The Courage To Heal

The Courage To Heal

The Courage to Heal: A Guide for Women Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse (first published in 1988) is a popular self-help book written by Ellen Bass and Laura Davis that discusses the impact of child sexual abuse and how to address it. The primary thrust of the book is that individuals (mainly women) with a vague set of symptoms have been abused. The book also states that in some cases the memories of the abuse have been forgotten but are responsible for the individual's current problems. A variety of techniques are proposed to help these individuals heal, involving confronting their alleged abusers, adopting an identity as a "survivor", overcoming the associated trauma and in cases where there is no memory of any abuse, recovering the memories. The book was a bestseller in North America and Europe.

The book has been criticized for creating false memories of abuse, its authors being unqualified and for creating an industry which has isolated and separated family members despite having no positive proof the abuse occurred. Bass and Davis have also been criticized for leaping to unwarranted, implausible conclusions with significant consequences and for scientific errors found in the first edition that were not corrected in subsequent reprintings.