Creative Therapeutics Description: This 748-page book reflects Richard Gardner's experience with child custody disputes and sexual abuse allegations over the past 30 years. In the introduction, he notes that in the early 1980s, he began to see custody cases that included false allegations. Since the prevailing wisdom then was that children never lie about sexual abuse, his observations were met with anger, derision, and hostility. Despite this opposition, he began devoting his efforts to finding ways of differentiating between true and false accusations. This book contains his current thinking on these criteria, which appear throughout the book. Gardner begins with a theory about human sexual behavior in which he discusses the variety of human sexual behavior in terms of theories of gene survival and transmission. He proposes that all forms of sexual behavior, including the paraphilias, can be understood in terms of serving the purpose of species survival. The next three chapters discuss the accused, the child, and the accuser. Following this is a chapter on medical findings, the penile plethysmograph, and the polygraph. Gardner next devotes a lengthy and critical chapter to the "validators" — the people who do evaluations of abuse allegations and generally find abuse. He then discusses components of interviews which he categorizes as leading stimuli, leading gestures, and leading questions. The following chapter describes how the evaluation process ought to be carried out and includes practical information and examples of techniques Gardner finds helpful. Gardner then describes the hallmarks of nursery school and
day care center hysteria and provides suggestions to evaluators in such cases.
In the following two chapters he discusses treatment for sexually abused
children and for nonabused children who have been taught that they were abused.
The book ends with a chapter on recovered memories of alleged childhood sexual
abuse. Discussion: This book, like others by this prolific author (he has written 32 books), reflects Gardner's creativity and insightfulness. Although several sections are carefully referenced (there are 16 pages of references), others depend primarily on Gardner's observations and insights, especially in areas that currently lack empirical research. In the past, Gardner's observations have sometimes appeared controversial and are therefore met with antagonism. However, time has most often validated him, as it did with his observations about false sexual abuse allegations in divorce and custody disputes. It will likely also do so with his observations about the recovered memory phenomenon, which is only now beginning to be discussed skeptically in professional and popular literature. Since this is first professional book to present a skeptical viewpoint, once again, Gardner is ahead of his time. The chapter on medical findings is particularly useful. Significant and important research, such as that done by John McCann on the genitals of nonabused children, is often difficult for lay people to understand. But Gardner gives a definition of terms and a description of the way genital examinations are performed that enables nonmedically trained people, such as attorneys and psychologists, to properly evaluate medical reports and notes. This chapter can profitably be read by anyone who must evaluate purported medical findings in a case of alleged child sexual abuse. Gardner's discussion of the effects of doing sexual abuse therapy with a child when there has been a false allegation is greatly needed, as this important problem is seldom mentioned in the literature. Gardner notes that children may be taught that they are sexual abuse victims, a situation which is likely to cause significant psychological damage. He then suggests ways of treating children and families who have been embroiled in a false allegation. This is an innovative and useful chapter as is his discussion of the treatment of children who have been sexually abused. Legal and mental health professionals involved in dealing
with all aspects of child sexual abuse allegations will profit from this book. Reviewed by Hollida Wakefield, Institute for Psychological Therapies, Northfield, Minnesota.
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