Childhood Sexual Abuse and the Construction of Identity: Healing Sylvia

Applying psychological, feminist, and discourse analysis to a woman's autobiographical account of incest and self-healing, Davies (psychology, U. of Sheffield, England) addresses many of the debates currently raging about childhood sexual abuse. Among them are the legal and ethical implications of treating first-hand accounts as unchallengeable, the cultural production of what constitutes mental health, negotiating the allocation of blame and responsibility, and the false-memory syndrome. Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or.