Bloodletting: a Memoir of Secrets, Self-Harm & Survival. Victoria Leatham, $19.95

On the outside, she appears to have it all. She's creative, beautiful, and confident. But inside Victoria Leatham struggles with silent, secret, and unbearable pain. In her late teens, Leatham is struck with an undeniable urge to cut herself. Oddly, the wounds she inflicts on herself mute the pain she feels inside. This memoir, a darkly humorous and often chilling account, vividly details Leatham's ordeal and reveals her most intimate thoughts as she struggles with cutting and a range of other psychological problems including eating disorders, sexual promiscuity, substance abuse, and bipolar disorder. And finally, it describes her discovery of the psychological secret that helps her escape from this spiral of self-destruction.

A Bright Red Scream: Self-Mutilation and the Language of Pain. Marilee Strong, $16.95

Mistakenly viewed as suicide attempts or senseless masochism — even by many health professionals — "cutting" is actually a complex means of coping with emotional pain. Marilee Strong explores this hidden epidemic through case studies, startling new research from psychologists, trauma experts, and neuroscientists, and the heartbreaking insights of cutters themselves who range from troubled teenagers to middle-age professionals to grandparents. Strong explains what factors lead to self-mutilation, why cutting helps people manage overwhelming fear and anxiety, and how cutters can heal both their internal and external wounds and break the self-destructive cycle. A BRIGHT RED SCREAM is a groundbreaking, essential resource for victims of self-mutilation, their families, teachers, doctors, and therapists.

The Courage to Heal: a Guide for Women Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse, 4th Edition. Laura Davis & Ellen Bass, $29.50

This 20th anniversary edition of THE COURAGE TO HEAL brings contemporary research and tools to this compassionate classic. Completely revised, updated and expanded, this edition brings personal stories together with clear explanations, practical suggestions and support throughout the healing process.

Many new features include:

• Current research on trauma and the brain
• An overview of powerful new healing tools such as imagery, meditation, and body-centered practices
• Additional stories that reflect a greater diversity of survivor experiences
• A comprehensive, up-to-date resource guide
• Insights from the authors’ experience since the first edition was published

Free From Lies: Discovering Your True Needs. Alice Miller, $20.00

Since the landmark publication of THE DRAMA OF THE GIFTED CHILD, no one has been more influential than Alice Miller in empowering adults whose lives were maimed emotionally and physically as children. Now Dr. Miller goes even further, presenting groundbreaking theories that enhance communication between therapist and patient and enable the adult to express powerful emotions that have been trapped for years. Practical and perceptive, Miller’s work explains what we can expect from therapy, how we can identify the causes of our own pain, and why subconscious pain, unaddressed for decades, manifests itself later as depression, self-mutilation, primal inadequacy, and chronic loneliness. With its responses to readers’ letters and powerful stories, FREE FROM LIES is the culmination of a life devoted to healing others.

Girls Like Us: Fighting for a World Where Girls Are Not for Sale. Rachel Lloyd, $17.99

During her teens, Rachel Lloyd ended up a victim of commercial sexual exploitation. With time, through incredible resilience, and with the help of a local church community, she finally broke free of her pimp and her past and devoted herself to helping other young girls escape "the life."

In GIRLS LIKE US, Lloyd reveals the dark world of commercial sex trafficking in cinematic detail and tells the story of her groundbreaking nonprofit organization: GEMS, Girls Educational and Mentoring Services. With great humanity, she shares the stories of the girls whose lives GEMS has helped — small victories that have healed her wounds and made her whole. Revelatory, authentic, and brave, GIRLS LIKE US is an unforgettable memoir.

Invisible Girls: the Truth About Sexual Abuse. Patti Feuereisen, $21.50

A book for teen girls, young women and everyone who cares about them.

Mean Mothers: Overcoming the Legacy of Hurt. Peg Streep, $32.99

Drawn from research and the real-life experiences of adult daughters, MEAN MOTHERS illuminates one of the last cultural taboos: what happens when a woman does not or cannot love her own daughter. This essential volume focuses on the subtle forms of psychological damage inflicted by mothers on their unappreciated daughters—and offers help and support to those women who were forced to suffer a parent’s cruelty and neglect.

Morningstar: a Warrior's Spirit. Morningstar Mercredi, $19.95

A powerful and moving story of one woman's victory over abuse, poverty, and discrimination to recover her life, her self-esteem and the love of her son. Sexually abused from an early age, by family members and the boyfriends she turned to for consolation, she was promiscuous, alcoholic and a drug user by the time she was thirteen. She had a son when she was seventeen and then married at eighteen. Days and weeks of sobriety were followed by weeks and months of drinking and self-abuse.

Then, when her son was four, things began to change. Morningstar found support, from the community, from her son, and from within herself, to be a good mother, find employment, keep relationships and reconnect with her family. Today, she is a strong and creative member of her community, and eager to tell her story of defeat and ultimate triumph. Honest and self-critical in her descriptions of many attempts and repeated failures, she gives enormous credit to her son, for his constant love, his determination to be honest with her, and his unfailing confidence in her ability to succeed.

Moving On After Childhood Sexual Abuse: Understanding the Effects and Preparing for Therapy. Jonathan Willows, $27.50

Based on known reactions to physical and emotional trauma, MOVING ON AFTER CHILDHOOD SEXUAL ABUSE explains how a broad range of difficulties in adulthood can result from sexual abuse in childhood. The reader is invited to think about how psychological therapy can be particularly helpful in reducing these difficulties and promoting change. Ground rules for therapy are provided, as well as guidance on how to get the most from the therapy process. The book provides a clear explanation of the developmental effects of childhood sexual abuse as well as the role of psychological therapy.

Stolen Tomorrows: Understanding and Treating Women’s Childhood Sexual Abuse. Steven Levenkron, $17.50

STOLEN TOMORROWS looks at the variety and consequences of women’s childhood sexual abuse. The book encourages women to recognize and seek care for their history of abuse. As well, the book offers therapists empathic insight into the work of helping survivors to heal.

From the Foreword: “This powerful book is filled with the distinct, diverse voices of people who experienced rape, molestation, and incest when they were young. With remarkable honesty they tell how they stopped feeling victimized and reclaimed their lives — the choices they made, the people they turned to, the inner strength they discovered.”

— Laura Davis, author of The Courage to Heal

The Sum of My Parts: a Survivor's Story of Dissociative Identity Disorder. Olga Trujillo, $21.95

Olga Trujillo's childhood was marked by such extensive violence and sexual abuse that she developed the ability to observe scenes from her life as though they were happening to someone else. Blocking herself from the terrors of her real life, Olga began to "go away in her head" and create alternate senses of herself, or parts—distinct personalities that allowed her to compartmentalize and temporarily forget her father's attacks so that she could make friends and attend school like any other child. Dissociative identity disorder (DID) had taken hold. Formerly known as multiple personality disorder, DID helped Olga to function, but this disorder is associated with horrifying flashbacks, suicidal thoughts, mood swings, memory loss, panic attacks, and the confusion of not knowing one's true identity.

THE SUM OF MY PARTS is the story of Ms. Trujillo's courageous struggle to understand and overcome the psychological aftereffects of her abusive childhood and an inspiring look into the remarkable power of the human brain to protect itself at all costs. After years of relying on a complex network of fragmented memories in order to function and survive, Olga learns to integrate her parts through psychotherapy and begins to see the whole picture of her life for the first time. Today, Olga Trujillo is an attorney, speaker, and advocate for victims of domestic violence and child abuse. This memoir of triumph over the most devastating conditions will enlighten and inspire anyone whose life has been affected by violence, abuse, or trauma.

Survivor Moms: Women’s Stories of Birthing, Mothering and Healing after Sexual Abuse. Mickey Sperlich & Julia Seng, $39.95

Sexual abuse and the reactions to it affect mothers' whole lives—from thinking about having children all the way to being grandmothers. These effects are far-reaching and deeply felt. SURVIVOR MOMS shares narrative excerpts from interviews with women who have survived abuse; along with the clinical perspectives of midwives and contributions from other healthcare professionals. Whether you are a survivor, a midwife, a mental health provider, or you know a survivor who is on this path, you will learn from this book about mothering and the ongoing journey of healing and surviving.

Treating Complex Traumatic Stress Disorders: an Evidence-Based Guide. Edited by Christine Courtois & Julian Ford, $60.50

Chronic childhood trauma, such as prolonged abuse or family violence, can severely disrupt a person's development, basic sense of self and later relationships. Adults with this type of history often come to therapy with complex symptoms that go beyond existing criteria for PTSD. This important book brings together prominent authorities to present the latest thinking on complex traumatic stress disorders and provide practical guidelines for conceptualization and treatment. Evidence-based assessment procedures are detailed and innovative individual, couple, family, and group therapies are described and illustrated with case vignettes and session transcripts.

Treating Survivors of Childhood Abuse: Psychotherapy for the Interrupted Life. Marylene Cloitre, Lisa Cohen & Karestan Koenen, $44.50

Meeting a key need, this book presents a modular adult psychotherapy approach grounded in extensive clinical experience and research. Provided is a flexible, empirically supported framework for helping clients manage symptoms related to past physical or sexual abuse; build emotion regulation and interpersonal skills; and process traumatic memories and their associated feelings of fear, shame, and loss. Session-by-session guidelines include many suggestions for tailoring interventions to each person's needs in the context of a safe, supportive therapeutic environment. Designed in a large, easy-to-use format, the book includes over a dozen reproducible handouts, worksheets, and other tools for clinicians and clients.

The Unsayable: the Hidden Language of Trauma. Annie Rogers, $17.50

In her twenty years as a clinical psychologist, Annie Rogers has learned to understand the silent language of girls who will not—who cannot—speak about devastating sexual trauma. Abuse too painful to put into words does have a language though, a language of coded signs and symptoms that conventional therapy fails to understand. THE UNSAYABLE is a book with the power to change the way we think about suffering and self-expression. For those who have experienced psychological trauma, and for those who yearn to help, this brave, compelling book will be a touchstone of lucid understanding and true healing.

When Survivors Give Birth: Understanding and Healing the Effects of Early Sexual Abuse on Childbearing Women. Penny Simkin & Phyllis Klaus, $35.50

WHEN SURVIVORS GIVE BIRTH provides survivors and their maternity caregivers with extensive information on the prevalence and short- and long-term effects of childhood sexual abuse, emphasizing its possible impact on childbearing women. Challenges in the client-caregiver relationship are thoroughly portrayed, with much practical advice for improving trust and communication as well as self-help techniques to handle abuse-related distress. Chapters on birth counseling, psychotherapy, and clinical care of survivors make this book a useful resource for survivors and all who work with them.