Thoughts and emotions regarding home violence of any type run the gamut from the mild squeamishness of the unaffected to the visceral passions of those personally assailed. Through law and charity, therapy and divinity, we move between kaleidoscopic images of, first, the intimate portraits of the abused through a series of ever-changing societal assumptions that if we just keep the tube spinning, those who need to be protected or healed will be - and we will be safe. Unfortunately, none of these assumptions is guaranteed.
The Elephant in the Closet: Understanding Violence in the Home, a collaborative effort between clinical psychologist Karyn Hall, Ph.D. and social psychologist Stephanie Wright, Ph.D., addresses the nature of three types of family violence from the first-person accounts of those who have lived it. Further, this book mines the knowledge of those who provide services to victims and survivors as well as the perceptions and expectations of those who have the good fortune to be unaffected by violence in the home.