Synopses & Reviews
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.
Description
Includes bibliographical references (p. 343-352) and index.
About the Author
Richard Ofshe, a Professor of Social Psychology at the University of California at Berkeley, is one of the nation's foremost authorities on tactics of coercion and a co-recipient of the 1979 Pulitzer Prize for public service reporting. Ethan Watters, a freelance journalist, published one of the first articles on pseudo-memory in the popular press.