Carefrontation

Book excerpt: With more than thirty years of experience, Dr. Arlene Drake writes a guide for those desperately in need of a way to break free from the pain of childhood abuse and reclaim their lives. When confronted with an abused child, our first impulse is to drop everything and provide comfort, get him or her out of danger, and find out what the hell is going on at home. It’s obvious that the child is helpless, in trouble, and needs protection. Parents or not, we instinctively know what to do: We take care of the child. But what if the child is you? Active and directive, Carefrontation is filled with exercises and the simple, effective tools Dr. Drake has used successfully with her own clients for more than three decades. It lays out a powerful way to repair the damage of childhood abuse and its lasting effects, by teaching you what your parents couldn’t: an invaluable set of skills and practices that will give you the resources to live as a healthy, happy adult. With the clear path this book provides, you can finally acknowledge that the suffering and the pain can stop. The destructive patterns can end. You can graduate, at last, into a life beyond “abuse victim” and for the first time take the power back from your abusers and finally be at peace.