Trauma and survival

Elizabeth A. Waites

In this groundbreaking work, Elizabeth Waites proposes a new concept of female psychology, supported by research, that challenges the notion of the pathologized or "hysterical" woman. Integrating psychological, legal, sociological, and historical research findings, as well as the psychology of women that has evolved over the last two decades, she offers a new model of mental health that considers dissociation and post-traumatic syndromes as normal reactions to trauma and victimization, both within the family and in the wider cultural context. By taking apart patriarchal social constructs, Dr. Waites examines how women are beset on every side with double binds, which force them to adopt coping mechanisms that help integrate these contradictory messages into a liveable reality. Often, these mechanisms are not recognized as being pathological or adaptive because they fit with the perception of the "good" woman.^ In a perceptive and penetrating opening chapter, she makes explicit the causal link between trauma and "female" disorders such as borderline personality disorder, dissociative disorders, multiple personality disorder, and depression. This link is often not seen, because the more benign connection between cultural programming and garden-variety "female" behavior (forgetfulness, hysteria, overemotionality, dependence) is not made. She then goes on to cover diagnosis and treatment of trauma-related disorders, with chapters on PTSD in rape, battering, and incest, and in the dissociative disorders. Included also is a chapter that focuses on professional ethics, particularly therapist motives and implications of diagnosis. The book concludes by addressing special issues in therapy, including iatrogenic symptoms, revictimization, therapy with patients who self-injure, victims of ritualized abuse, and enactment in the session.^ This book refutes the centuries-old idea that there is a gender-related biological imperative in female mental health, while offering a rational and sound model for diagnosing and treating traumatized women. Intended primarily for therapists who work in a variety of treatment settings with female victims of violence, it will be useful to any clinician who treats women and who is sensitive to the impact of sexism on their lives.