Women Survivors, Psychological Trauma, and the Politics of Resistance

Understand how women survivors of abuse have become empowered to work for social change and help others!This one-of-a-kind book explores the processes through which women survivors of abuse can transform psychological trauma into a politics of resistance and become involved in collective action for social change. Women Survivors, Psychological Trauma, and the Politics of Resistance uses the powerful testimony of survivors to reveal the processes, factors, insights, and conditions that prompted these women to join in the collective struggle opposing violence against women and children.Unlike other books that only examine the empowerment strategies that women employ to leave abusive relationships, this essential book is a unique, in-depth exploration of the social and psychological processes of survivors’empowerment. This book traces how these processes unfold, showing how women have made sense of their lives and became involved in action for social change.In this unique book, you will discover:

• how the transition house movement came about and how its practices were conceived and shaped
• how women survivors have learned to recognize “invisible” conflicts and contradictions in their lives
• new directions for feminist social work research
• the barriers that stand in the way of building communities dedicated to healing, action, and change
• how the involvement of survivors themselves can help to recreate shelters and women's organizations as settings for the collective struggle against violence
• which currently used remedies for woman/child abuse need to be reexamined . . . and much more!Containing qualitative studies of eleven women, analysis of their abusive experiences, and suggestions for new social work models to help survivors of abuse, Women Survivors, Psychological Trauma, and the Politics of Resistance will assist you in developing improved techniques from a feminist social work perspective to provide help to abused women.