Rising above the polemics surrounding sexual and physical abuse, David and Jill Savege Scharff bring a relational perspective to the integration of psychoanalytic and trauma theories in order to understand the effects of overwhelming physical and psychological trauma, including sexual abuse, injury, and birth defect. The Scharffs draw from their object relations therapy with individuals, families, and couples recovering from trauma and abundance of relevant clinical examples described in their characteristically personal and vivid style. Reviews: Object Relations Therapy of Physical and Sexual Trauma is a timely and impressive examination of the causes, effects, and therapeutic solutions to trauma. The Scharffs examine the psychoanalytic literature on trauma with meticulous attention and present the psychanalytic view in a lucid and fair-minded manner, all the more impressive given the emotionally intoxicating effect of the subject matter in contemporary America. Their own understanding of trauma and its treatment is presented through the moving accounts of the patients they have treated, giving this book a unique quality: somewhere between Havelock Ellis and Dickens. Not all will agree with their point of view, but if one book could embrace a topic as complex as that of trauma, it is hard to imagine a more lucid, moving, and generous presentation. About the Authors: Jill Savege Scharff, M.D., co-director of the International Institute of Object Relations Therapy, is a clinical professor of psychiatry at Georgetown University, and teaches child analysis at the Washington Psychoanalytic Institute. David E. Scharff, M. D., co-director of the International Institute of Object Relations Therapy, is a clinical professor of psychiatry at Georgetown University, and a teaching analyst at the Washington Psychoanalytic Institute. |