, feel, and see its horrors, raw and unvarnished. Instructive to both therapists and victims, this book provides not only techniques, but also hope that healing is possible.Accompanied by years of searching the professional literature on dissociation, the author tried many different treatment approaches. Ultimately, through hypnoanalytic procedures he uncovers "The Insiders", unconscious ego states who had repressed the memories of his childhood betrayal. They guide him as he journeys through the agony of mastering physical pain, fear, terror, anger, despair, and loneliness - severe enough that death or psychosis could have resulted. This story of his journey to final freedom is essential reading for therapists and others who seek to understand and heal the horrors of child abuse.
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