With the Phoenix Rising: Lessons from Ten Resilient Women Who Overcame the Trauma of Childhood Sexual Abuse Hardcover - 1999 - 1st Edition

We all know people who have undergone terrible experiences in childhood and yet find ways to love and work with talent and enthusiasm-to live fully and sometimes even joyfully.

Untold numbers of women have suffered severe childhood abuse and yet show remarkable strength in their ability to persevere in their relationships with themselves and others. In spite of their past and continued pain and suffering, they are able to make sense of their adversity and work to move beyond it, to focus on having a meaningful life filled with love, growth, and connection to community. But why do these women triumph over their painful experiences and memories when, understandably, so many others do not? With the Phoenix Rising tells the stories of ten women who have successfully integrated the experience of traumatic childhood sexual abuse into their lives. Their lessons provide hope for fellow survivors and give clinicians the insight they need to help encourage such resiliency in women with similar devastating histories.The authors, led by Boston University professor Frances Grossman, interviewed and studied ten women over the course of several years to learn what contributed to their resiliency. Their stories-their own sense of what helped them to lead successful lives-have been integrated into a framework essential for mental health professionals who assess and treat women with severe trauma histories. This framework will guide clinicians as they help their clients shift their sense of themselves from damaged to resilient. Clinicians will gain insight into the resilient strategies-setting boundaries, utilizing coping techniques, and looking out for the mind and body-used by these women and how these traits can be developed in their clients.With the Phoenix Rising focuses beyond the pathology that dominates the literature on the subject, enabling behavioral health care practitioners to broaden their perspective regarding survivors to one of strengths, not just pain and injury, and to integrate these factors and processes into working successfully with those who have suffered child abuse.The Resilience of the Human SpiritWhy do some wom