Web Resources
Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA)
• http://www.cmha.ca
Canadian Psychological Association (CPA)
• http://www.cpa.ca
College of Psychologists of Ontario (CPO)
• http://www.cpo.on.ca
Ontario Psychological Association (OPA)
• http://www.psych.on.ca
Recommended Reading
Berger, J. (2005). Emotional fitness: Discovering our natural healing power. Toronto, ON: Penguin Group (Canada).
“In this groundbreaking book, Janice Berger takes us on a fascinating voyage into the very centre of our emotional selves. She reveals how we can engage and cooperate with the natural emotional healing power we all possess in order to lead more fulfilling lives and enjoy more satisfying, vibrant relationships.”
“Honest, illuminating and free from jargon, Emotional Fitness demystifies emotional health and demonstrates clearly how we can live our lives with personal clarity and inner freedom.”
Fredrickson, R. (1992). Repressed memories: A journey of recovery from sexual abuse. Toronto, ON: A Fireside/Parkside Book.
“Most victims of child abuse repress some or all of the memory of the abuse at great expense to their health and emotional well-being. Drawing from her extensive clinical experience, Renee Fredrickson has written a supportive and encouraging book to help abuse victims understand: How memory repression happens; What the warning signs are for memory repression; The impact memory repression can have on their lives; Why it is vital to recover all the pieces of the puzzle; How to recover the memories and begin to heal.”
Freyd, J. J. (1996). Betrayal trauma: The logic of forgetting childhood abuse. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
“How can someone forget an event as traumatic as sexual abuse in childhood? People who don’t know first hand may wonder, and many apparently do, or controversy wouldn’t be raging around the issue of recovered memories today. This book lays bare the logic of forgotten abuse. Psychologist Jennifer Freyd’s breakthrough theory exploring this phenomenon show how psychogenic amnesia not only happens but, if the abuse occurred at the hands of a parent or caregiver, is often necessary for survival. What Freyd describes, with cogent real-life examples, is “betrayal trauma,” a blockage of information that would otherwise interfere with one’s ability to function within an essential relationship – that of parent and dependent child, for instance.”
“Freyd suggests that knowledge is multilayered, and that we can know and not know at once – and that implicit memory may surface in oblique ways: as specific phobias, learned behaviours, an image of oneself as a “bad boy” or “bad girl.””
“The author’s engaging style and use of personal anecdotes make her work, with its forays into the concepts and theories of cognitive science, accessible to any interested reader. Exploring the conceptual building blocks of her theory, she offers insight into a number of compelling topics, from how and why amnesia occurs to how memory is recovered.”
Herman, J. L. (1997). Trauma and recovery: The aftermath of violence – from domestic abuse to political terror. New York, NY: BasicBooks.
“The ordinary response to atrocities is to banish them from consciousness. Certain violations of the social compact are too terrible to utter aloud: this is the meaning of the word unspeakable.”
“Atrocities, however, refuse to be buried. Equally as powerful as the desire to deny atrocities is the conviction that denial does not work … remembering and telling the truth about terrible events are prerequisites both for the restoration of the social order and for the healing of individual victims.”
“Trauma and Recovery represents the fruits of two decades of research and clinical work with victims of sexual and domestic violence. It also reflects a growing body of experience with many other traumatized people; particularly combat veterans and the victims of political terror. This is a book about restoring connection: between the public and private worlds, between the individual and community, between men and women. It is a book about commonalities; between rape survivors and combat veterans, between battered women and political prisoners, between the survivors of vast concentration camps created by tyrants who rule nations and the survivors of small, hidden concentration camps created by tyrants who rule their homes.”
Jenson, J. (1995). Reclaiming your life: A step-by-step guide to using regression therapy to overcome the effects of childhood abuse. Toronto, ON: Penguin Books Canada Ltd.
“Reclaiming Your Life lays out a powerful program for healing the effects of childhood abuse. Jean Jenson provides practical and compassionate guidance on dismantling the childhood defenses of repression and denial in order to access buried experiences and emotions – and by re-experiencing the pain to finally heal.”
“Using examples from her private practice over the last fourteen years, Jenson demonstrates that twelve-step and similar programs, as well as traditional therapies do not fully deal with the phenomenon of repressed pain. Until this pain is “processed” – retrieved from the unconscious, fully experienced, and grieved over – she believes adults will still be trapped in the patterns of childhood. This insightful book draws on Jenson’s clinical experience to show: Why merely changing behaviour is not effective; Why women tend to be overreactors, men underreactors; Why marriage and the workplace are crucibles of triggering events; What grieving really is; How to get past the fear of experiencing deep in order to heal.”
Maté, G. (2003). When the body says no: The cost of hidden stress. Toronto, ON: Alfred A. Knopf Canada.
“When we have been prevented from learning how to say no, our bodies may end up saying it for us.”
“Dr. Maté summarizes the latest scientific findings about the roles stress and individual emotional makeup play in the causation of cancer and other chronic illnesses. He argues that knowledge of how this causal relationship works is essential to healing. With the help of dozens of moving and enlightening case studies and vignettes drawn from his two decades as a family practitioner and palliative care specialist, he provides poignant insights into how disease is often the body’s way of saying “no” to what the mind cannot or will not acknowledge.”
Whitfield, C. L. (1995). Memory and abuse: Remembering and healing the effects of trauma. Deerfield Beach, FL: Health Communications, Inc.
“Remembering what happened in any traumatic experience is basic and crucial to healing. For over 100 years the memory of abuse survivors has been questioned and challenged by all sorts of people, ranging from perpetrators to family members. More recently, this memory has been challenged by a combination of accused family members, their lawyers and a few academics who claim the existence of a “false memory syndrome.””
In this groundbreaking book Charles Whitfield, M.D., … brings his clinical experience and knowledge about traumatic memory to examine, explore and clarify this crucial issue that threatens to invalidate the experience of survivors of trauma and handcuff the helping professionals who assist them as they heal. This thorough, insightful work provides crucial information for anyone affected by a traumatic experience.”
