From Violence, Toward Love

Bridging the personal and the professional, Marjorie Holiman emphasizes how violence destroys relationships while respect and love generate new connections. Like many in our society, Holiman grew up in a household where the fabric of everyday life was torn intermittently and unpredictably by violence. Later she experienced her own potential for violence, teetering on the edge between intention and action. Reaching out for help from others and drawing on her own insight and determination, Holiman turned from violence toward love. The therapist makes connections between her own experiences and those of others-the taste of fear, the intrusion of troubling memories, the impulse to hurt again, the glimmer of hope. She does not simply relate her cases; she lets the reader feel what it is like to work with people who are violent and those who have been violated-the times she struggles to understand the experiences of others and the celebrations she shares with people who are changing. After setting a context for therapy and for understanding violent situations, Holiman outlines nine therapy tasks to help people change, including attention to safety, responsibility, retribution, and forgiveness. She does not shy away from the difficult topics: clients' memories of Satanic cults, the politics of therapy and their effects on practice, and mistakes the therapist will likely make. Lyrical and moving, From Violence, Toward Love tackles one of the most difficult problems of any society with a balance of practicality and deep humanity. Readers who join Marjorie Holiman on her journey will not be disappointed.