When Love Hurts: A Woman's Guide to Understanding Abuse in Relationships - Softcover

Cory, Jill; Mcandless-davis, Karen

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0425274284 ISBN 13: 9780425274286

Publisher: Berkley, 2016

Synopsis

“Every woman who is struggling to understand the mistreatment she is experiencing in her relationship should begin by reading [this] wonderful book.”—Lundy Bancroft, author of Why Does He Do That?
 
 What do you do when the one you love hurts you?
 
Have you been searching for answers to difficult questions about your relationship? Do you feel confused about why your partner seems loving one moment and angry the next? Summoning the courage to ask these challenging questions can seem daunting. You know something is wrong in your relationship, but you are not sure what. If you are beginning to wonder if you are experiencing abuse, this book can offer you support, information, and, most of all, hope as you look for answers.
 
Written by two women with a wealth of experience supporting victims of abuse, When Love Hurts introduces exercises and resources to help you make sense of your relationship, addressing all forms of abuse, including verbal, emotional, financial, sexual, and physical.
 
This practical guidebook is a supportive and nonjudgmental friend to those who don’t know where to turn and is filled with stories from women who have been in the same position. By drawing on your own wisdom and that of the many others who have shared your experience, When Love Hurts can help you find the answers you have been looking for.

About this title

From the Publisher

Contrary to popular opinion, women who live with abuse are not helpless, weak or confused. In fact, they invariably demonstrate great strength and wisdom as they cope with abuse. Friends, family and even professionals all too often subtly blame the victim and suggest simple and naïve solutions. When Love Hurts takes a different approach. And it's an approach that works. The authors have helped hundreds of women discover their own courage and insight. Their premise is simple: when it comes to their own lives, women themselves are the experts.

The book is unique in the field because it doesn't assume that a woman must leave an abusive relationship. While acknowledging that leaving may be best for many women, it leaves the decision firmly in the hands of women themselves. In a field dominated by books and experts that tell women what to do, When Love Hurts tells women what they're already doing right and helps them learn to trust their own judgment.

When Love Hurts is also unique because it makes cutting-edge research and counseling techniques accessible to ordinary readers. Jill Cory and Karen McAndless-Davis have a combined 21 years of experience working with women who have experienced abuse. In When Love Hurts, they bring together ground-breaking research and poignant personal accounts to help women reflect on their experiences from a new perspective. They help women unlock their own wisdom and see the strength and courage they already have.

Jill Cory is the Domestic Violence Response Coordinator at Women's Hospital in Vancouver, B.C. She pioneered a "women-centered" approach in her research and work with women. Karen is herself a survivor of abuse and she is the Director of Connections, an agency which provides individual and group counseling for women who have experienced abuse.

More than anything, women who live with abuse need to know that they are not alone, that they aren't weak or crazy, and they don't cause the abuse. They are already doing a great deal to protect themselves and their children. While they cannot change their partners' behaviour, they can develop confidence in their own wisdom and courage, and discover new hope for the future. When Love Hurts will help them do that.

From the Author

We wanted to write the book for all the women who don't have access to a group counseling program like ours. Waiting lists for counseling and support groups are so long, many of them have been closed. And we know that thousands of women are living not only with abuse, but also with the isolation and shame that go with it. We wanted to make the life-changing work we do in groups available to all those women.

About this edition

• Publisher: Berkley
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 0425274284
• ISBN 13: 9780425274286
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 208