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Children of alcoholics: A critical appraisal of theory and research
Book Reviews
237
which leads into four sections covering the nature of suggestibility; Theoretical Perspectives; Researching Suggestibility and Applications/Implications. Whilst any book on suggestibility must inevitably contain consideration of hypnosis, the approach is much broader than this and would be a useful reference for practising clinicians, teachers, group leaders and researchers. JANE BEAL
S. SHAPmOand G. M. DOMINIAK: Sexual Trauma and Psychopathology. Lexington Books, New York (1992). pp. xiii + 192. $29.95 Sexual abuse and the trauma that it can cause have taken centre stage in the popular press and in the arena of adult psychopathology despite the obvious lag in empirical research in the field. Thus the appeal of a textbook such as this, subtitled "Clinical Intervention with Adult Survivors', should be apparent to professionals working in the industry now known as 'sexual abuse'. The authors' decision to share their clinical experience, albeit in a thoughtful and stylish manner, may leave the clinician uninformed and the researcher dazzled by the lack of quantitative material presented to substantiate and validate the assertions made in these chapters on treatment of trauma in adults who were victims of child sexual abuse. The book is organised into eight chapters, five written by one or other of the main authors (a social worker and a physician), and three by contributing authors, all clinicians. The brief introduction hurries through a complex topic, referring to psychoanalytic explanations for serious dysfunction in adult 'survivors' of sexual abuse. The emphasis of the subsequent chapters is made clear: it is a book for clinicians who work with sexually abused clients who are showing major dysfunction in their adult lives--psychiatric disorder, substance abuse and severe psychological trauma. Chapter One addresses suicidality and the sequelae of childhood sexual victimisation, including a liberal sprinkling of clinical examples and a startling lack of depth, providing a superficial account of psychotherapeutic intervention with this client group. Chapters Two and Three explore the psychodynamic concepts involved in treating sexual trauma. Chapter Four focuses on sexual trauma and the use of hypnosis in the treatment process. Chapter Five is entitled 'Psychopharmacology of the abused" and the author (Dominiak) points out that there is essentially no literature on the subject of 'appropriate pharmacologic treatment of human reactions to abuse experiences', which he considers to be a lamentable oversight. There follows a detailed description of pharmacological approaches to psychological problems such as anxiety, depression and psychotic and dissociative disorders, its relevance to the treatment of sexual abuse trauma being less than clear. Chapter Six looks at the connection between incest and substance abuse, drawing on previous well-established research and single case studies, while Chapter Seven deals specifically with the treatment of sexual abuse among substance-abusing women and is a useful and practical summary of appropriate interventions. The final chapter on psychiatric hospitalisation helpfully emphasises the importance of collaboration between professional groups, but unhelpfully repeats the theme of treating sexual abuse as a diagnostic entity, an approach that has proved unsuccessful as a way of conceptualising sexual abuse and its sequelae. Although unlikely to satisfy experienced clinicians or enlighten researchers, this book may be useful for clinicians working in a psychodynamic framework with adult clients in which unresolved sexual trauma contributes to their difficulties. MICHELLE NEW
KENNETH J. SLIER: Children of Alcoholics: A Critical Appraisal of Theory and Research. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago (1992). xii + 221 pp. £19.95 In this volume, Dr Sher has attempted to gather and order much of the literature relating to research on children of alcoholics. For the researcher involved in this field, this book provides an extensive literature review and guide to research methods. However, the reader with less involvement in research into children of alcoholics may find that this book has to be studied with intense concentration. Certain subjects for example are described in, at times, an overinclusive way as illustrated by the chapter "Models of vulnerability". Nevertheless, the organisation and style of the chapters is very suitable for this particular book. It is possible, for example, to select certain chapters and gain an adequate overview of the facts without necessarily reading the whole text. Three chapters in particular--viz, those on genetic and environmental influences, research methodology and psychological characteristics (the latter being most relevant to readers of this journal) illustrate this point. S. UNNITHAN
S. STEINHAUER,J. GRUZELIER and J. ZUBIN (Eds): Neuropsychology, Psychophysiology and Information Processing (Vol. 5 of Handbook of Schizophrenia). Elsevier, Amsterdam (1991). 687 pp. $331.50 This is the latest additicn to the series on schizophrenia. The other volumes cover neurology, neuropharmacology, epidemiology and psychosocial treatment of schizophrenia. The current volume encompasses a wide range of views on the topics given in the title from a wide variety of experts. This is both an advance and a drawback. Several chapters cover the same area and contain the same review material which makes it repetitious. But, a few authors have profitted by this (e.g. Salzinger's chapter on a behavior-analytic approach to schizophrenic verbal behavior) and have used the opportunity to write in more depth about a particular topic with an emphasis on specific experimental manipulations. Most authors acknowledge the problems of the definition of schizophrenia and some even use the different sorts of definitions to investigate further hypotheses. However, the differing definitions, effects of drugs, paucity of normal comparative data for some of the tasks, as well as the lack of standardisation of some tasks emphasises the need for clear reviews of current knowledge which this book has tried to provide. But some chapters were poor. In particular, the chapter on information processing was neither conceptually driven nor data driven. The book also failed to merge information from neuropsychology and information processing with current
237
which leads into four sections covering the nature of suggestibility; Theoretical Perspectives; Researching Suggestibility and Applications/Implications. Whilst any book on suggestibility must inevitably contain consideration of hypnosis, the approach is much broader than this and would be a useful reference for practising clinicians, teachers, group leaders and researchers. JANE BEAL
S. SHAPmOand G. M. DOMINIAK: Sexual Trauma and Psychopathology. Lexington Books, New York (1992). pp. xiii + 192. $29.95 Sexual abuse and the trauma that it can cause have taken centre stage in the popular press and in the arena of adult psychopathology despite the obvious lag in empirical research in the field. Thus the appeal of a textbook such as this, subtitled "Clinical Intervention with Adult Survivors', should be apparent to professionals working in the industry now known as 'sexual abuse'. The authors' decision to share their clinical experience, albeit in a thoughtful and stylish manner, may leave the clinician uninformed and the researcher dazzled by the lack of quantitative material presented to substantiate and validate the assertions made in these chapters on treatment of trauma in adults who were victims of child sexual abuse. The book is organised into eight chapters, five written by one or other of the main authors (a social worker and a physician), and three by contributing authors, all clinicians. The brief introduction hurries through a complex topic, referring to psychoanalytic explanations for serious dysfunction in adult 'survivors' of sexual abuse. The emphasis of the subsequent chapters is made clear: it is a book for clinicians who work with sexually abused clients who are showing major dysfunction in their adult lives--psychiatric disorder, substance abuse and severe psychological trauma. Chapter One addresses suicidality and the sequelae of childhood sexual victimisation, including a liberal sprinkling of clinical examples and a startling lack of depth, providing a superficial account of psychotherapeutic intervention with this client group. Chapters Two and Three explore the psychodynamic concepts involved in treating sexual trauma. Chapter Four focuses on sexual trauma and the use of hypnosis in the treatment process. Chapter Five is entitled 'Psychopharmacology of the abused" and the author (Dominiak) points out that there is essentially no literature on the subject of 'appropriate pharmacologic treatment of human reactions to abuse experiences', which he considers to be a lamentable oversight. There follows a detailed description of pharmacological approaches to psychological problems such as anxiety, depression and psychotic and dissociative disorders, its relevance to the treatment of sexual abuse trauma being less than clear. Chapter Six looks at the connection between incest and substance abuse, drawing on previous well-established research and single case studies, while Chapter Seven deals specifically with the treatment of sexual abuse among substance-abusing women and is a useful and practical summary of appropriate interventions. The final chapter on psychiatric hospitalisation helpfully emphasises the importance of collaboration between professional groups, but unhelpfully repeats the theme of treating sexual abuse as a diagnostic entity, an approach that has proved unsuccessful as a way of conceptualising sexual abuse and its sequelae. Although unlikely to satisfy experienced clinicians or enlighten researchers, this book may be useful for clinicians working in a psychodynamic framework with adult clients in which unresolved sexual trauma contributes to their difficulties. MICHELLE NEW
KENNETH J. SLIER: Children of Alcoholics: A Critical Appraisal of Theory and Research. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago (1992). xii + 221 pp. £19.95 In this volume, Dr Sher has attempted to gather and order much of the literature relating to research on children of alcoholics. For the researcher involved in this field, this book provides an extensive literature review and guide to research methods. However, the reader with less involvement in research into children of alcoholics may find that this book has to be studied with intense concentration. Certain subjects for example are described in, at times, an overinclusive way as illustrated by the chapter "Models of vulnerability". Nevertheless, the organisation and style of the chapters is very suitable for this particular book. It is possible, for example, to select certain chapters and gain an adequate overview of the facts without necessarily reading the whole text. Three chapters in particular--viz, those on genetic and environmental influences, research methodology and psychological characteristics (the latter being most relevant to readers of this journal) illustrate this point. S. UNNITHAN
S. STEINHAUER,J. GRUZELIER and J. ZUBIN (Eds): Neuropsychology, Psychophysiology and Information Processing (Vol. 5 of Handbook of Schizophrenia). Elsevier, Amsterdam (1991). 687 pp. $331.50 This is the latest additicn to the series on schizophrenia. The other volumes cover neurology, neuropharmacology, epidemiology and psychosocial treatment of schizophrenia. The current volume encompasses a wide range of views on the topics given in the title from a wide variety of experts. This is both an advance and a drawback. Several chapters cover the same area and contain the same review material which makes it repetitious. But, a few authors have profitted by this (e.g. Salzinger's chapter on a behavior-analytic approach to schizophrenic verbal behavior) and have used the opportunity to write in more depth about a particular topic with an emphasis on specific experimental manipulations. Most authors acknowledge the problems of the definition of schizophrenia and some even use the different sorts of definitions to investigate further hypotheses. However, the differing definitions, effects of drugs, paucity of normal comparative data for some of the tasks, as well as the lack of standardisation of some tasks emphasises the need for clear reviews of current knowledge which this book has tried to provide. But some chapters were poor. In particular, the chapter on information processing was neither conceptually driven nor data driven. The book also failed to merge information from neuropsychology and information processing with current