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The Courage to Heal versus the Experts
| The Courage to Heal | The Experts |
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| "If you think you were abused and your life shows the symptoms, then you were." (p. 22) |
"Foremost in the field, The Courage to Heal (Bass & Davis, 1988) encourages the
irresponsible views that: 'Many women who were abused don't have memories, and some never
get any. This doesn't mean that they weren't abused', and 'if you think you were abused,
and your life shows the symptoms, then you were'."
("Recovered memories of childhood
sexual abuse: Implications for clinical practice", p. 300)
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| "Many survivors have a difficult time with the concept of the child within, even though
forgiving that child is an essential part of healing." (p. 111) |
"As a result of its relentless promotion through books, lectures, and tapes, the 'inner
child' is now a fact of life to countless Americans. They talk to it, write about it,
interpret its dreams, indulge it in carefully constructed fantasies, and most of all,
they try to fix it. 'Healing the inner child within' has become the goal of therapists
across the country, and a handy, highly publicized framework from which to launch their
clinical practices and workshops. In the past month alone, I have received brochures
advertising workshops entitled 'Healing the Child Within,' 'Learning to Nurture Your
Inner Child,' and 'A Healing Workshop for Adult Children of Affluent Parents.' The
trauma of wealth?
So, what's the problem? There is no inner child! It is a metaphor, a representation,
a suggested way of thinking about your experience; it is not the experience itself.
But, for some people, the suggestion has transcended mere metaphor and become a reality." --
Michael Yapko, Ph.D.,
Suggestions of Abuse, p. 94. |
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