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“I was moved and inspired by Betrayed as Boys....Although published in 1999, the theories remain not only contemporary but cutting edge in the field of boyhood sexual victimization....This work distinguishes itself alongside the literature on female sexual abuse. It remains fresh and is an indispensable text in the field of male sexual victimization. Dr. Gartner, a preeminent psychoanalyst, provides the reader with an interior view of the rugged, complex, and frequently ambiguous terrain of how it feels, what it is like, and what clinicians need to understand to treat this most challenging population.”

—Journal of Trauma and Dissociation


“[A] comprehensive, insightful book....Should be of great interest to all therapists working in this burgeoning area of clinical practice.”

—American Journal of Psychotherapy


“Relevant and rewarding to clinicians of all theoretical orientations. The book is especially valuable in building bridges between psychoanalytic concepts and newer conceptualizations of trauma and its treatment. Gartner's treatment of masculine gender identity and intimacy issues for both heterosexual and homosexual males is especially sensitive and compelling.”

—Psychiatric Times


“This book is recommended reading whether abuse is the focus of treatment or not. Gartner presents effective strategies for dealing with such difficult childhoods by blending insights from trauma work with his interpersonal psychoanalytic perspective. In this much-needed volume, Gartner presents new information and new enlightenment that help unravel the tangled cultural, developmental, and dynamic issues that shape men's reactions to early sexual abuse.”

—The Psychoanalytic Quarterly


“This volume provides important tools not only for clinicians working with individuals, families and groups, but also for educators and others interested in psychodynamic perspectives on trauma, gender, and sexuality.”

—Digest of Neurology and Psychiatry


“Gartner offers a scholarly and clinically astute contribution to an increasingly rich body of literature on the traumatic aftermath faced by men who were sexually abused as boys. He discredits some harmful myths....Abundant and perceptive clinical vignettes evoke deep and often disquieting responses....This is important reading for everyone working with sexually abused men; for psychodynamic psychotherapists and students, it is required.”

—Readings


“Betrayed as Boys is a thoughtful and perceptive contribution. Dr. Gartner's voluminous and sensitive clinical material illuminates the difficulties, dilemmas, and rewards of working with sexually traumatized men. Here are insights and useful observations in abundance. This book belongs in the library of all clinicians who treat the victims of childhood sexual abuse.”

—Richard P. Kluft, MD Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Temple University School of Medicine, Co-editor, Clinical Perspectives on Multiple Personality Disorder


“This book helps to bring psychodynamic psychotherapy back to its roots, and to lift the veil that has too long obscured the childhood sexual abuse of males. It would be a useful text in a graduate course dealing with the treatment issues of males.”

—Mic Hunter, PsyD, author of Abused Boys, editor of The Sexually Abused Male


“This much-needed contribution to the trauma literature informs clinicians, researchers, and scholars about the tragic consequences for men who were sexually traumatized as boys. Gartner's presentation of extensive clinical vignettes bespeaks an author who is theoretically sophisticated and clinically experienced, and who has the courage to present his work forthrightly. The book is scholarly, beautifully written, and infused with an affectively gripping immediacy. It is an important and long-overdue resource for anyone interested in a more thorough understanding of the sexual abuse of boys and its sequelae.”

—Mary Gail Frawley-O'Dea, PhD, Clinical Psychologist and Psychoanalyst, Nyack, NY, Treating the Adult Survivor of Childhood Sexual Abuse

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Table of Contents

Introduction

1. The Sexual Betrayal of Boys

2. Encoding Sexual Abuse as Sexual Initiation

3. Struggles about Masculinity

4. Same-Sex Abuse

5. The Familial and Cultural Context of Abuse

6. The Effect of Chronic Boundary Violations

7. Dissociation and Multiple Self-States

8. Intimate Relatedness

9. The Patient-Therapist Dyad

10. Gender and the Therapeutic Relationship (with Sue A. Shapiro)

11. Group Therapy

Afterword

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About the Author

Richard B. Gartner, PhD, trained as both a family therapist and an interpersonal psychoanalyst. A graduate of the William Alanson White Institute in New York City, he is now Director of the Institute's Center for the Study of Psychological Trauma as well as founder and Director of the Sexual Abuse Program that operates under the Center's auspices. He has written and spoken extensively on the treatment of men sexually abused as boys. Dr. Gartner is a consultant and supervisor at the Center for Abuse and Incest at the Manhattan Institute for Psychoanalysis, is on the editorial boards of Contemporary Psychoanalysis and the American Journal of Psychoanalysis, and serves on the Board of Directors of the National Organization on Male Sexual Victimization. He practices in Manhattan and Brooklyn.

• Author's website

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Audience

Clinicians working with individuals, families, and groups; educators and students interested in psychodynamic perspectives on trauma, gender, and human sexuality.