Reclaiming Your Life After Rape

This powerful client workbook is written in an encouraging and easy-to-understand style specifically for women who have been sexually assaulted and have developed chronic symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Clients learn how cognitive behavioral therapy has helped other victims and how it can work for them. This book explains how to distinguish PSTD symptoms from other disorders and teaches powerful techniques for overcoming these symptoms. The workbook is divided into five sections reflecting aspects of cognitive-behavioral treatment: What happens immediately following an assau

This powerful client workbook is written in an encouraging and easy-to-understand style specifically for women who have been sexually assaulted and have developed chronic symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Clients learn how cognitive-behavioral therapy has helped other victims and how it can work for them. This book explains how to distinguish PTSD symptoms from other disorders and teaches powerful techniques for overcoming these symptoms. In writing this book, the authors aim to address two goals. First, they want to present information about PTSD and related problems in language understandable to nonprofessionals. This information will include a review of the studies on posttrauma problems and on the effectiveness of different treatments. They also describe why some survivors develop PTSD and others do not. The second goal of the book is to provide a detailed client workbook for the treatment of trauma-related problems, especially PTSD, to assist clients working with a therapist. The authors are aware of the fact that people have different problems and different needs. What works for one person may not work for another. Therefore, they describe several different treatment techniques. The book is organized around the different cognitive-behavioral techniques that have been studied and proven effective with women sufferers of PTSD following an assault. Throughout the book, the authors focus mainly on women who have been sexually assaulted and as a result developed chronic symptoms of PTSD, which have disturbed their daily functioning and cause them emotional distress. Most of the examples they use to demonstrate the cognitive-behavioral techniques are drawn from their experience in treating rape survivors. However, the cognitive-behavioral procedures outlined here have been as successful in helping women who have been sexually abused in childhood and adult female survivors of nonsexual assaults, like aggravated assault and robbery. Other survivors of traumas such as natural disasters and car accidents were also helped by this cognitive-behavioral approach.

Go beyond surviving to reclaim your sexual self. If you have experienced sexual abuse, assault, harassment, or rape, you may feel disconnected from your sexual self—even if you’ve overcome the initial trauma of your experience. You are a survivor; but surviving is just the beginning. This book explores what comes next. Written by a psychotherapist and grounded in cutting-edge research, Reclaiming Pleasure picks up where other sexual trauma recovery books leave off. It offers practical tools to help you cultivate a sense of safety, security and trust in order to reclaim the vitality, pleasure and great sex you deserve. The book will also serve as your compass on a journey toward the rediscovery of desire, letting you explore what you want from others and for yourself. This groundbreaking book will help you: Understand the lasting mental, physical, sexual, and relational impacts of sexual trauma Move beyond feelings of shame Reclaim pleasure and reignite passion in your life Surviving is merely the first step in the process of recovery from sexual trauma. With this sex-positive and empowering guide, you are invited to take your recovery to the next level. You’ll feel emboldened by the desire for better sex, healthier relationships, and a more connected, pleasurable life.

Dating After Trauma teaches readers how to date again after being raped or experiencing an abusive relationship. Dating after rape, date rape, or an abusive relationship presents unique challenges as most survivors experience Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) which alters their perception of the world and makes it more difficult to develop relationships, build trust and experience intimacy. It takes tremendous courage to date after suffering an abusive relationship or sexual trauma. It can be even more difficult to be open to love from a good person without experiencing fear. However, once you know what to look for in terms of roadblocks, the path to love becomes much easier. In "Dating after Trauma" Emily Avagliano discusses the common obstacles abuse victims have when trying to find love. Her story is based on her own personal struggle to overcome past trauma and find her soulmate. Through this insight, she provides a methodology for dating that builds trust and intimacy in a safe and healthy way. She can help you let go of your fear and date in a manner that love becomes possible. For rape victims, if you have experienced date rape or sexual abuse, and want to reclaim your sexuality, find your soul mate, or just start feeling again, this book guides you through that process of healing. If someone you love has been raped, you see them suffering, and don't know how to help them move on from the past, this book will help. If you are a mother, father, friend, boyfriend or dating partner, this book explains what rape victims feel and why it is so hard for them to trust and love someone new. This book also tackles the pain of abusive relationships. If you have experienced the roller coaster of an abusive partner where some days he is the best person in the world and other days you can't understand his anger, this book will help you heal. If you have altered your behavior to try to control your partner's anger, jealousy, or even violent physical outburst, this book is for you. If your partner used name calling, controlling behavior, restricted your clothing choices, verbally intimidated you, or made you feel less than, read this book. If you are a parent, partner, or want to help someone in an abusive relationship but don't know how, this book provides insight into ending the cycle of dating abusive partners. Thank you for your feedback. I greatly appreciate a book review on amazon below.

The Body Is Not an Apology The Power of Radical Self-Love Against a global backdrop of war, social upheaval, and personal despair, there is a growing sense of urgency to challenge the systems of oppression that dehumanize bodies and strip us of our shared humanity. Rather than feel helpless in the face of oppression, world-renowned activist, performance poet, and author Sonya Renee Taylor teaches us how to turn to the power of radical self-love in her new book, The Body Is Not an Apology. Radical self-love is the guiding framework that transforms the learned self-hatred of our bodies and the prejudices we have about other people's bodies into a vision of compassion, equity, and justice. In a revolutionary departure from the corporate self-help and body-positivity movement, Taylor forges the inextricable bond between radical self-love and social justice. The first step is recognizing that we have all been indoctrinated into a system of body shame that profits off of our self-hatred. When we ask ourselves, "Who benefits from our collective shame?" we can begin to make the distinction between the messages we are receiving about our bodies or other bodies and the truth. This book moves us beyond our all-too-often hidden lives, where we are easily encouraged to forget that we are whole humans having whole human experiences in our bodies alongside others. Radical self-love encourages us to embark on a personal journey of transformation with thoughtful reflection on the origins of our minds and bodies as a source of strength. In doing this, we not only learn to reject negative messages about ourselves but begin to thwart the very power structures that uphold them. Systems of oppression thrive off of our inability to make peace with bodies and difference. Radical self-love not only dismantles shame and self-loathing in us but has the power to dismantle global systems of injustice-because when we make peace with our bodies, only then do we have the capacity to truly make peace with the bodies of others

SEXUAL ABUSE ISN'T AN EXPERIENCE OF THE PAST - IT'S TRAUMA OF THE PRESENT UNTIL IT IS HEALED What if I told you it is possible to have a life after sexual abuse? That you are already worthy of a life that you deserve? Healing after any type of sexual trauma is a process of reclaiming the pieces of yourself, reclaiming parts of yourself that were wrongly taken. Life After Sexual Abuse: A Practical Healing Toolkit to Reconnect Mind, Body & Soul is the book that Stacie wished she had access to over a decade ago. It combines personal experience with trauma theory, writing therapy and suggested practical healing tools to heal mind, body and soul. This is an invitation to explore what will help you to heal - because you deserve to.  By the end of this book, you will feel empowered to take inspired steps towards the way you want to feel and the life you deserve. This book is a nurturing invitation to explore what you need to heal, to feel safe enough in the present, and to self-love. Healing after sexual trauma is never out 'there' - it is within you.

After reviewing the relevant treatment literature, the authors detail how to assess and treat PTSD using a cognitive-behavioral approach. Co mplete instructions are given for planning treatment, as well as for i ntroducing the patient to the various interventions. Nine exposure and stress management techniques are then detailed, including imaginal ex posure (trauma reliving), in vivo exposure, relaxation training, thoug ht-stopping, cognitive restructuring, covert modeling, and role-playin g. Enhancing the books clinical utility are numerous case examples il lustrating how to implement the techniques, as well as explanations of how to cope with common problems and complications in treatment. The final chapter presents detailed outlines of three suggested treatment programs.