Sheinberg, M., & Fraenkel, P. (2001). The relational trauma of incest: A family-based

approach to treatment. New York: Guilford, pp.220, $28.00 (hardcover).

During the 1980s, I spent four years working as a therapist in a community agency whose primary program offered comprehensive, family treatment of incest. There was virtually nothing in print regarding a systemic perspective of incest treatment. The staff therapists, a concerned, talented group, were constantly grasping for information that would help us provide the best possible intervention. Last summer, I noticed an advertisement for Sheinberg and Fraenkel's forthcoming book, and I was very eager to read it. My eagerness was revealing to me: I'm still quite interested in incest treatment, and there is still very little in print. Thus, I read the book through two lenses, with two questions in mind: first, is the book truly useful for clinicians who have few choices of therapy models and techniques for their clients; and second, does the book represent an advance in the treatment of incest?

The relational trauma of incest: A family-based approach to treatment is a smart book. The authors begin by examining whether or not a relational approach to therapy is

supported by research and clinical work and end up by offering compelling affirmative evidence. The study is likely to be viewed as the best summary in the treatment literature. The authors suggest that, though, a significant number of children may not exhibit clinically significant symptoms, family relationships can still become impaired. Of course, when family relationships are impaired, children's development can be negatively affected. Connecting this rationale for the family-based approach is their own protocol for treatment: there are relationships in families that can be developed to protect the child both emotionally and physically. Incest treatment, they say, should be foremost about making certain the molested child is not simply an echo of the system's poor functioning. There is an appropriate focus of therapy, in this book, on the molested child(ren) in the family. The authors capably capture the experience of children during and after molestation. Finally, though they clearly favor the relational approach as be the best approach, the authors are careful to point out the dilemmas of dual roles imposed on therapists who must work with several family members at once.

Related to my second lens regarding an advance in the treatment of incest is the question of whether the information in the book is novel, adding to the foundation of previous literature. Certainly, compared to past publications on incest treatment, the authors' work may be unique in several ways. First, they offer a well-developed approach, influenced primarily by narrative therapy principles. Second, the influence of research on their approach is more evident than in past publications. Third, the impact of societal influences on family functioning and recovery from the trauma of incest is given more than a parenthetical nod. Fourth, the case examples are extremely realistic and natural. Due to their approach's fit with current accepted treatment, goals and techniques fit current standard practice and are not new per se. However, the entire book is intelligently, thoroughly, and creatively expressed. Nothing is missing. This book is clearly worth reading. Experienced clinicians will benefit from the sophstication of Sheinberg and Fraenkel's multitheoretical model. Although more junior clinicians could be helped by the step-by-step treatment model of, for example, Trepper and Barrett (1989), this book will provide the benefit of alternative techniques and refreshing perspectives.

Trepper, T.S., & Barrett, M.J. (1989). Systemic treatment of incest: A therapeutic

handbook. New York: Brunner/Mazel.

Reviewed by: Linda Wark who would like to be inundated by calls or emails from AFTA members who want to write book reviews. Contact her at The TheraplayÒ Institute (847/256-7334) or theraplay@aol.com.