Healing the Shame That Binds You Description:

Healing the Shame That Binds You review:
2 stars (For shame) - What is the longevity of John Bradshaw's book, and how does his writing stand up in the perspective of time. The book was published over ten years ago, and it seems to have dropped through the cracks of the large and populous human growth floorboards, of which it was a part.



The first thing I noticed about Bradshaw's writing is its sheer verbosity. He writes in a roundabout way, rather than concisely and to the point. Contrast him, for example, with a writer on Buddhism or Taoism (say, Alan Watts?).



Writing on Buddhism or Taoism may provide authors with a natural impetus to be concise, but the human growth movement is broad and billowy, and concise writing may not be important to the authors.



And Bradshaw seems to drag in every alley cat he ever heard meow in the human growth movement, to help him reflect on what he sees as the underlying principle of it all: Shame.



Bradshaw reports that he is a theologian, but also someone who recovered from alcoholism, and was deeply shamed as a child, which shame he finally learned to deal with and overcome.



There are many fine snippets from his book, which may be of use to folks, but overall, I think most people looking for direction are going to be repelled by his constant conceptualizations. To paraphrase another well-known quotation, "People cannot live on concepts alone."



If he had given more personal studies or little case histories, it would have been much more helpful. Instead, he includes page after page of some "guided" meditations or shame inquiries, which were totally useless to me. If you are looking for guided meditations, this is the place for you.



So, in all, Bradshaw's book does not hold up to scrutiny after time, in my opinion. It's one of the many from its era and niche that was forgotten and will be unlikely to remembered henceforth. Anyway, it was a bestseller once, and that's what counts, I guess. It did have its 15 minutes of fame, and a lot of books never even get that. Diximus.






2 stars (Convoluted) - The book is divided into two parts the first identifies the causes and nature of 'toxic shame' and the other how to heal from it.



I found the first part quite convoluted and lacking clarity he repeats things alot and seems to have invented a new vocabulary which is not always well defined.



The book uses alot of material from other authors such as Alice Miller et al. which represent the best parts of this book. There is an originality from them which Bradshaw lacks, his input felt quite biased and perhaps that is why he rambles so much.



I have begun the second part but have found it lacking, it uses the 12 step program as the ideal model for healing and somehow just throws together disparate research on healing.



If this book represents his others I think it sad that he has made a career out of simply putting forward other people's work with little valuable contribution from himself.



I found his tone somewhat preacher like and I feel he hides behind ambiguity in his language and writing style to disguise the lack of substance.



THe book does have value but only becuase of the references to other people's work.






5 stars (More stars, please) - I love Bradshaw. He's really only a handful of people who tell it like it is and I credit him with changing my life for the better. As a man now in his forties, having grown up in the south, I know all too well about shame and what it does to the mind and body. Before I knew better, I would see movies and read books about individuals who had gone through difficult things, movies and books such as "Sybil" and "The Bark of the Dogwood," and think, "yeah? So?" only to realize years later that my point of reference was so far off that I couldn't determine what was "normal." Now, many years after therapy and working on myself, I can honestly recommend this wonderful book. If you're suffering and feel soul-sick, this is the book for you. Let the healing begin.