Abuse is defined broadly and considered as a widespread phenomenon with a variety of manifestations and contexts. Its consequences, and the responses it may provoke, are discussed in detail with reference to three areas. In the personal context, the impact of abuse on an individual's development, emotional life and ability to participate in society is addressed. In the workplace, where the focus is upon working relationships and organizational goals, abuse may cause stress, undermine effectiveness and lead to legal redress: thus it involves a different set of problems and requires different treatment. In relation to society as a whole, the threat which abuse poses and the factors which determine policy are evaluated.
Introduction - abuse, the individual and the social, Carol-Ann Hooper and Una MnCluskey. Part 1 The individual and interpersonal contexts of abuse: an object-relations perspective on the development of the person, Jeremy Hazell; attachment theory and abuse - a developmental perspective, Jeremy Holmes; relationships as a function of context, Frances B. Carter; is human nature intrinsically abusive? reflections on the psychodynamics of evil, Phil Mollon. Part 2 The social, cultural and political contexts of abuse: exile - paradoxes of loss and creativity, Nancy Caro Hollander; abuse in religious institutions - an exploration of the psychosocial dynamics in the Irish context, Una McCluskey; what cost assimilation and integration? working with transcultural issues, Lennox Thomas; intimacy, gender and abuse - the construction of masculinities, Stephen Frosh; sexual orientation and abuse, Francis Mondimore. Part 3 Working with individuals in clinical settings: inner silence - one of the impacts of emotional abuse upon the developing self, Susan Van Dias; treatment or torture? working with issues of abuse and torture in the transference, Shirley Truckle; the abuse of learning disabled people - living and working with the consequences, Valerie Sinason; dissociative identity disorder and memories of childhood abuse, Phil Mollon. Part 4 Working with individuals and groups in organizational settings: containment, supervision and abuse, Dick Agass; working as an organizational consultant with abuse encountered in the workplace, Judith Brearley. Part 5 Psychodynamic reflections on social policy: desire and the law, Andrew Cooper; social work responses to domestic violence in the context of child protection, Margaret Bell; reparative experience or repeated trauma? child sexual abuse and adult mental health services, Carol-Ann Hooper and Juliet Koprowska; the repudiated self - the failure of social welfare policy for older people, Joan Harbison.
It is rare to find authors from backgrounds as different as psychotherapy, sociology and women's history within one book, and rather than reducing the impact of the material, this breadth of knowledge and experience enhances the interest of the reader, as the multiple contexts for abuse are explored.. One of the aims of this book is enhance policymakers' understanding of the psychodynamics of abuse and by doing so to influence the strategies which they develop to deal with it. In my view, they succeed admirably in this aim.
