Betrayed as boys : psychodynamic treatment of sexually abused men /

A psychoanalyst and founder/director of the Sexual Abuse Program under the William Alanson White Institute's auspices, Gartner draws together the literature on men who were sexually abused as boys. After a chapter on definitions, the author explores the impact of abuse on men's emotional development, sexual identity, sexual orientation, and relationships. Although not a treatment manual, the book has extensive discussions of 38 of the patients Gartner has treated. Though it emphasizes transference and countertransference, a chapter on the patient-therapist dyad has a particularly perceptive section on the vicarious traumatization of therapists working with these patients. The author provides in-depth analysis of the effect of sexual abuse on boys/men and provides a sophisticated tying together of the cultural, developmental and, personality factors influencing the patients' adjustment. The 21 pages of references, although heavy on psychoanalytic literature, have enough material from other sources to lend credibility to the author's conclusion, even for those readers who are not psychoanalytically oriented. This book adds to the literature of an underexplored area: there are many books on sexually abused girls but few on boys. Upper-division undergraduates through professionals. W. P. Anderson University of Missouri--Columbia