Unspeakable Truths And Happy Endings

With the electrifying tales of 15 survivors of catastrophic human cruelty at its narrative core, "Unspeakable Truths & Happy Endings" resoundingly illuminates both the necessity and difficulty of compassionate, sensible listening to survivors' tales of trauma. The book journalistically explores the affects of survivors's stories on compassionate listeners -- a group that includes therapists but that also includes friends, family, and even survivors themselves as they work and re-work the realities of their own experience. Along the way, the book addresses the flip side of compassionate listening; squabbles about victimhood and recovered memory. The book concludes that, as thinking and caring inhabitants of a menacing world, we must all learn to hear unspeakable truths. At the same time that we risk accepting the truths about violence and degradation that survivors' memories hold, we must reasonably engage critical thinking when memories of violence and degradation stretch the limits of our credulity. We owe it to survivors to listen compassionately; we owe it to ourselves to listen prudently.

Conflict and trauma remain among the most prevalent themes in film and literature. Comics has never avoided such narratives, and comics artists are writing them in ways that are both different from and complementary to literature and film. In Comics, Trauma, and the New Art of War, Harriet E. H. Earle brings together two distinct areas of research--trauma studies and comics studies--to provide a new interpretation of a long-standing theme. Focusing on representations of conflict in American comics after the Vietnam War, Earle claims that the comics form is uniquely able to show traumatic experience by representing events as viscerally as possible. Using texts from across the form and placing mainstream superhero comics alongside alternative and art comics, Earle suggests that comics are the ideal artistic representation of trauma. Because comics bridge the gap between the visual and the written, they represent such complicated narratives as loss and trauma in unique ways, particularly through the manipulation of time and experience. Comics can fold time and confront traumatic events, be they personal or shared, through a myriad of both literary and visual devices. As a result, comics can represent trauma in ways that are unavailable to other narrative and artistic forms. With themes such as dreams and mourning, Earle concentrates on trauma in American comics after the Vietnam War. Examples include Alissa Torres's American Widow, Doug Murray's The "Nam, and Art Spiegelman's much-lauded Maus. These works pair with ideas from a wide range of thinkers, including Sigmund Freud, Mikhail Bakhtin, and Fredric Jameson, as well as contemporary trauma theory and clinical psychology. Through these examples and others, Comics, Trauma, and the New Art of War proves that comics open up new avenues to explore personal and public trauma in extraordinary, necessary ways.

This “clear, empathetic self-help book . . . is an excellent choice for readers who come from an abusive past and are struggling to make a brighter future”(Publishers Weekly). If you were emotionally, physically, or sexually abused as a child or adolescent, or if you experienced neglect or abandonment, it isn't a question of whether you will continue the cycle of abuse but rather a question of how--whether you will become an abuser or continue to be a victim. In this breakthrough book, Beverly Engel, a leading expert on emotional and sexual abuse, explains how to stop the cycle of abuse once and for all. Her step-by-step program provides the necessary skills for gaining control over emotions, changing negative attitudes, learning healthy ways of communicating, healing the damage from prior abuse, and seeking out support. Throughout, Engel shares many dramatic personal stories including her own experiences with abusive behavior. Breaking the Cycle of Abuse gives you the power to shatter abusive patterns for good and offers a legacy of hope and healing for you and your family. “A beacon of hope for women and men who fear that they will pass the abuse they have suffered on to their children, partners, or employees.” —Lundy Bancroft, author of When Dad Hurts Mom and Why Does He Do That? “In this remarkably powerful, wise, and compassionate book, Beverly Engel . . . offers expert advice and strategies to help parents and would-be parents avoid doing to their children what was done to them and helps both abusers and victims in emotionally and physically abusive relationships make vitally important changes in their relationships.” —Susan Forward, Ph.D., author of Toxic Parents and Emotional Blackmail

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder is a medically recognized disorder that develops as a result of a traumatic event; as a result of PTSD, an individual may suffer nightmares and flashbacks and become hypervigilant, angry, or emotionally numb. This work describes PTSD: causes, symptoms, effects, and coping strategies. While there is no cure, individuals and their loved ones can find healthy ways to cope, and it is important to recognize the strengths that arise in both individuals and families as a result of living with the disorder. This handbook describes how the characteristics of PTSD manifest in daily life and details its effects on the emotional, mental, and physical aspects of an individual's life, including disorders and physical disabilities that may occur jointly or as a result. The work analyzes the affect of PTSD on the couple and the family, detailing possible reactions, and compares the characteristics of healthy and PTSD families. The work explains how and by whom the disorder is diagnosed, with discussion of cross-cultural perspectives on PTSD and the effects of cultural difference on its diagnosis and treatment. The study describes mental health approaches to treatment, such as individual, group, and substance abuse counseling. Techniques such as exposure therapy, Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, and Traumatic Incident Reduction are also discussed. The work describes drug treatments, including antianxiety and antidepressant medications. Newer approaches to treating PTSD such as biofeedback, relaxation techniques, and herbal medications are also explained. A conclusion suggests effective strategies for living with PTSD and indicates directions for future research. Appendices include the definitional criteria for PTSD, a list of resources for PTSD survivors, and information about veterans' benefits. A filmography and bibliography are also provided.

McMillan provides the first detailed account of the women's anti-violence movement in Europe, from an international comparative perspective. Exploring how feminists have responded to violence in society, this study also examines how they have organized their response, their achievements and the factors that have facilitated their calls to change.

Christian tradition holds that an individual's ability to respond to God's graceto love both God and neighboris not wholly vulnerable to earthly contingencies, such as victimization. Today, however, trauma theory insists that situations of overwhelming violence can permanently damage a person's capacity for responsive agency. For Christians, this theory raises the very troubling possibility that humans can inflict ultimate harm on each other, such that some individuals' eternal destiny can be determined not by themselves but by those who do great harm. Jennifer Beste addresses the challenges that contemporary trauma theory and feminist theory pose to deeply-held theological convictions about human freedom and divine grace. Do our longstanding, widespread beliefs regarding ones access to Gods grace remain credible in light of recent social scientific research on the effects of interpersonal injury? With an eye toward the concrete experiences of trauma survivors, Best carefully considers the possibility that one can be victimized in such a way that his or her receptiveness to Gods grace is severely diminished, or even destroyed. Drawing on insights present in feminist and trauma theory, Beste articulates a revised Rahnerian theology of freedom and grace responsive to trauma survivors in need of healing. Her thinking is characterized by two interconnected claims; that human freedom to respond to Gods grace can in fact be destroyed by severe interpersonal harm, and that Gods love can be mediated, at least in part, through loving interpersonal relations. Offering crucial insights that lead to a more adequate understanding of the relation between Gods grace and human freedom, Bestes important theory reconfigures our visions of God and humanity and alters our perceptions of what it means to truly love ones neighbor.

In recent decades there has been increasing attention to mass atrocities such as genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and other gross human rights violations. At the same time, there has been a vast increase in the number of academics and researchers seeking to analyze the causes of, and offer practical responses to, these atrocities. Yet there remains insufficient discussion of the practical and ethical challenges surrounding research into serious abuses and dealing with vulnerable populations. The aim of this edited volume is to guide researchers in identifying and addressing challenges in conducting qualitative research in difficult circumstances, such as conducting research in autocratic or uncooperative regimes, with governmental or non-governmental officials, and perhaps most importantly, with reluctant respondents such as victims of genocide or (on the other side of the coin) war criminals. The volume proceeds in five substantive sections, each addressing a different challenge of conducting field research in conflict-affected or repressive situations: Ethics Access Veracity Security Identity, objectivity, behaviour. This important text will be vital reading for students, scholars and researchers in the areas of research methods, international relations, anthropology and human rights. It will also be of keen interest to policy practioners and NGOs, and especially relevant for those working in the regions of Africa, Latin America, and Asia.