Making Monsters: False Memories, Psychotherapy, and Sexual Hysteria

Making Monsters: False Memories, Psychotherapy, and Sexual Hysteria
ISBN-10
0520205839
ISBN-13
9780520205833
Series
Making Monsters
Category
Social Science
Pages
360
Language
English
Published
1996-01-01
Publisher
Univ of California Press
Authors
Richard Ofshe, Ethan Watters

Description

In the last decade, reports of incest have exploded into the national consciousness. Magazines, talk shows, and mass market paperbacks have taken on the subject as many Americans, primarily women, have come forward with graphic memories of childhood abuse. Making Monsters examines the methods of therapists who treat patients for depression by working to draw out memories or, with the use of hypnosis, to encourage fantasies of childhood abuse the patients are told they have repressed. Since this therapy may leave the patient more depressed and alienated than before, questions are appropriately raised here about the ethics and efficacy of such treatment. In the last decade, reports of incest have exploded into the national consciousness. Magazines, talk shows, and mass market paperbacks have taken on the subject as many Americans, primarily women, have come forward with graphic memories of childhood abuse. Making Monsters examines the methods of therapists who treat patients for depression by working to draw out memories or, with the use of hypnosis, to encourage fantasies of childhood abuse the patients are told they have repressed. Since this therapy may leave the patient more depressed and alienated than before, questions are appropriately raised here about the ethics and efficacy of such treatment.

Other editions

Similar books