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In recent years, the topic of sexual abuse has received a growing amount of attention. The proliferation of personal and institutional scandals, controversies over recovered memories, and ever-expanding coverage by tell-all media have made abuse seem ubiquitous. Most of these reports, however, in the professional literature as well as in the popular media, are concerned with the abuse of women. Relatively little has been written on the mistreatment and abuse of men. It is precisely in this area that Richard B. Gartner, with his work, “Betrayed as Boys: Psychodynamic Treatment of Sexually Abused Men,” makes a comprehensive, compelling, and enlightening contribution.
In this clearly defined and highly structured book, Gartner tells us how he came to have an exclusive practice of groups of abused men, the special difficulties involved, and the attitudes of society in general and of fellow professionals in particular. We are forewarned that the material is extremely challenging, as it involves betrayal by family, trusted caretakers, and/or other supposedly responsible adults. The resulting trauma, and the responses to it, do indeed make difficult reading; the rewards of perseverance, however, are many.