Book Review: Enhancing Resilience in Survivors of Family Violence

 Anderson, Kim M. Enhancing Resilience in Survivors of Family Violence. New York: Springer, 2010.


Kim Anderson Ph.D., LCSW of the School of Social Work at the University of Missouri has written a book that provides advocates and mental health professionals a common language in meeting the needs of survivors of family violence. She states that“resilience research, posttraumatic growth literature, and strengths-based social work practice contribute to a helping framework that optimizes human potential while counterbalancing a more traditional vulnerability/deficit model in mental health practice” (pg. 17).

Advocates have been doing strength-based work under the empowerment model for years and this has often led to a mistrust of the mental health community in which a victim is often pathologized rather than commended for having the skills she needed to survive the abuse. “A pathology model of trauma leads practitioners, who lack the ability to understand the full meaning of victimization and its consequences, to interpret the pain and hurt expressed by survivors as evidence of psychopathology. To label as pathology rather than acts of resistance and signs of creative survival obscures and denigrates courageous efforts in the face of immense adversity. Therefore, mental health assessment tools that highlight survivors’ capacity for agency, resistance and resilience are necessary (Gilfus, 1999)” (pg. 82).

This book is not just for mental health professionals. It is an excellent guide for advocates in assisting trauma survivors in recognizing how their actions (or even inactions) were a sign of strength and resilience in the face of extreme adversity. Through the use of case studies and transcripts of sessions with survivors, Dr. Anderson provides examples of how survivors can be guided to recognize their own strengths. She also includes a number of assessment tools that could be used and discussed in the context of support groups.

Dr. Anderson also recommends ways in which to lead the survivor in creating a self narrative of “strength, purpose, and possibility” using Photo Story 3 (a free download from Microsoft) to create a self narrated story board. See http://www.silencespeaks.org/ (The DVD from this website will soon be in the NHCADSC library.

Exploration of a person’s spiritual connections also is discussed as a means for a person to find meaning in their suffering which not only leads to an experience of psychological relief but also a greater life purpose. Many survivors who are trying to understand their experiences blame themselves for their actions or inability to leave or change their circumstances. Self forgiveness and compassion towards self helps the survivor move forward and begin to “embrace the ‘broken places.’” Dr. Anderson also discusses the some faiths’ desire for the survivor to forgive the abuser. “In the author’s experience, forgiveness of one’s perpetrator does not necessarily provide wholeness and resolution in the same vain as self-forgiving. It is helpful to shift self-blame to its appropriate owner, the abuser, and hold him accountable particularly as family and legal systems often fail to do so” (pg. 123).

I also found the chapters “Recommendations from Survivors to Other Survivors” and “Recommendations of Survivors of Violence to Helping Professionals to be enlightening and validating of the work that domestic violence and sexual assault advocates do. There is also a chapter on vicarious trauma and compassion fatigue to assist the worker in managing their own reactions to the stories that they hear everyday.

I highly recommend this book to anyone working with survivors of violence.