Brunner-Mazel Description: This 288 page book was written by a professor of psychology
at Purdue University and a social worker at Midwest Family Resource Associates
of Chicago. Both write from their experiences as therapists. Incest is viewed as
a product of the family system (all family members share in the maintenance of
the family sexual activity). The authors propose the concept of "multiple
systems" to model family sexuality and break down their model into sets of
concrete, usable, humane treatment steps for court referred cases. The book
closes with a good bibliography and a sexual history assessment form. Discussion: While many of the myths regarding incest are not disputed by the book, Chapter 7 on "Denial" is very helpful. The authors describe how denial affects treatment and the book includes a section on "What if the abuse did not occur." At the same time, the authors appear to accept the dogma that "children do not lie about sexual abuse." They react to this dilemma by tricking the alleged offender into accepting their "assistance" and also suggest tricks one may use to get parents to admit guilt. Group treatment is discussed with the assumption that sexual activity within the family is either a form of mental illness or a family defect. However, support for this assumption is not provided. The authors ask each offender to keep a journal recording how they have been victimized in the past. Like other treatment books, this one illustrates the poverty of our intervention efforts, and illustrates the fact that no court-ordered sexual abuse treatment program can deal adequately with the individual who is innocent. Reviewed by LeRoy Schultz, a professor of social work at 708 Allen Hall, Suite 710, West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia 26506.
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