Abstract

Victims of sexual and physical trauma can feel lost and disconnected from themselves and others. Christiane Sanderson's new book explains how counsellors can restore connection to self and others, and facilitate recovery within a safe and supportive therapeutic relationship.

To understand fully the harm caused by interpersonal trauma, professionals must first recognize its complex nature, and the psychological and emotional impact of exposure to control and terror. This book examines the therapeutic techniques and specific challenges faced by professionals when working with survivors of interpersonal trauma. The author explores issues such as safety and protection, the long-term effects of trauma and the importance of visiting past experiences and assessing their impact on the present.

This book is essential reading for counsellors, therapists, social workers, mental health professionals, health care professionals including GPs and midwives, legal professionals and all those working with survivors of interpersonal trauma such as sexual violence, child abuse, domestic abuse, elder abuse, institutional abuse and abuse by professionals

This informative and comprehensive work sets out to illuminate the nature of abuse that occurs within trusting, dependent or attached relationships... The author makes effective use of summary boxes and diagrams to highlight the key points of each chapter. Particularly valuable is the inclusion of moving and powerful case vignettes to bring emotional valence to the themes discussed and to place them in a real]life context. There are also useful suggestions for further reading... the book is written in an appropriately scientific style, making use of clinical evidence and research from the therapeutic field to support the author's assertions and providing sensible suggestions for work in this area. The expertise and wealth of clinical experience of the author are very much in evidence... clearly written, comprehensive and accessible, providing almost everything a therapist needs to know about working with those who have experienced interpersonal abuse. The focus on the complexity of interpersonal abuse and the devotion of a separate chapter to each form of abuse distinguish it from most other books in this field. I would recommend it as a must]read for a broad range of professionals and others working with survivors of abuse.
Child Abuse Review
Christiane Sanderson is a lecturer in Psychology at London University, Birkbeck College, and visiting lecturer in the School of Human and Life Sciences, Roehampton University. With 21 years' experience working in child sexual abuse interpersonal abuse and trauma, she has provided  consultancy and training to parents, teachers, social workers, nurses, therapists, counsellors, the NSPCC and the Metropolitan Police Service. She is author of Counselling Survivors of Domestic Abuse, Counselling Adult Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse, 3rd edition and The Seduction of Children: Empowering Parents and Teachers to Protect Children from Child Sexual Abuse, also published by Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
I would strongly urge counsellors, psychotherapists, trainers, educators, curriculum developers and other helping professionals to consider this text as essentiial and core reading, because a strength of the work is that it is grounded in the author's 21 years of clinical experience, and supported with references from current and contemporary research findings.
The Independent Practitioner