Abuse Books

This is a great sexual abuse healing book. It uses creativity, artistry, and dreams to facilitate healing from child sexual abuse. The many paintings of the author's dreams are incredible, evocative, powerful, and healing.

Over a period of time, Patricia Reis, the author and artist, starts remembering childhood sexual abuse through her dreams. Talking, drawing, painting, and healing through this process is graphically shown in the book. One caution: there are some childhood abuse and violent images in some of the paintings contained in the book.

Her incredible healing images are fantastic and well worth a view for any survivor of sexual abuse. I loved this book and found it incredibly healing. I recommend it to every survivor of childhood sexual abuse. I wish that this incredible healing book was more well known among survivors and survivor support groups.

I read a lot on dreamwork and I don't know how this book waited until now to reveal itself to me. It is a keeper. Plus, I want to share it with the members of my dream circle. Many dreamwork books focus on snapshots - working with different kinds of dreams - which is important. Also important is a longitudinal approach, which this book has. The Dreaming Way traces one person's dreams over a 2 year period - so you can see the cadence of dreams over time ... and you can see how different elements of the trauma reveal themselves - first in a more cryptic way, then more openly ... and here's the thing - i'm not even touching yet on the artwork. The artwork included with each dream has an aliveness to it - it keeps drawing me back. I look at the dream, the commentary, then back to the art - and stay on the art... partly because of the luscious colors (reds, golden-browns), partly because of the symbolism of the colors (ice-blue, green) and elements (convertible/car, tables, lamps), and partly because of the expressions of the figures represented (so authentic/real/true). Many thanks for sharing this gift with us.

This beautifully designed and illustrated book records a two-year therapeutic collaboration between two women, Patricia Reis, the therapist and Susan Snow, the dreamer and artist. The dreams and images in this narrative carry deep and moving teachings about personal memory retrieval and childhood abuse recovery. They also reveal deep realms of the dream world that are concerned with healing and transformation.

necesito el articulo grati

necesito el articulo grati

necesito el articulo grati

I recommend this book highly. It is a well-written concise description of the transformation over the last decade of government policy/budgets and supporting media from helping citizens to tracking and punishing citizens. In combination with Gary Webb's Dark Alliance, it is an excellant tool to help understand how the "War on Drugs" works and how we have supported a variety of private and political purposes to use it and the enforcement bureaucracies to help ensure that wealth is controlled by a suprisingly small group of people in America. This is elitism at its most expensive and just the kind of environment that leads to symptoms like Y2K. When employees, organizations and constituents are out of alignment and financial disclosure of government investment not clearly and simply available by place and people, frightening things go on and citizens lose their ability and will to act. The American people can change this, and books like these help us see the world whole and begin a healthy and positive conversation.

I recommend this book highly. It is a well-written concise description of the transformation over the last decade of government policy/budgets and supporting media from helping citizens to tracking and punishing citizens. In combination with Gary Webb's Dark Alliance, it is an excellant tool to help understand how the "War on Drugs" works and how we have supported a variety of private and political purposes to use it and the enforcement bureaucracies to help ensure that wealth is controlled by a suprisingly small group of people in America. This is elitism at its most expensive and just the kind of environment that leads to symptoms like Y2K. When employees, organizations and constituents are out of alignment and financial disclosure of government investment not clearly and simply available by place and people, frightening things go on and citizens lose their ability and will to act. The American people can change this, and books like these help us see the world whole and begin a healthy and positive conversation.

I recommend this book highly. It is a well-written concise description of the transformation over the last decade of government policy/budgets and supporting media from helping citizens to tracking and punishing citizens. In combination with Gary Webb's Dark Alliance, it is an excellant tool to help understand how the "War on Drugs" works and how we have supported a variety of private and political purposes use it and enforcement efforts to ensure that wealth is controlled by a suprisingly small group of people in America. This is elitism at its most expensive and just the kind of environment that leads to symptoms like Y2K. When employees, organizations and constituents are out of alignment and financial disclosure of government investmen not clearly and simply available by place and people, frightening things go on and citizens lose their ability and will to act.

Douglas Husak approaches the subject with an objective in-depth analysis of key points in the issue of drug decriminalization. He examines what drugs are and are not (for example how they are often impossible to categorize into 'recreational' vs 'medicinal') - he describes what sort of rights we have already and how drug prohibition is incompatible with those we already are granted by the legal system. Through empirical evidence, sound arguments, and hypothetical cases, Douglas Husak is very convincing in his conclusion that drug prohibition infringes on the moral rights; and law, needing a grounding in morality (as argued also in the book) is currently inconsistent and needs a change.

This book, though written over a decade ago is still current in its arguments: because of Husak's approach to the subject. For slightly different arguments (and a simpler and shorter and cheaper read) consider Douglas Husak's "Legalize This!: The Case for Decriminalizing Drugs".

I used Husak's work to write a project for a logical reasoning undergrad class that claimed to prove deductively more than once over that Drugs should not be illegal in the U.S. The professor was pretty surprised it qualified as deductive.

There are some novel principles Husak employs unlike arguments I've read in other books. His logical tests of what a drug that deserved to be illegal would have to look like are important.

I was really pleased I decided to read this particular book on the subject, it was exactly what I was looking for as a critical thinker dubious of the War on Drugs and wondering whether or not the U.S. is totally off-base in its drug war.

The book is clear, fair, is not a manifesto by any means but a critical look at the arguments for and against laws-against-drugs by a legal, philosophical thinker and university professor.

This book examines the issue of whether the War on Drugs is morally permissible, and concludes that it is not.

Many books written about the issue of whether the U.S. government should be waging war on drugs engage in an exercise of weighing the costs of the war on drugs against the benefits of the war on drugs. These usually involve either pointing out the unintended negative consequences of the war on drugs, or pointing out the ineffectiveness of the war on drugs, and/or the would-be costs of not having a war on drugs. While these issues are interesting, it is far more interesting to question whether the war on drugs is morally impermissible in the first place.

This book does just that, and it argues that laws against recreational drugs are incompatible with moral principles that nearly all reasonable people agree with. In other words, the book argues that a government exceeds the moral limits of its authority when it incarcerates its people for merely using recreational drugs.

In other words, let's say we were wondering what we thought about a total criminal prohibition of eating cheesecake. While we may well wonder whether a ban on cheesecake wouldn't be better for our collective health, and we might also wonder whether such a ban might actually prove impossible to enforce, or whether it might cause more problems than it solves, the primary issue is obviously whether a ban on cheesecake-eating is morally permissible in the first place. If it's morally wrong to incarcerate people for merely eating cheesecake, then the costs and benefits of laws against cheesecake hardly matter.

For some mysterious reason, most thinkers about the war on drugs either completely overlook the issue of the moral impermissibility of criminal prohibitions of recreational drugs or give the issue short shrift, and even those not guilty of either do not treat the issue with the kind of philosophical sophistication and clarity involved in this book.

This book addresses this primary issue of the moral permissibility of laws against recreational drugs, in a serious and sophisticated and clear manner, without pinning itself to any particular theory of government. This book is a serious work of philosophy, by a serious philosopher, that argues from moral principles and intuitions that most reasonable people share, but it is very accessible and clearly-written--no special training is required to understand the force of its arguments.

At the time this book was written, Douglas Husak was a professor of philosophy at Rutgers University (widely considered to have a top 5 or top 10 philosophy program). He is now a law professor at University of Michigan School of Law (a top 5 or top 10 law school by all accounts).

This is the most important book about the war on drugs that has ever been written. If you are wondering about the issue of the war on drugs, this is definitely where to start. If you are opposed to the drug war, you may better be able to put your finger on exactly why you feel that way after you read this book. If you think you are in favor of the drug war, your confidence in your position will be seriously shaken, at the very least, if you give this book a fair chance.

Douglas Husak is also the author of LEGALIZE THIS! which is more recently published, shorter, and possibly even more accessible than this one. I would recommend starting with this one however, and then moving on to also read LEGALIZE THIS!

After you finish this, and LEGALIZE THIS!, only then should you bother reading any other book about the issue of the drug war. Either of these books will really open your eyes and clear your head.

Great reading coming from a person who has been on a antidepressent rollercoaster for over a year. Along with misc, pills. It is a great book to help understand what goes on and why this antidepressent quit working and this one the Doc wont prescribe and other reasons for it being called a "Roller-Coaster Ride fot the Brain"

This book is short, accessible, and fully illustrated. It is a particularly compelling technical primer for the intelligent but non-initiated reader. The logical flow of the book reflects the history of drug use and pharmacology research, both increasing in sophistication over time, and is topically organized by the major classes of psychoactives.

Subjects touched upon include the use of drugs in religious ceremony, Freud's cocain habit, the 60s, and the modern era of specialized mood-altering drugs.

The author is chair of Neuroscience at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland and one of the top three most cited scientists in the life science.

It is a pleasure to read, and a springboard for further investigation in the areas of psychopharmacology, neuroscience or psychiatry.

Many of the Scientific American Library books are gems and this isosemantically titled book by Dr. Snyder is no exception. The books I have read from this series are uniformly short, sweet and to the point. Drugs, per se, are after all essentially what brain function is. Drugs are our personalities, our emotions (not to mention all other vertebrates, especially the class of mammals to which we belong). There is no better way to come to understand psychology, physiology, the cognitive sciences, and one could argue, metaphysics, than by examining the action of drugs and the brain; the primary distinction being intrinsic, naturally produced drugs as opposed to extrinsic, store (or street) bought ones.

Dr. Snyder runs through the litany of the common classes of drugs: the opiates and their natural countersubstance, the endorphins--the stimulants and their action of dopamine reuptake blockage--the hallucinogens and their concomitant serotonergic pathways--and some of the more popular psychopharmcologicals specific to schizophrenia, depression, and anxiety.

This book is a well written, historically informative, crash course in pharmacology for the lay reader, and remains a valuable reference long after its initial reading.

i learned so many things. each chapter was so helpful. everyone dealing with this situation is addressed. i am sending copies to my parents and also my children. thank you for your expertise, dr. spickard.

I have a book ministry. ( I give helpful books to people) I considered the first edition one of the best books on alcoholism. I consider this second addition even more helpful.
Elaine R. Williams

As the child of an alcohol dependent father who has since passed, I was able to better understand his sickness. From this book, which I have recommended many times over to providers who treat the alcohol dependent patient, I gained an education in 14 days of reading that would have taken many years otherwise. Thank you Dr. Spickard

Based on a true event, Element of Blank is a haunting novel of human cruelty to others - and even more so to oneself. Following the life of a young mother and her self-destructive relationship with an abusive husband to its brutal conclusion when he unintentionally yet horrifically murders her, Element of Blank is raw, dark, gritty, and undeniably compelling. A chilling tale of negative human dynamics, not for the faint of heart.

Reviewed by Olivera Baumgartner-Jackson for Reader Views (8/07)

Ann Harper Reed's "Element of Blank" is a courageous and powerful book on a subject that is definitely not discussed often enough, namely, domestic abuse. Ms. Reed's story of Sally and David is bone-chilling and nail-biting tense. Although the outcome is - unfortunately just like in too many other cases - all too predictable, the journey to the bitter end leaves the reader hoping for a miracle.

Sally, an impressionable high-school student, falls for David real hard. Although he is not nice to her and already early on shows signs of a disturbed mind and abuses her verbally, she leaves home immediately after high school and moves away with him. Things start getting worse rapidly. Sally has to call her mother to come and get her, but after David learns that Sally is pregnant, he comes and gets her after the miscarriage. The relationship does not get any better and is not helped by the birth of the second daughter either. Verbal abuse is followed by escalating physical violence. We learn of drug abuse by both parents. The children are more and more scared and oftentimes neglected by both parents. Sally finally realizes that she needs to get herself and her daughters away from this poisonous situation, but she never manages to do so. Her life ends with a crashed skull - practically in front of the neighbors' eyes.

Ms. Reed's writing is particularly powerful when it comes to Sally's internal musings. There are some occasionally awkward turns of a phrase in descriptions of public situations and personal encounters, as well as quite a few misspelled words. In the beginning I thought that they might have been intentional, since Sally was not extensively educated. Reading further I realized that they most probably were not, since they kept appearing. I believe this book would profit greatly from expert editing and meticulous proof-reading.

The story is extremely engaging and grips the reader from the very first page. I found it impossible to put down, even when personal memories threatened to break my composure down. It followed a path all too well known to me and many other women out there. I was lucky and got out. Sally and so many others were not. This book should be compulsory reading for every woman - whether in an abusive relationship or not. It might save your life or help you save somebody else's life. If the subject of "Element of Blank" would be a happier one, I'd say that I loved this book. I don't think a story this heartbreaking could be loved, at least not by me. But I truly admire Ms. Reed's courage in bringing the subject into the limelight this way.

Inspired by a true event, Ann Harper Reed with her Element of Blank sets out to take readers into the horrendous life of a battered woman, Sally, who was imprisoned in an environment of terror. Accurately and painfully describing common characteristics prevalent among battered women, Reed traces Sally's life from her late teen years until she succumbs to a beating several years later by her abusive husband David leading to her death.

As mentioned in the book's media release, every eighteen seconds, a woman in America is beaten by her husband or boyfriend. Women who are regularly terrorized begin to suffer from a state of "learned helplessness." And not only do the victims suffer physical pain, but they also have to cope with their emotional and psychological pain. In addition, and as we see in Sally's story, the victims blame themselves with the typical response being, "I provoked him, I was a bad wife, mother or housekeeper."

The first section of Element of Blank is narrated in the first person by a teenage Sally. The opening chapter finds Sally in an argument with David which leads to their temporary break-up. We also learn that Sally is often the recipient of David's verbal abuses wherein he would yell at her in front of his friends in his uncle's garage because he thought she insulted him, or he would grab her to show he was angry. However, as she states, "it's strange because it doesn't have any place with the other things I'm talking about; like fighting was part of someone else's relationship." This is generally considered to be the first tension building stage where we witness verbal and sometimes minor physical abuse and where the victim attempts to pacify the abuser. However, it is also the predictor of future abuse. Unfortunately, Sally seems to be in a situation where she receives little helpful support from her family and furthermore no one seems to be intervening in a positive way to point out to her that she should seek help.

Distraught and extremely saddened living without David, Sally feels helpless, completely blaming herself for their breakup. Moreover, Sally perceives her relationship as normal and as she comments, this is the way love works. She describes it as a game they play- a complicated dance where David makes her do one thing, and then she makes him do another, and so on, until they are back in their relationship.

The next stage of Sally's life finds her running away with David upon her graduation from high school to live in a small town in New Mexico, Pie Town. Her parents were adamantly opposed to her decision, however, they could do very little to prevent her from making this terrible mistake and from what we gather it doesn't appear that anyone was around to objectively discuss the ramifications of her actions.

Sally and David wind up living in a run down one room shack that David inherited from his deceased father. A far cry from the home Sally ran away located in Northridge California. It is in Pie Town where Sally lives in a kind of prison and endures continuous physical and psychological abuse at the hands of David. However, as she has a very low esteem of herself, she feels that it is always her fault. David on the other hand promises that the abuse will cease and he will change his ways.

As this stage in her life closes, Sally who is now pregnant returns home to her parents, after she discovers that David had been cheating on her. Once home she tries to lead a normal life and finds employment in an Orange Julius. Unfortunately, she miscarries and receives very little sympathy or support from her parents thus driving her back into the arms of David.

The second section of the book focuses on Sally and David's ghastly lives as they become parents of two girls living in a small isolated valley town in California where the temperature in the summer can reach 116 degrees on a somewhat regular basis.

It is a town that is dedicated to talking about everyone behind their backs and speaks very little about Sally. As the narrative mentions, "that probably has more to do with her light and the despair of her life. Private ugliness like that is bound to make people uncomfortable."

It is also here where Sally finds herself trapped in a cycle of abuse that she believes will never cease. David becomes her supervisor and master and although, she does make an attempt to seek help from co-workers, unfortunately due to either fear or misguidance, she abstains from pursuing concrete steps to rectify her unbearable circumstances.

Element of Blank could have easily been cliché-ridden and bloated however such is not the case, as Reed effectively paints a true life picture of how domestic violence is an appalling problem that we all must face-not only the people who are its victims. Moreover, her writing teems with vivid and sometimes graphic detail as she recreates a living, breathing and unbearable situation that at times is almost overwhelming, particularly where she describes the beatings Sally endured. One criticism I do have is that there is an underdevelopment of Sally's relationship with her parents and also we know very little about David's upbringing. It would have given us a better picture of their respective environments and how it may have been a factor in influencing their future behavior patterns.

Norm Goldman, Editor Bookpleasures

Thank God for Tian Dayton! Now I have an understanding of how my life has been and a language to describe it. I am relieved and renewed - something I hadn't thought possible. What a gift! I can't recommend this book highly enough - it's clear, concise, compassionate. And life changing! Thank you so much for this wonderful, original work.

Awesome, awesome book! The author starts by explaining the way our brains and bodies work, and the way our emotions by-pass the thinking part of the brain, and go to our instinctive survival parts of the brain. She explains how we have body memories of suppressed emotions, and why, when we have been through relationship trauma, we store the pain in our bodies and it causes us to self-medicate with activities or substances that chemically help us to deal with it. With kindness, compassion, and solid factual information, she explains what's going on inside of us, below the surface, and steps to take to release the pain, reframe our thinking, and become whole again. The last part of the book focuses on constructive steps to release pain, retrain ourselves to respond differently, and ways to accomplish the same pleasure and self-nurture that we were seeking, but how to do it in healthy, life-affirming ways. It's a blend of research and information, years and years of experience, and a kind, beautifully written coaching to renew and restore and grow into the person we were meant to be. The tone is respectful, informative, concrete, specific, and hopeful. Reading it was a journey. So rich that I decided after I returned it to the library that I needed to own my own copy. I have never read anything by her before, so I don't know if there are any overlaps, but it's one of the most helpful I have read.

Once again, Dr. Dayton has hit the nail on the head. Her writing and insights are always fresh, understandable and practical. She visits and revisits challenging situations with specific, useful guidance for dealing with very complicated emotional issues. I will be adding this one to my collection of her earlier work.

I would like to e-mail the author - I read the book in 1981 and have started a PA (pills anonymous) meeting in the Chicago area. I would like her to know how she was a positive influence in my life. I would also like to thank her for her honesty and gripping tale.

Since Mary Ann is my sister, I may be at least _SLIGHTLY_ prejudiced. Nevertheless, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and feel that it's by far her best. Her other books give you information, and lots of it, but you don't get to see much of the person giving it. In "Rainbow," Mary Ann has the considerable courage to let you see inside her world, with all the ugly as well as beautiful things that are inside all of our lives. It took great courage to write this book. Nice going, Sis.

For anyone who has been an alcholic or drug addict or those who are friends and relatives of people with this disease, this book is a wonderful source of wisdom from a recovering addict.

The book is divided into two parts:

The first part discusses Mary Ann's disease and how innocently it began, masking pain with pills and then masking the side effects of the pills with even more pills. As the reader, you keep wondering why she doesn't just stop taking them. In the second part you learn about how the disease of alcohol and drug addiction eliminates any rational thinking skills she or any other addict may have had before taking drugs and how friends and well-meaning people can actually enable the disease.

As the friend and relative of addicts, I found the book soothing and a valuable instrument I could share with recovering addicts and those that haven't yet admitted they have a problem. It's a delightful story of one woman's courage not only to fight her disease but also to share her pearls of wisdom with others heading down the same path.

A must read for parents, clergy, teenagers, atheletes, and those who deal with a lot of stress daily.

Thanks Mary Ann!

Raw and moving, this book was so inciteful into the inner workings of the minds of many whom have travelled the path of drug addiction & crime. It gives a better understanding of the disease and gives very useful information in how to become accountable for your own destiny- it lets the reader know THERE ARE LIFE CHOICES- its never too late- look to GOD!AWESOME..I cannot say enough. Every young male especially should read this.

BEVERLY TILLMAN- BRENTWOOD NY

This was a powerful and encouraging book. Readers will not want to put this one down! The author takes us on a journey from blissful childhood innocence through the moral corruption, suffering and confusion that ultimately results from drug abuse, and finally to redemption. I was both touched emotionally and intellectually enlightened.

This was a really great book. It was very infomative, and exciting. It really helped me out while writing my term paper on drug addiction. If you would like to read an informative, as well as an exciting and intriguing book, this is the book for you!