Intimate Coercion

Recognition and Recovery

By (author) Marti Loring, Melissa Scardaville

Hardback - £60.00

Publication date:

21 August 2015

Length of book:

168 pages

Publisher

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

ISBN-13: 9781442254329

This book explores the foundation and causes of intimate coercion, focusing specifically on the identification of the issue and subsequent healing process. Coerced by a relation, friend, or lover, the victim commits acts that are contrary to their normal behavior, and often, illegal in nature. Marti Loring and Melissa Scardaville reference an extensive list of case studies to examine the varying dynamics and experiences of intimate coercion among the wide subset of the population that is affected; this list includes immigrants, disabled individuals, children, and elders. To aid therapists working with coerced individuals, Intimate Coercion defines coercive mechanisms, identifies distinct elements in the coercion process, and provides transformative tools for use with coerced individuals. Based on Loring’s years of work in the courtroom and Scardaville’s work with battered women, Intimate Coercion unveils the driving force of coerced behavior and explains how therapists can help treat this trauma.
As the publisher's website states, this volume explores the foundation and causes of intimate coercion, focusing specifically on the identification of the issue and subsequent healing process. Sociologists Loring and Scardaville shine a light on intimate coercion and how devastating it can be for the victims and their families. In the book's 11 chapters, they provide information on what intimate coercion entails; how to evaluate subjects to determine if coercion is occurring; how coercion happens, and reasons why it continues, in a relationship; and what therapies work with coercion. The book details the types of abusephysical, sexual, and emotionalcommon to coercive relationships. Case studies scattered throughout the book are invaluable in helping the reader understand the nature of intimate coercionon the parts of the coerced and the coercer. A chapter on special populations highlights some of the distinct problems (deportation, making sexual orientation public, and so on) the groups might face. The chapter on the transformation of coerced subjects using therapy and transformative tools is particularly interesting. This readable volume will be valuable to anyone seeking to understand domestic violence, mental health problems, or criminal justice. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty; professionals.