Truth and Repair

December 19, 2022
Herman (Trauma and Recovery), a professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, delivers an incisive report on the links between patriarchy and gendered violence, and offers a plan for helping victims to heal and bringing perpetrators to justice. Drawing on testimony from survivors of childhood abuse, domestic violence, and other forms of trauma, Herman describes how abusers “break the will” of victims and deprive them of “agency” by isolating them from their friends and families and making them feel “repulsive.” Elsewhere, she describes patriarchy as the “most widespread and enduring form of tyranny,” detailing how it oppresses women in the domains of “production, reproduction, sex, and child rearing.” For Herman, justice and repair can only happen when survivors recognize “they are not alone, they have nothing to be ashamed of, and theirs is not a private misfortune.” She draws on Greek myth and social contract theory to suggest that “when a community rallies to the victim’s support, vengeful feelings are transformed into shared righteous indignation, which can be a powerful source of energy for repair,” and calls for society to dismantle “our most deeply embedded structures of oppression and to create new structures where everyone is respected, everyone is included, and everyone has a voice.” The result is a scrupulous and ardent call for change.

February 1, 2023

In a companion piece to her 1992 book Trauma and Recovery, Herman (psychiatry, Harvard Medical Sch.) imagines an equitable model for justice for trauma survivors. She focuses her discussion on the victims of violence against women and children. First, she explores trauma through the lenses of tyranny, equity and patriarchy. Next, she imagines a more equitable justice system that centers victims and their desires; there are examples to illustrate. Through conversations with victims, Herman discovers that they most often want an acknowledgement of their experience from the community, an apology from the perpetrator, and for the perpetrator to be held accountable. Herman's analysis finds that the current criminal justice system in the United States is inadequate for the victims she interviewed and leaves many of them feeling as though they do not have a voice. Additionally, she briefly looks at the effect of systemic racism in justice systems. She advocates for alternate models of justice, most prominently a restorative justice one, and assesses the pros and cons of these approaches. The book ends with a call for change and centering of survivors. VERDICT An intriguing exploration of alternative methods of justice for trauma survivors.--Rebekah Kati

Copyright 2023 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 15, 2023
Imagining healing for survivors of violence. In this follow-up to Trauma and Recovery, Herman, a professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School with decades of experience treating traumatized patients, presents a set of strategies for recovery, with a particular focus on the experiences of women and children. As she explains, survivors must navigate several stages as they work toward therapeutic outcomes, beginning with securing a sense of present safety and then moving on to making sense of trauma through grieving, strengthening ties to a supportive network of others, and finally seeking justice through some form of public recognition. As Herman makes clear, healing requires seizing the moral attention of community members, who must play the crucial role of confirming that wrongs have been committed. "Acknowledgement of the survivor's truth, acknowledgement of the harm she has suffered, and full apology, with remorse and without excuses--for many survivors, these are the requisite actions by which perpetrators and bystanders can begin the process of healing, moving from truth to repair," writes the author, who makes a persuasive argument that acts of violence must be understood in both personal and transpersonal terms. In other words, individual trauma is always bound up with ideological structures that can facilitate forms of abuse and prolong suffering. To that end, Herman combines sensitive commentary on the testimonies of particular survivors with analysis of the social, economic, and legal contexts in which their victimization took place. Also astute are the author's reflections on the shortcomings of the American justice system when it comes to serving "the well-being of the victim rather than the punishment of the offender." Herman argues convincingly that, in many instances, survivors' search for justice must include restorative rather than retributive justice. As it stands, "the justice system offer[s] them very little incentive to endure the rigors of a trial." A compelling outline of the necessary conditions of personal and collective recovery from trauma.

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January 20, 2023
Herman, in addition to addressing individual kinds of trauma, analyzes broader movements such as transatlantic slavery, women's liberation, and wars. Herman argues that empowerment for trauma survivors is key in their recovery while also mentioning that law enforcement can cause more harm despite good intentions. Going to the root of forces like tyranny, oppression, and patriarchy, Herman outlines several concepts in great detail, including coercion. She addresses sensitive subject matter, particularly sexual violence and assault. The text could have benefited from more illustrations in some parts, although it does include a few helpful diagrams such as the Power and Control Wheel. Truth and Repair is a vital text to understanding the processes that underly trauma, how it unfolds, what it does to victims, and several larger discussions about recovery. This book is more suited to academic library collections, especially due to the complexity of the frameworks discussed. Public libraries may also benefit from adding this to their collections, as millions of trauma sufferers seek to understand the larger forces behind what they have undergone.

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