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Summary: This book is a godsend!
Review: If I had had this book when it was first written (1992), I could probably have saved myself many years of pain. I first had memories come up in 1990 and spent the next full year feeling like I had to throw up and knowing I had more memories coming (I could feel them, but couldn't get to them). I didn't know how to understand and work with myself to let them come. This is THE book I longed for and didn't know existed, and after several years of trying to remember what had happened, I gave up and went on with my life, which only got more and more difficult.
I have read only the first 64 pages since last night (It's going slow because there's so much I want to make notes on) and I have made so much progress with this book in such a short period of time (less than 24 hours) it's sort of shocking. Actually, I'd like to give this book SIX stars!!
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Summary: I agree
Review: My first read on the topic of Sexual Abuse in May of 2001. This book filled in all the gaps for me. I was able to put my own denial away and undergo my healing journey. Renee is concise and to the point. With her checklists I was able to trace a lot of the patterns in my life back to different abuse incidents in my childhood, from there I was able to put them in perspective and find a more positive route to my life. By far this has been one of the best and most helpful books on the topic that I have read.
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Summary: Thank You
Review: My first read on the topic of Sexual Abuse in May of 2001. This book filled in all the gaps for me. I was able to put my own denial away and undergo my healing journey. Renee is concise and to the point. With her checklists I was able to trace a lot of the patterns in my life back to different abuse incidents in my childhood, from there I was able to put them in perspective and find a more positive route to my life. By far this has been one of the best and most helpful books on the topic that I have read.
Rating: 
Summary: Straightforward but not a lot of information
Review: Presenting the belief that repression is something a person does when trauma is too great to bear, the author goes into detail about this phenomenon. Although others would disagree that repression even occurs, the author presents an easily comprehensible reason for it. I found it to be an excellent source of information on repressed memories and in an easy to read format to boot. A quick read, but worth re-reading over time.
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Summary: Courageous enough to help the most
Review: Renee Fredrickson seems to have gone out on a limb writing this book with such honesty and candor. If she were here with me, I'd tell her I can't thank her enough. At no time did the book suggest that average, unsuspecting people have repressed memories as a result of simple, normal things they do. Instead, Fredrickson describes what might suggest the presence of repressed memory syndrome, and describes some steps one can take to figure out whether one has it. The outstanding message I got throughout the book was 'Trust yourself and take an honest look at your own feelings and memories. With the help of a skilled therapist, you can determine whether there is anything bad you've repressed, and if there is, you can deal with it.' I applaud such an author who can put aside the media's (often ridiculous) accusations and see possible abuse survivors' mental health as the priority.
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Summary: Absolutely the best!
Review: The author, Dr Renee Fredrickson, is an excellent therapist on this sensitive issue of sexual abuse. Seeing how many books are published on the 'destructive effects' of victims recovering their memories through therapy, it's great to have a calm and thoughtful writer such as Dr Fredrickson who in her own therapeutic practice has worked with many, many people and made tremendous strides towards helping people to understand the devastating effects of childhood abuse in their lives today. She is funny and upbeat and a very positive person who I find very believable and trustworthy.I hope that the 'backlash' against people remembering the pain of their abuse will subside and then we can get down to the business of helping people feel better. She is definitely a step in the right direction.
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Summary: Great Informative Book!
Review: This book helped me in many ways I have had some troubles with Repressed Memories and my Phsycologist recomended it to me saying its helped a lot of other people and it has helped me to I needed something like this book to help me with all my abuse as a child If your suffering from the horrible pain of Abuse as a child pick up a copy of this wonderfull book it will help you.
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Summary: Still the Best Intro to the Topic of Repressed Memories
Review: This book is a classic for a reason: it includes the basic psychological outlines of the workings of repressed memories, along with case histories demonstrating various symptoms and after-effects of sexual abuse. It also clearly explains various techniques for aiding memory retrieval, and gives an overview of healing processes. Erickson writes from much experience and compassion as well as knowledge of abuse; she was truly a pioneer in this field. Along with "Courage to Heal," this book is a must-read for those new to recognition of repressed memories and the journey toward healing. It is both honest and hopeful. I also recently read the most lucid dramatic account of going through the process of recognition of repressed memories: "Yesterday's Warrior" by Heather Harrison. "I Never Told Anyone" is also a great collection of true short stories by women survivors. I've read alot of survivor books, but for anyone just starting out, Erickson's "Repressed Memories" is probably THE book.
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Summary: Most helpful book I have read about repressed memories.
Review: This book is excellent and I highly recommend it to anyone SUFFERING from repressed memories or think they may have been victimized. The empowering exercises are excellent If there were a rating higher than 5 I would give it.
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Summary: Recovered Memories
Review: This is a good book and adds to the growing literature on surviving childhood incest. ... The whole notion of recovered memories is intensely threatening to the societal status quo. Recovered memories are most threatening to those accused of abuse, and it is of course a very natural response for those abusers to accuse their abusers of being coerced into making accusations or, alternatively, or imagining things. In coming to terms with recovered memories, incest survivors must be very, very sure of their painful memories before they will take the incredibly difficult and painful step of challenging the status quo and making an accusation Let us be very clear, whilst there is a long, scientifically documented history of childhood sexual abuse and of the repression of those memories, there is no such scientfically documented record of,so-called, "false memory syndrome". Due to its abhorrent nature, the legal system, society at large, and the mainstream media finds it more convenient to side with those accused of sexual abuse, than it does to support victims. Although this is not the place for a discussion of how and why this is so, for a well-reasoned, scientific critique of the history of such trauma, and its societal repression, a good parallel read is "Trauma and Recovery: The aftermath of violence, from domestic abuse to political terror" by Judith Herman, MD. She is Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the Harvard Medical School and could not be more authoritative. It is also worth reading "The Assault on Truth" by Jeffrey Masson. He is a Freud biographer who investigates how and why Sigmund Freud came to disown his discovery that female mental and emotional problems in late 18th Century Vienna were largely caused by childhood sexual abuse.
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