How many kinds of abuse are there? Child abuse. Sexual abuse. Rape. Emotional abuse. Psychological abuse. Physical abuse. Religious abuse. Domestic violence. Bullying. Cyber bullying. Genocide. Ritual abuse. Did I forget any? We have at least one book for every one of these kinds of abuse. WHY IS IT that I learned so very little in graduate school about abuse?
We have published several books on abuse, and I am very proud of that fact. I wish many of these were assigned to me when I was getting my degrees in Social Work, Education, and Counseling!!! Decades later, now working with my husband publishing books, I learn what ritual abuse is for the first time. And my eyes get opened to the horrors of genocide in the book Invisible (a book that is actually getting used in colleges now!!) I had PTSD in the middle of the night editing that book!!
I think the first time I really understood what ritual abuse was, was when our author Lois Einhorn, Ph.D. came to visit us. She wrote the book, along with 53 contributors, Forgiveness and Child Abuse: Would YOU Forgive? Every once in a while, we communicate, always with such fondness for each other, and she just wrote this to me: "... Each spring semester I teach a course I created from scratch on Compassionate, Nonviolent Communication.... I'm not sure if you're familiar with Who's Who, an organization promoting people since the late 1800's. My bio was put in there several years ago. Last year I was recognized with a Lifetime Achievement Award, and I've just received an award for being a Distinguished Humanitarian. It's difficult to feel worthy of such an honor!" Whoever nominated her, I totally agree that she is worthy of such an honor.
We published Ritual Abuse in the Twenty-First Century: Psychological, Forensic, Social, and Political Considerations ten years ago and it went out of print. This book has 20 contributors from around the world. I put it up as a Kindle book on Amazon so people around the world could still buy this extraordinary book and it was good to keep making it available. Then I discovered that what I call scalpers were selling it for $117!! And the Amazon Kindle program has a new feature where we can make Print-on-Demand soft cover books! Due to partly my outrage at those trying to sell this book for outrageous prices but mostly out of my strong passion this book should be available to everyone who wants it, I worked very hard to get Ritual Abuse in the Twenty-First Century available on Amazon and I lowered the price from its original $39.95 to $29.95.
We even have a book about someone listed as a sexual offender and is paying a hefty price for succumbing to the flirtatious advances of someone legally underage when he was a young man, a perspective many never think about, see Consensual Consequences.
In our political climate theses days, maybe we can say we have a new kind of abuse: Political Abuse! Our political climate has become politically crazy with a POTUS that is himself abusive as a narcissistic sociopath, as diagnosed by many renowned psychiatrists. It appears to me our society is being brainwashed and psychologically abused by the bombardment of his crazy actions and ideas. It is no longer as easy to stay in a mental cocoon.
So it is up to all of us to recognize how many forms of abuse there are, to be educated, and to do what we can in the name of LOVE to help individuals and our society to heal. The "Me Too" movement and the many students who are protesting guns and marching to support the 17 who died in a mass high school shooting in Parkland, Florida, are the hope for our future.