Book offers lessons of empowermentDate: 10/13/2016 LONGMEADOW – Dr. Patricia Martin recently released her second book, “Liars, Cheats, and Creeps: Leaving the Sociopath Behind,” which is described as a resource for women seeking to end an abusive relationship.
Martin, a 27-year Longmeadow resident, who has operated a practice for 26 years in the community, told Reminder Publications the main reason she wrote to book was to help women who are in abusive relationships take back their lives. The book is inspired by 52 sessions in the women’s support group that Martin facilitates.
“This book actually takes you into a support group,” she noted. “There are four women that are composites of the women that have come and gone in the support group that I run. I have been running this support group for seven years. This book came about because the group said to me, ‘The message of our support group needs to get out to more women.’”
She continued, “You follow the group through the stages of awareness, betrayal, anger – understanding what is a narcissist; what is a sociopath?”
Other topics featured in the book include breaking the silence of abusive relationships, supporting one another through the process of divorce, and moving onto a new life, she added.
“There’s plenty of books out there that [are] from a professional perspective – this is what is domestic abuse [and] this is what you do about it, but there is not a book, that we could find at least when we did the literature review, that actually takes you into the voices of women in a support group,” Martin said.
The book was co-authored by Renee Forte, the pseudonym of one of Martin’s patients who has chosen to remain anonymous, Martin said. The pen name means “reborn strong” in French.
“The book is out there to educate and make people aware, but what is just as important is in learning if you’re in an abusive situation, ‘What do I do about it?’” she explained. “It’s giving them the knowledge base of what services are available – so it’s trying to empower women by awareness and activity … I didn’t write the book for any other reason than to help women that way.”
The premise takes readers along each woman’s journey of becoming aware and understanding what abuse entails, Martin said.
“A lot of women think of abuse as just physical abuse,” she explained. “But what the book will show you is it encapsulates the emotional, psychological, sexual, and financial abuse as well.”
“Liars, Cheats, and Creeps” will launch locally on Oct. 27 from 5 to 7 p.m. at Classical High Condominiums in Springfield, located at 235 State Street, across the street from Springfield Central Library.
Martin said officials from women’s shelters and centers, members of the Springfield Police Department’s domestic violence sector, social workers, ministers, and divorce lawyers have all been invited to the event to make resources available to women in need.
She added during her book tour she would coordinate with every community’s resources at each stop to help women who are victims of domestic abuse.
“That’s my mission,” Martin said.
Martin described the hierarchy of abuse levels – women are abused the most by men, men in same sex relationships are the second most abused victims, followed by women in same sex relationships. Men are least likely to be abused by women.
“That’s the data that has been done by national studies,” she explained. “Women are more like 10 times likely to be abused.”
She added she believes women are often “silent victims” in domestic abuse cases.
“It is by sharing our stories that we free other people of their shame and then they have the ability to share their stories,” Martin explained. “So, the silent victims begin to become empowered women through the experience of being in a support group like this.”
Martin is also the co-author of her first book, “The Other Couch: Discovering Women’s Wisdom in Therapy.”
For more information about Marin and her books visit www.norlightspress.com. Both books are also available for purchase on Amazon and through Barnes and Noble.
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