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Rating: 
Summary: a profound analysis of the most sophisticated abuse
Review: Everyone who is a victim or survivor or who works with victims and survivors of abuse should read this book. Woodsum's analysis of Multiple Personality Disorder(now DID) alone should be turning on lights of gratitude and insight in therapists offices all over the world. I have never read a book where survivors are treated with such dignity, and their experiences are used to teach us all, not to sensationalize. Buy this book!
Rating:
Summary: Excellent!
Review: This is a very important, breakthrough book. Ms. Woodsum, a survivor and therapist, defines and distinguishes incest and ritualized abuse, and makes clear the underlying purpose of abusers (including individual abusers, cult abusers, and, in passing, mind control programmers) . The book focuses largely on victms and survivors of cult abusers. Doing, I think, a great service to society, Woodsum also shows how society as a whole inadvertently supports abusers and revictimizes victims. Most important to me was Woodsum's careful and insightful discussion of triggers and programming. Her insight into this area will enable many people to understand why the danger is very real, even though it is not visible to others. However, unfortunately, Ms. Woodsum, in her attempts to desensationalize the subject of ritualized abuse, debunks multiple personality disorder. She is mistaken on several key elements of MPD. For one thing, MPD is not a mental illness, as she refers to it; it is a survival mechanism. Nor is MPD something that was made up by sensationalists. Most multiples would do anything to avoid others knowing about it. In this area, I would recommend that readers look at Doris Bryant's "The Family Inside," and Dr. James Friesen's "The Truth About False Memory Syndrome," and "Uncovering the Mystery of Multiple Personality Disorder." Also, in support of the greater part of Ms. Woodsum's work confirming the existence of ritualized abuse, but illustrating one case of MPD (Paul Bonacci), see "The Franklin Conspiracy," by John DeCamp. Finally, although I believe it is true to some extent that absolutely avoiding all triggers (desensitization) may be beneficial for survivors of abuse who do NOT have MPD (or for those alter personalities, or "parts," who are on the surface, eg. the dominant personality), I do not believe this is true for those who DO have MPD, or for their inside alters. For those people whose parts and memories can only be accessed by allowing that part -- which retains all the characteristics associated with a memory (including personality traits) -- to speak and tell, it could be a death sentence to that part (and the person as a whole) if the trigger to that part or memory is completely avoided. I do agree that it is important for a victim or survivor to remove him- or herself from triggers which will put that person back in the hands of abusers. But, once in a protected situation, triggers are an important clue. There seems to be some confusion in current literature over what the term "trigger" means, and I believe that Ms. Woodsum gets tripped up here. Sometimes the term is used to mean that a programmed behavior is being enacted. Other times it is used to mean that a memory (or a part which contains a memory) is brought out. Cleary, the former is undesirable; just as clearly, the latter is desirable and beneficial. In sum, despite what I consider to be a very deep, damaging flaw in Woodsum's thesis, this is a remarkable book.
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