Healing Sexually Betrayed Men and Boys: Treatment for Sexual Abuse, Assault, and Trauma

353 Pages·2017·2.7 MB·English

by  Richard B. Gartner

“A nationally recognized expert on childhood sexual abuse with particular
expertise in the treatment of men who were abused as boys, Richard
Gartner graces us with his fifth book on this worldwide epidemic. Gartner,
a clear and thoughtful writer, has been published widely in psychoanalytic
journals, national newspapers, magazines, and has testified at the Markey
hearing, where he made a reasoned and impassioned plea for changes in
the New York State statute of limitations for reporting childhood sexual
abuse. In Healing Sexually Betrayed Men and Boys: Treatment for Sexual
Abuse, Assault, and Trauma Gartner brings together experts in the field to
address a variety of crucial issues such as: Can sexually abused men find
compassion and understanding for the shame and anger they live with?
What are the long-term, potentially dire consequences for sexually abused
boys as they move through adolescence into manhood? How do therapists
and society cope with the male sexual perpetrator whose violence has its
roots in unprocessed, dissociated sexual trauma? This volume is a must
read for anyone who works in the field of trauma!” – Sheldon Itzkowitz,
Ph.D., ABPP, co-editor, The Dissociative Mind in Psychoanalysis:
Understanding and Working with Trauma
“Healing Sexually Betrayed Men and Boys: Treatment for Sexual Abuse,
Assault, and Trauma is a welcome addition to the literature on the victimi-
zation of males because the scope of the book is wide and the chapters
have depth. The contributors are knowledgeable and well-respected prac-
titioners who see first-hand the damage caused by sexual abuse, but also
know that healing is possible. It ought to be a part of every training
program’s library.” – Mic Hunter, Psy.D., author, Abused Boys: The
Neglected Victims of Sexual Abuse and Honor Betrayed: Sexual Abuse In
America’s Military
“For too long, boys and men who have been sexual abused or assaulted
have been overlooked, neglected or minimized by society and the health
care community. This extremely powerful book is a must read for all
mental health professionals who want to right that wrong and deliver
trauma-respectful and empowering care to their male patients. In this
volume, recognized experts intersperse descriptions of various treatment
approaches with clinical cases sharing inspiring stories of healing from the
complicated aftermath of sexual betrayal and violation of trust. These
males’ strengths, courage to confront fears, and reclaim of lost experiences
are unforgettably illustrated.” – Joan Cook, Ph.D., Yale School of
Medicine; 2016 President, Division of Trauma Psychology (Division 56),
American Psychological Association
“A comprehensive, exhaustive and invaluable resource for understanding
the suffering of victimized boys and men… enthusiastically recom-
mended.” – Gary Brooks, Ph.D., Co-Founder, APA Division of Men &
Masculinity; author, Beyond the Crisis of Masculinity
“Richard Gartner is a pioneer in studying the impact of trauma, especially
sexual trauma, on men. His first book, Betrayed as Boys, broke new
ground twenty years ago. Now, with the release of two new volumes he
has broadened the field by including the work of other clinicians strug-
gling with the same challenges, dilemmas, and achievements in working
with male survivors of sexual abuse. Grappling with issues of violence
and the damage done to boys and men (as well as to girls and women) and
the world we live in takes courage and fortitude, but understanding and
altering post-traumatic pathways in male development is critical to our
shared future.” – Sandra L. Bloom, M.D., author, Creating Sanctuary:
Toward the Evolution of Sane Societies; co-author, Restoring Sanctuary:
A New Operating System for Trauma-Informed Systems of Care
Healing Sexually Betrayed Men and Boys
Healing Sexually Betrayed Men and Boys: Treatment for Sexual Abuse,
Assault, and Trauma is the new authoritative source for treatment of men
and boys with histories of sexual victimization. Male victims and survivors
of sexual trauma lived in shadow until the turn of the 21st century, when
scandal after scandal about the sexual abuse of boys and men shed light on
their suffering. These men and boys require different treatment roadmaps
than their female counterparts. Yet there is little in the professional litera-
ture to help a clinician work with sexually traumatized boys and men.
Richard B. Gartner is a seasoned psychologist/psychoanalyst who has
worked therapeutically with sexually abused men for over three decades.
He is a clinician, advocate, teacher, lecturer, and nationally and inter-
nationally recognized expert on the subject. Dr. Gartner’s classic book,
Betrayed as Boys: Psychodynamic Treatment of Sexually Abused Men,
is one of the few written to guide clinicians. Now, nearly two decades
after writing that groundbreaking volume, he follows up on his earlier
work. Healing Sexually Abused Men and Boys, together with its com-
panion volume, Understanding the Sexual Betrayal of Boys and Men,
is a thorough, comprehensive guide to learning about and healing male
victims and survivors.
Dr. Gartner has invited a group of experts to write about specific prob-
lems faced by these boys and men. Specialists from the psychoanalytic,
psychodynamic, trauma, and legal worlds fill in the details about a wide
range of interconnected subjects related to the complex reverberations of
male sexual trauma. Healing Sexually Betrayed Men and Boys covers such
diverse topics as:
• therapy with young sexually traumatized boys;
• the aftermath for men who were raped as adults;
• covert seduction of boys and its aftereffects;
• treatment for substance addictions and sexual compulsions;
• couples work with male survivors and their partners or spouses;
• bodywork with male survivors;
• treatment for male veterans who suffered sexual trauma in the military;
• profiling sexual predators and working with survivors who have also
been sexual predators.
This book is a valuable resource for clinicians at every level of training.
With strategies for how survivors can build support networks and des-
criptions of clinical, familial, and community-based treatments, Healing
Sexually Betrayed Men and Boys is essential reading for clinicians of
all theoretical persuasions who work with male sexual abuse survivors.
Filling in gaps in the relatively scant literature on the subject, it will also
help sexually abused or assaulted men themselves understand what is
available to them.
Richard B. Gartner is Training and Supervising Analyst, Faculty, and
Founding Director of the Sexual Abuse Service at the William Alanson
White Psychoanalytic Institute in New York City; author of Betrayed
as Boys: Psychodynamic Treatment of Sexually Abused Men (1999)
and Beyond Betrayal: Taking Charge of Your Life after Boyhood Sexual
Abuse (2005); and editor of Trauma and Countertrauma, Resilience and
Counterresilience: Insights from Psychoanalysts and Trauma Experts
(2017) and Memories of Sexual Betrayal: Truth, Fantasy, Repression,
and Dissociation (1997) as well as the companion volume to this one,
Understanding the Sexual Betrayal of Boys and Men: The Trauma of
Sexual Abuse. Co-Founder and Past President of MaleSurvivor.org, he is a
pioneer in treating sexually abused men and is quoted widely in the media
on the subject.
PSYCHOANALYSIS IN A NEW KEY BOOK SERIES
DONNEL STERN
Series Editor
When music is played in a new key, the melody does not change, but the notes that
make up the composition do: change in the context of continuity, continuity that
perseveres through change. Psychoanalysis in a New Key publishes books that share
the aims psychoanalysts have always had, but that approach them differently. The
books in the series are not expected to advance any particular theoretical agenda,
although to this date most have been written by analysts from the Interpersonal and
Relational orientations.
The most important contribution of a psychoanalytic book is the communica-
tion of something that nudges the reader’s grasp of clinical theory and practice
in an unexpected direction. Psychoanalysis in a New Key creates a deliberate
focus on innovative and unsettling clinical thinking. Because that kind of thinking
is encouraged by exploration of the sometimes surprising contributions to psy-
choanalysis of ideas and findings from other fields, Psychoanalysis in a New Key
particularly encourages interdisciplinary studies. Books in the series have married
psychoanalysis with dissociation, trauma theory, sociology, and criminology. The
series is open to the consideration of studies examining the relationship between
psychoanalysis and any other field—for instance, biology, literary and art criticism,
philosophy, systems theory, anthropology, and political theory.
But innovation also takes place within the boundaries of psychoa nalysis, and
Psychoanalysis in a New Key therefore also presents work that reformulates
thought and practice without leaving the precincts of the field. Books in the series
focus, for example, on the significance of personal values in psychoanalytic prac-
tice, on the complex interrelationship between the analyst’s clinical work and
personal life, on the consequences for the clinical situation when patient and ana-
lyst are from different cultures, and on the need for psychoanalysts to accept the
degree to which they knowingly satisfy their own wishes during treatment hours,
often to the patient’s detriment. A full list of all titles in this series is available at:
https://www.routledge.com/series/LEAPNKBS
RECENT TITLES IN THIS SERIES:
Vol. 41 Understanding the Sexual Betrayal of Boys and Men: The Trauma of Sexual
Abuse Edited by Richard B. Gartner
Vol. 40 Healing Sexually Betrayed Men and Boys: Treatment for Sexual Abuse, Assault,
and Trauma Edited by Richard B. Gartner

Healing Sexually Betrayed
Men and Boys
Treatment for Sexual Abuse,
Assault, and Trauma
Edited by Richard B. Gartner
First published 2018
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
 2018 selection and editorial matter, Richard B. Gartner; individual
chapters, the contributors
The right of the editor to be identified as the author of the editorial
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asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Names: Gartner, Richard B., editor.
Title: Healing sexually betrayed men and boys : treatment for sexual
abuse, assault, and trauma / edited by Richard B. Gartner.
Description: Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, 2018. |
Series: Psychoanalysis in a new key book series ; 40 | Includes
bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017009522 (print) | LCCN 2017010199 (ebook) |
ISBN 9781138942240 (hbk : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781138942257
(pbk : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781315673226 (ebk) | ISBN 9781317375524
(Web PDF)| ISBN 9781317375517 (ePub) | ISBN 9781317375500
(Mobipocket/Kindle)
Subjects: LCSH: Adult child sexual abuse victims—Treatment. | Male
sexual abuse victims—Treatment.
Classification: LCC RC569.5.A28 H43 2018 (print) | LCC RC569.5.A28
(ebook) | DDC 616.85/8369—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017009522
ISBN: 978-1-138-94224-0 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-138-94225-7 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-67322-6 (ebk)
Typeset in Times New Roman
by Swales & Willis Ltd, Exeter, Devon, UK
For Jane