]
Order this book: HardcoverReviewed Books (N-S):
| Title: | The New Informants: The Betrayal of Confidentiality in Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy |
| Authors: | Christopher Bollas & David Sundelson |
| Publisher: | Jason Aronson, Inc., ©1995 |
This book by a psychoanalyst and a lawyer advocates allowing the professional to decide whether to report child abuse. The authors note that confidentiality is now threatened in journalism, research, adoptions, medical practice, current office procedures, and the information superhighway.
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]
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| Title: | No Law Against Mercy: Jailed for Sheltering a Child From the State |
| Authors: | Barbara Lyn Lapp and Rachel B. Lapp |
| Publisher: | Hand of Hope Press, ©1996 |
This 428-page book presents the story of two sisters who fought the family courts and local child protection agency and were imprisoned for eight months. The Lapp sisters were raised by Amish parents who left the church but retained the Biblical teachings of simplicity, modesty, honesty, hard work, and community sharing. This upbringing led Barbara Lyn Lapp to adopt two abused children. She first encountered the child protection system when one of the children's emotional difficulties led to a false charge of child neglect against her. After being vindicated of the charges, her concern over what she saw as reckless intervention and inept investigation led her to organize public meetings, become involved in cases, and start a local chapter of VOCAL (Victims of Child Abuse Laws). Her activism greatly irritated the county commissioner of Social Services.
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| Title: | Nursery Crimes: Sexual Abuse in Day Care |
| Authors: | David Finkelhor and Linda Meyer Williams with Nanci Burns |
| Publisher: | SAGE Publications ©1989 |
This is a truly remarkable book, primarily because of the monumental irresponsibility of the authors, who have taken public monies from the National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect, the National Institute of Mental Health and the state of New Hampshire and used it to compile statistics based on nothing more than opinions of a few beleaguered investigators. The wasted money will be the least of it, however, for this book promises to do much harm.
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] Order this book:
Paperback
| Title: | Of Sluts and Bastards: A Feminist Decodes the The Welfare Debate |
| Author: | Louise Armstrong |
| Publisher: | Common Courage Press ©1995 |
This 344-page book describes the horrors of the child welfare system, particularly the foster home system. In 21 chapters, the author catalogs the child welfare system's defects and exposes its myths. But, although Armstrong has a good grasp of the problems in the system, her explanation of the causes is wrong and misleading.
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(Multiple-book review:)
| Title: | Other Altars: Roots and Realities of Cultic and Satanic Ritual Abuse and Multiple Personality Disorder |
| Author: | Craig Lockwood |
| Publisher: | CompCare Publishers, ©1994 |
These three books deal with claims that satanic, ritualistic abuse is real and that there exists a widespread conspiracy of satan worshipers who engage in human sacrifice, necromancy, soothsaying, witchcraft, and orgiastic group sexual abuse. Each advances the claim that purported survivors of these practices give accounts that are true, reliable, and believable. Each acknowledges that there is widespread skepticism and criticism of the claims. Each brands any skeptical view as denial and presents any person who questions the facticity of their assertions as a naive, reprehensible dolt at best and at worst an unprincipled, evil rogue practicing satan worship, cannibalism, necrophilia, and ritually abusing children.
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| Title: | Out of Control: Who's Watching Our Child Protection Agencies? |
| Author: | Brenda Scott |
| Publisher: | Huntington House Publishers, ©1994 |
This 208-page book is an exploration of the agenda of some child protection services and how the system is failing families and children. The author begins with the defects in the system, malpractice issues, and agency conspiracy. She describes the distortion of statistics, differing definitions of abuse and neglect from state to state, problems with foster care, erroneous court decisions, and special difficulties involving sexual abuse allegations, especially in treatment hospitals.
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| Title: | The Parental Alienation Syndrome: A Guide for Mental Health and Legal Professionals (Second Edition) |
| Author: | Richard A. Gardner |
| Publisher: | Creative Therapeutics, Inc., ©1998 |
Possibly the most significant insight Richard Gardner offers in this 440-page second edition is, "The PAS [Parental Alienation Syndrome] is a relatively new disorder, having evolved primarily from recent changes in the criteria by which primary custodial placement is decided" (p. xxxiii). This puts it in the classification of unintended consequence.
[Full Review
]
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| Title: | Paying for Crime: The Policies and Possibilities of Crime Victim Reimbursement |
| Author: | Susan Kiss Sarnoff |
| Publisher: | Praeger Publishers ©1996 |
This 115-page book is written by the former director of the Adelphi Resource Center for Crime Victims Advocates at Adelphi University. The book opens with an overview of crime victims' needs, followed by chapters on specific forms of victim reimbursement, including restitution, private insurance, social benefit programs such as welfare, and victim compensation programs. The last two chapters recommend ways of cutting costs and improving the system.
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| Title: | Pedophiles and Priests: Anatomy of a Contemporary Crisis |
| Author: | Phillip Jenkins |
| Publisher: | Oxford University Press, ©1996 |
This 214-page book consists of 10 chapters and a useful index. The book is neither an exposé nor an apology and its dispassionate tone is a refreshing departure from the hand-wringing tone often found in the literature on this topic. The large number of footnotes indicate that the author, a professor of history and religion at Penn State University, has done scholarly research.
[Full Review
]
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| Title: | The Politics of Child Abuse in America |
| Authors: | Lela B. Costin, Howard Jacob Karger, and David Stoesz |
| Publisher: | Oxford University Press, Inc., ©1995,6 |
This book, which deals with the dark side of child welfare agencies, was prompted by the ineffective policies of our child welfare services, especially child protection. The authors trace the history of child welfare policy for the past 100 years, ending with the Violence Against Women Act of 1994, and note that, whereas violence toward women results in arrest, violence toward children results in treatment.
[Full Review by LeRoy G.
Schultz
]
The central thesis of this 208-page book is that the United States' child protection system is a failure. It has collapsed under the weight of inherent contradictions, the negative impact of an ideological political process, and the inability of the social work profession to address child protection work. On the face of it, this sounds highly inflammatory and overly hostile. Yet, the authors have managed to present a balanced and well-supported case. This means their position merits a reasoned and careful consideration.
[Full Review by Ralph
Underwager
]
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| Title: | Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in Litigation: Guidelines for Forensic Assessment |
| Editor: | Robert I. Simon |
| Publisher: | American Psychiatric Press, Inc., ©1995 |
In this 147-page book, a diagnosis of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in the context of litigation is characterized as a growth industry. The six chapters in this volume are an effort to restore some professionalism and credibility to the use of PTSD in the courts. The book provides numerous recommended guidelines for making the diagnosis in a competent, professional manner. References follow each chapter and there is an index at the end.
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| Title: | A Practical Guide to the Evaluation of Child Physical Abuse and Neglect |
| Authors: | Angelo Giardino, Cindy Christian, and Eileen R. Giardino |
| Publisher: | Sage Publications, Inc., ©1997 |
The viewpoint of this 304-page book is that physical abuse of children can have long-lasting negative effects, but that children who are abused are not doomed. This hopeful stance is served well by the book's effort to describe how to evaluate physical abuse. There are numerous high-quality diagrams and color photos that assist in perceiving and identifying the injuries and sequelae from physical abuse.
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| Title: | A Practical Guide to the Evaluation of Sexual Abuse in the Prepubertal Child |
| Authors: | Angelo Giardino, Martin A. Finkel, Eileen R. Giardino, Toni Seidl, and Stephen Ludwig |
| Publisher: | Sage Publications, Inc., ©1992 |
According to the preface, this 152-page book is intended "to serve as a reference guide for health care professionals called upon to evaluate children suspected of having been sexually abused." Included are "clinical social workers, psychologists/psychiatrists, child protective service workers, and law enforcement personnel" (p. xiii). The inclusion of police, prosecutors, and protective workers in the health care team suggests the bias of this book. Throughout, children are termed the "victim" and the possibility of a suspicion of sexual abuse being a mistake is never considered or mentioned.
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| Title: | Preparing and Presenting Expert Testimony in Child Abuse Litigation |
| Author: | Paul Stern |
| Publisher: | Sage Publications, Inc., ©1997 |
This 181-page book is divided into seven chapters; the sixth chapter is written by Benjamin E. Saunders from the Medical University of South Carolina. Paul Stern is a prosecutor in Snohomish County, Washington. The book briefly discusses the need for expert testimony, who experts are, how to present and prepare testimony, how to handle cross-examination, how to cross-examine the "irresponsible" expert, and mental health professionals as experts. The book clearly indicates that the test for admissibility in court is not scientific certainty but legal sufficiency.
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| Title: | Protocols for the Sex-Abuse Evaluation |
| Author: | Richard A. Gardner |
| Publisher: | Creative Therapeutics, Inc., ©1995 |
The social significance of this book is such that I will discuss the social context in which it was written before proceeding to review the book itself. Sex abuse and its offshoots confront psychiatrists, psychologists, and related mental health professionals with complex social issues which go far beyond the identification and treatment of legitimate sex abuse victims. Clinical and ethical dilemmas are raised at every turn as mental health professionals deal with mandated reporting, recovered memory therapy, satanic ritual abuse, multiple personality disorders, and the problem of false allegations which are woven throughout. Dr. Richard Gardner is foremost among those who suggest that these are symptoms of the sex abuse hysteria which permeate society and the mental health professions today.
[Full Review by Randy Rand]
In this 436-page book, Richard Gardner provides a systematic approach for differentiating between true and false allegations of sexual abuse. There are different criteria for evaluating the alleged child victim, the person accused, and the accuser. There are additional criteria for allegations involving females, belated memories, and extrafamilial abuse (day care centers, bus drivers, scout leaders, etc.). The criteria met are counted, but there is no cutoff score. The criteria are not presented as a "test," but rather as a systematic way to examine important factors in a case in order to make the most accurate decision possible. The book contains subject and author indexes and nine pages of references.
[Full Review by Ralph Underwager]
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| Title: | The Psychology of Judgment and Decision Making |
| Author: | Scott Plous |
| Publisher: | McGraw-Hill, Inc., ©1993 |
This 302-page book begins with a Reader Survey, a questionnaire each reader is directed to complete before beginning to read. The purpose is to set the expectations, debias the reader, and serve as a teaching device. Together with a clear, readable text and sufficient explanation of difficult and counterintuitive scientific facts about human decision making, the book is must reading for any person, professional or otherwise, who wants to improve the accuracy of any decisions made. It has 21 chapters, an afterword, 28 pages of references, and indexes. The chapters are short and begin with descriptions of striking, interesting experiments. Many of the experiments are quite old and can be said to be classical work in social psychology.
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(Multiple-book review:)
| Title: | Psychology and Law, Second Edition |
| Authors: | Curt R. Bartol and Anne M. Bartol |
| Publisher: | Brooks/Cole Publishing Co. ©1994 |
Both of these books are intended to serve as text books for students in psychology and law classes.
The second book, Psychology and Law by Bartol and Bartol is in the second edition and also has new material. It aims at a close tie between research and the application of the science of psychology in the legal arena. However, the more recent research in many areas is not included and some of the statements made on the basis of earlier research are no longer as accurate as they may have been at one time.
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(Multiple-book review:)
| Title: | Psychology and the Legal System, Third Edition |
| Authors: | Lawrence S. Wrightsman, Michael T. Nietzel, and William H. Fortune |
| Publisher: | Brooks/Cole Publishing Co. ©1994 |
Both of these books are intended to serve as text books for students in psychology and law classes. The first, Psychology and the Legal System by Wrightsman, Nietzel, and Fortune, is the most frequently assigned textbook for undergraduate psychology and law courses. The third edition has an attorney as a new third author in an attempt to strengthen the treatment of mental health law. It has a new chapter on competence in the legal system and adds new material in several other areas as well.
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| Title: | Psychology in Litigation and Legislation |
| Editors: | Bruce D. Sales & Gary R. Vandenbos |
| Publisher: | American Psychological Association, ©1994 |
The editors see this compilation of five Master Lectures raising "fundamental issues that should be of concern to psychologists who interact with lawyers, judges, and juries in litigation and who interact with legislators in drafting legislation." In 211 pages several disparate areas of the psychology-law interaction are examined. The aim is to assist in reaching the goal of representing the science of psychology accurately and reliably in the interface between psychology and law.
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| Title: | Psychopathy: Antisocial, Criminal, and Violent Behavior |
| Editors: | Theodore Millon, Erik Simonsen, Morton Birket-Smith, and Roger D. Davis |
| Publisher: | Guilford Publications, Inc., ©1998 |
This 476-page book is the result of an international meeting on psychopathy sponsored by the Institute of Personality Theory and Psychopathology. The contributors, who come from Scandinavia, Great Britain, the United States, and Canada, present varied perspectives on the concept of psychopathy. The book is divided into five sections: history and viewpoints, typologies, etiology, comorbidity, and treatment. References follow each chapter, and the book ends with a subject index.
[Full Review
]
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| Title: | A Question of Innocence |
| Author: | Brandilyn Collins |
| Publisher: | Avon Books, ©1995 |
This book provides a true account of Serena Moore, a 14-year-old girl, who wrote in her diary that she had murdered her 4-year-old sister to prevent her stepfather from sexually abusing her.
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| Title: | Rape: Controversial Issues: Criminal Profiles, Date Rape, False Reports and False Memories |
| Author: | John M. Macdonald |
| Publisher: | Charles C. Thomas, Publisher, ©1995 |
This relatively short book (205 pages) is an effective introduction to the most controversial questions posed relating to the crime of rape. The author interviewed many victims and over 200 offenders in preparation for the book. There are not many references, but those that are cited and referred to tend to be cogent and fairly recent.
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]
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Paperback
| Title: | Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy: A Reader |
| Editor: | Windy Dryden |
| Publisher: | Sage Publications, Inc., ©1995 |
The research evidence is convincing. Cognitive behavioral therapy has the best scientific support as an effective and valid psychotherapy treatment. Albert Ellis's rational emotive therapy, now called rational emotive behavioral therapy (REBT), has been around for quite some time and is the most well thought out and adequately supported cognitive behavioral method. For those concerned about doing the best they can in vending efficacious psychotherapy, this book is required reading.
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]
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Paperback
| Title: | The Recognition of Child Abuse for Mandated Reporters |
| Author: | James A. Monteleone |
| Publisher: | Mosby Year Book, Inc., ©1994 |
In 12 chapters, the author attempts to cover an extremely broad range of topics, including Munchausen syndrome by proxy, neglect, abandonment, emotional abuse, legal issues, working with victims in school, multiple personality disorder, and prevention.
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| Title: | Recovered Memories of Trauma: Transferring the Present to the Past |
| Author: | C. Brooks Brenneis |
| Publisher: | International Universities Press, ©1997 |
In 204 pages and 9 chapters, C. Brooks Brenneis introduces the reader to the reconstructed process of memory. The book deals exclusively with situations where an adult has no conscious memory for abuse, but the therapist, after observing indirect clinical "signs," helps the adult recover the memory. Brenneis is an analytic psychologist in private practice who taught for many years at Yale University and is now a Clinical Associate Professor at the University of Wisconsin. The book, which is intended for clinicians, reflects his psychoanalytical orientation.
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| Title: | The Recovered Memory/False Memory Debate |
| Editors: | Kathy Pezdek and Williams P. Banks |
| Publisher: | Academic Press, Inc. ©1996 |
This 394-page book consists of 22 chapters by well-known researchers and clinicians representing different positions in the recovered memory debate. The chapters are divided into four main sections. References follow each chapter and there is a brief (just over one page) and not particularly helpful index at the end.
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]
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| Title: | Rethinking the DSM: A Psychological Perspective
|
| Editors: | Larry E. Beutler and Mary L. Malik |
| Publisher: | American Psychological Association, © 2002 |
This book is a well written, well organized, and persuasive treatment of diagnosis and the problems in making accurate diagnostic conclusions.
Every mental health professional who must deal with diagnosis in whatever fashion must carefully study and read this book. To do less is to accept a level of incompetence and poor practice that can result in untold harm done to many individuals.
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]
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| Title: | Rocking the Cradle of Sexual Politics |
| Author: | Louise Armstrong |
| Publisher: | Addison-Wesley Publishing Co., ©1994 |
This 305-page book, divided into 12 chapters, argues that women (even offending women) are treated as victims or children by society and its institutions. It covers the pitfalls and inadequacies of the currently popular concepts of "recovery" and "denial" and critically describes how mental health professionals profit from "incest." The author's conclusion is that the cradle is still rocking but she doesn't know in what direction.
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| Title: | Role of Sexual Abuse in the Etiology of Borderline Personality Disorder |
| Editor: | Mary C. Zanarini |
| Publisher: | American Psychiatric Press, ©1997 |
The logical error of affirming the consequence has been widespread in the interpretation of alleged effects of sexual abuse to support and affirm the validity of allegations of prior abuse. It is acceptable to reason, "If P->Q," but it is error to then reason, "If Q->P." Nevertheless, reports, testimony, and various decisions are often made by reasoning that since a person shows symptoms of Borderline Personality Disorder, therefore there was prior sexual abuse and an allegation is true.
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]
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| Title: | The Role of the Father in Child Development, Third Edition |
| Editor: | Michael E. Lamb |
| Publisher: | John Wiley & Sons, Inc., ©1997 |
This is the third edition of this 416-page book — the first edition appeared in 1976 and the second in 1981. In the intervening years there has been a large amount of study, research, and theory development so that this third edition has almost all new material and different concepts are advanced. The book presents an overview of research progress and developments in understanding more about fathers and what their relationships are with their families, spouses, and children.
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]
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| Title: |
Satan's Silence: Ritual Abuse and the Making of a Modern Witch Hunt |
| Authors: | Debbie Nathan and Michael Snedeker |
| Publisher: | BasicBooks, ©1995 |
This 317-page book, by a well-known journalist and criminal defense attorney, traces the origins and development of the current child abuse hysteria. ... The premise of the book is that these cases were manufactured by adults through coercive interviewing techniques, faulty medical diagnoses, and legal manipulations. The book, which is dedicated to the many men and women (over 50 are named) who are still incarcerated, is carefully documented and contains a useful index.
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]
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(Multiple-book review:)
| Title: | Satan's Underground |
| Author: | Lauren Stratford |
| Publisher: | Pelican Publishing Company, Inc., ©1991 (First Published by Harvest House Publishers, ©1988) |
These three books deal with claims that satanic, ritualistic abuse is real and that there exists a widespread conspiracy of satan worshipers who engage in human sacrifice, necromancy, soothsaying, witchcraft, and orgiastic group sexual abuse. Each advances the claim that purported survivors of these practices give accounts that are true, reliable, and believable. Each acknowledges that there is widespread skepticism and criticism of the claims. Each brands any skeptical view as denial and presents any person who questions the facticity of their assertions as a naive, reprehensible dolt at best and at worst an unprincipled, evil rogue practicing satan worship, cannibalism, necrophilia, and ritually abusing children.
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| Title: | Satanic Ritual Abuse: Principles of Treatment |
| Author: | Colin A. Ross, with an afterward by Elizabeth F. Loftus |
| Publisher: | University of Toronto Press, ©1995 |
Stories by survivors of childhood Satanic Ritual Abuse (SRA) were non-existent until 1980, when the book Michelle Remembers
(
) was published. It describes the alleged torture of a young girl by a profoundly evil group of Satanists. Although this book has been shown to be a hoax by three separate investigators, it triggered public belief in the existence of a widespread, underground, international Satanic organization. Among adults who believe that they have recovered long repressed memories of childhood sexual abuse, perhaps one in five also recover memories of SRA. A widespread, highly polarized, and often acrimonious debate over the reality of SRA has raged for over a decade among therapists, law enforcement officers, social workers, clergy, memory researchers, etc. Colin Ross's 228-page book should make a major contribution to the resolution of the conflict.
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| Title: | Scientific Standards of Psychological Practice: Issues and Recommendations |
| Editors: | Steven C. Hayes, Victoria M. Follette, Robyn M. Dawes, and Kathleen E. Grady |
| Publisher: | Context Press, ©1995 |
The American Association of Applied and Preventive Psychology is for psychologists who strongly support and seek to maintain and extend the Boulder Model of Clinical Psychology. This goal is set against the knowledge that the practice of psychology is largely divorced from the science of psychology. This 284-page book comes out of a three-day conference in Reno, Nevada, in January, 1995. The conference brought together national leaders in scientific applied psychology to examine the creation of scientific-based standards of practice. The book contains the 13 major addresses followed by discussion.
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] Order this book:
Hardcover
| Title: |
Searching for Memory: The Brain, the Mind and the Past |
| Author: | Daniel L. Schacter |
| Publisher: | BasicBooks, ©1996 |
In 398 pages, Daniel Schacter, an outstanding memory researcher, reports on what we know of memories. We may change our understanding of recovered memories, false memories, amnesia, and Alzheimer's disease after reading this book. The 35-page bibliography at the end lists many of Schacter's earlier writings.
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] Order this book: Paperback
| Title: | The Sex Offender: Corrections, Treatment, and Legal Practice |
| Editors: | Barbara K. Schwartz and Henry R. Cellini |
| Publisher: |
Civic Research Institute, ©1995 |
| Title: | The Sex Offender: New Insights, Treatment Innovations and Legal Developments |
| Editors: | Barbara K. Schwartz and Henry R. Cellini |
| Publisher: |
Civic Research Institute, ©1997 |
| Title: | The Sex Offender, Two Volume Set |
These two volumes together give a complete and thorough overview of the relevant scientific and professional literature on dealing with those who commit sexual offenses. The books are organized in the manner of legal reference volumes. This gives a tightly organized and comprehensive structure to the material included and makes it easily and readily available. It is possible to find quickly a short section dealing with most any issue or question that might come up involving sexual offenders.
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| Title: | Sex Offender Registration and Community Notification:
A "Megan's Law" Sourcebook, Second Edition
|
| Authors: | Karen J. Terry and John S. Furlong |
| Publisher: | Civic Research Institute, ©2003 |
This is a loose-leaf 3-hole notebook to accommodate the yearly supplements. Yearly Supplements are available on changes that may occur and significant new cases.
This Sourcebook provides the careful reader with the ability to see what the questions are and what facts are known to work for improvement and for progress in fairness and effectiveness.
[Full Review
]
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Paperback
| Title: | Sexual Abuse in Nine North American Cultures |
| Editor: | Lisa Aronson Fontes |
| Publisher: | Sage Publications, ©1995 |
This 266-page edited book contains 15 chapters by well-known researchers. Each chapter is devoted to one culture and the behavior in that culture that could be misinterpreted by American professionals. The book ends with a limited set of references and a short index.
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| Title: | Sexual Abuse Recalled: Treating Trauma in the Era of the Recovered Memory Debate |
| Editor: | Judith L. Alpert |
| Publisher: | Jason Aronson, Inc., ©1995 |
The goal of this 410-page book is to address the complexity of memory development and respond to the false memory proponents. The book consists of 14 chapters organized into five sections. The authors are believers in recovered memory.
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| Title: | Sexual Attitudes: Myths and Realities |
| Authors: | Vern L. Bullough and Bonnie Bullough |
| Publisher: | Prometheus Books, ©1995 |
There are few people as experienced, erudite, and evenhanded in dealing with human sexuality as Vern and Bonnie Bullough. For many years their articles, presentations, and books have led the way in opening a path to reasoned discourse about sexuality. In this 281-page book, there is a detailed, clear, and illuminating presentation of many of the prevalent myths and misconceptions affecting our understanding of sexuality. Footnotes with references follow each chapter and the book ends with a useful index.
[Full Review
]
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| Title: | Sexual, Physical, Emotional Abuse in Out-of-Home Care |
| Author: | Toni C. Johnson |
| Publisher: | The Haworth Press, ©1997 |
The number of United States children placed in out-of-home care is increasing. In spite of the higher cost of out-of-home care, courts and protective services are putting more children in foster homes, residences, and with relatives. One of the oft-heard complaints from foster parents, residential staff, and relatives who take children is that they are given little instruction, guidance, or assistance in providing a positive environment and competent care for the children.
This short (118 pages), practical, how-to-do-it book is intended to aid adults who are responsible for children in out-of-home placements.
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| Title: | Sexuality: A Developmental Approach to Problems |
| Authors: | Betty N. Gordon and Carolyn S. Schroeder |
| Publisher: | Plenum Press, ©1995 |
The significance of this 157-page book is caught by Friedrich in the preface when he observes that there is a strong emotional reaction to children's sexuality and lauds the courage of the authors for telling it more like it is. Children are sexual beings and it is a mistake to consider them to be innocent, asexual angels. The book depends upon the empirical evidence to demonstrate that children are much more sexual and engage in much more sexual behavior than many adults are comfortable accepting. They repeat several times that it is an error to use a child's sexual behaviors to prove or establish sexual abuse. If the content of this book had been recognized several years ago, there would likely be fewer innocent persons imprisoned for sexual abuse.
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| Title: | Sexually Aggressive Children: Coming to Understand Them |
| Author: | Sharon K. Araji |
| Publisher: | Sage Publications, ©1997 |
The goal of this 246-page book is to collect in one place the available published and unpublished information about sexually aggressive children 12 years old and younger, and to expand on this information by offering a synthesis and critical analysis of the information reviewed in each chapter. The six chapters are organized around such topics as distinguishing normal from sexually abusive and aggressive behaviors, the demographic and psychological characteristics of sexually aggressive children, family, extrafamilial, and situational risk factors, theories explaining children's sexually aggressive behaviors, treatment approaches, and the need for a systemwide response. The book ends with a good, although selective, set of references and a usable index.
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| Title: | Smiling Through Tears |
| Authors: | Pamela Freyd and Eleanor Goldstein |
| Publisher: | Upton Books, ©1997 |
This 141-page book about the recovered memory/false memory controversy incorporates over 100 cartoons into the discussion of the debate. Pamela Freyd is the Executive Director of the False Memory Syndrome Foundation and the book is written from this perspective. In a lively style, the major areas in the controversy are covered, including the science of memory, the survivor movement, hypnosis, multiple personality disorder, new age psychology, satanic ritual abuse, the recovery movement, and lawsuits.
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| Title: | Sourcebook of Treatment Programs for Sexual Offenders |
| Editors: | William Lamont Marshall, Yolanda M. Fernandez, Stephen M. Hudson, and Tony Ward |
| Publisher: | Plenum Press, ©1998 |
This 483-page book assembles 31 descriptions of ongoing sexual offender treatment programs from around the world. This includes programs in prisons, community settings, and psychiatric institutions and programs that deal with differing populations, i.e., female, clergy, and ethnic populations. It is clear that there is much worldwide effort and attention being devoted to treating sexual offenders.
[Full Review
]
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| Title: | Spectral Evidence: The Ramona Case |
| Author: | Moira Johnston |
| Publisher: | Houghton Mifflin, ©1997 |
This 440-page book tells the heart-wrenching story of the Ramona family and the trial over recovered memories of child sexual abuse. Moira Johnston, an investigative journalist, covered the entire seven-week trial each day and the book is detailed and thorough. The case made legal history when Gary Ramona sued the therapists whom he claimed had induced false memories of abuse in his daughter, Holly, and won. The case put recovered memories on trial and established that third parties can sue for damages.
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| Title: |
Spectrum of Child Abuse: Assessment, Treatment, and Prevention |
| Author: | R. Kim Oates |
| Publisher: | Brunner/Mazel Publishers, ©1996 |
In this 191-page book, Kim Oates, a professor of Pediatrics at the University of Sydney, Australia, attempts to provide an overview of the problem of child abuse based on current knowledge. The four different types of abuse-physical, sexual, emotional, and neglect-are first discussed in terms of definitions, historical background, and incidence. The next chapter addresses the question of why child abuse occurs. There are chapters on the different types of abuse, on the long-term consequences of abuse, and on prevention. The book ends with a list of resources, a bibliography, and subject and author indexes.
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] Order this book: Paperback
| Title: | The Spectrum of Factitious Disorders |
| Editors: | Marc D. Feldman and Stuart J. Eisendrath |
| Publisher: | American Psychiatric Press, Inc., ©1996 |
The puzzling reality of factitious illness is carefully and systematically described in this well-edited compact (229 pages) volume. This book gives a full range of explanations for the seemingly bizarre twist of benefiting from illness. Each chapter, except those concerned with legal issues, includes a formulation for the etiology of the disorder. There are also several discussions of diagnostic criteria and making a differential diagnosis. References follow each chapter and there is a subject index at the end.
[Full Review
]
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| Title: | A Spiritual Strategy for Counseling and Psychotherapy |
| Authors: | P. Scott Richards and Allen E. Bergin |
| Publisher: | American Psychological Association, ©1997 |
This is a courageous book, and both the authors and the publishers are to be commended for making it available. It is courageous because it boldly enters a battlefield that has been fought over for a long time. The relationship between religious faith, science, and psychology has been contentious and hostile for several hundred years. Wisely, the first thing the authors do is to calmly and objectively describe the history of that prolonged troubled relationship. They clarify it and present it in a manner that defuses much of the historic enmity. They note a growing rapprochement between science and religion. The brief discussion of the changing influences of physics, philosophy of science, brain, cognition, and consciousness research, and the evidence for the positive influence of religion is both accurate, concise, and crucial to understand the current situation.
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| Title: | Stress, Coping, and Resiliency in Children and Families |
| Editors: | E. Mavis Hetherington and Elaine A. Blechman |
| Publisher: | Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc., Publishers, ©1996 |
Stress is a universal human experience but there has not been a great amount of research on how persons, families, and groups may adapt to it and cope successfully with it. In eight chapters by different authors, this 245-page book summarizes that body of research dealing with families and shapes it into a comprehensive body of knowledge.
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(Multiple-book review:)
| Title: | Stripped Naked |
| Author: | Lauren Stratford |
| Publisher: | Pelican Publishing Company, Inc., ©1993 |
These three books deal with claims that satanic, ritualistic abuse is real and that there exists a widespread conspiracy of satan worshipers who engage in human sacrifice, necromancy, soothsaying, witchcraft, and orgiastic group sexual abuse. Each advances the claim that purported survivors of these practices give accounts that are true, reliable, and believable. Each acknowledges that there is widespread skepticism and criticism of the claims. Each brands any skeptical view as denial and presents any person who questions the facticity of their assertions as a naive, reprehensible dolt at best and at worst an unprincipled, evil rogue practicing satan worship, cannibalism, necrophilia, and ritually abusing children.
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| Title: | Survivor Psychology: The Dark Side of a Mental Health Mission |
| Author: | Susan Smith |
| Publisher: | Upton Books, ©1995 |
In this 233-page book, Susan Smith explores the origins, foundations, and theories that have contributed to the growth and development of a movement she sees as having evolved into a moral crusade. This movement, which she terms "survivor psychology," contains elements of 12-step recovery culture, contemporary urban legends, and pseudoscientific notions such as "body memories."
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