The Alchemy of Wolves and Sheep: A Relational Approach to Internalized Perpetration in Complex Trauma Survivors

Conrad’s Heart of Darkness ends, in effect, with “the horror, the horror” but this to my mind this is where Alchemy begins. This invaluable work is unflinching about the impact of the unspeakable travesties wreaked on humans by humans, and most especially on children. Often working with this now adult population it is astounding that they even continue to breathe much less survive, much less strive for recovery. Schwartz’s work offers profoundly humane guidance on recognizing and navigating the labyrinthian reworking of the sense of self to gain wholeness and connection. He explicates the pitfalls, double binds, backfiring interventions, re-enacting, chaotic layering and undoing that characterizes such work, with highly evident compassion for client and clinician alike. This is not a work for the rescuer hoping that kindness and a good protocol is enough of a restorative. This is for those whose commitment to truth and the power of connection is central. This includes noting the rupture and repair work clinicians must attend to in their own sense of self, their own commitment to integrity, and managing and meeting their own needs. I haven’t even finished the book yet! as there is so much to digest and metabolize given the richness and depth. I am so grateful to Dr. Schwartz for writing this work.Note: I learned of this book from a listserve and am renting it on Kindle until the paperback version comes out, though it is worth every penny the hardback costs!

Not an easy read, but it has been by far, the best ever book I've read on perpetration and internalised perpetration. (Personally, the best book EVER.. but that may just be me).I started highlighting the best bits, but soon gave up because I was highlighting the whole book.He wrote something about 'The web of complicity' and I wished everyone in the world would read it. Actually not just that bit, but that in particular. There are so many great things in this book, I recommend you just go read it!

This is a dark, tough book to read. It focusses more on the creation and control of child soldiers, but also deals with the same methods used to traffic children. The terrible truth of the real bogeymen/women will keep you up at night. The world doesn't seem to notice how widespread this is. Not a third world problem.

I'm a CSA survivor, was trafficked, and involved in CP. I have cPTSD and DID. I was unable to finish reading this book because I was highly triggered. What I was able to read was wonderfully constructed, things were explained in depth and it was very eye opening in terms of how I was programmed through very insidious means. I recommend but beware if you have intense trauma like I do, you likely won't get through it and comes with a heavy trigger warning.

This book is comprehensive, yet tightly organized making it a good choice for an introduction to the area of complex trauma. Complex PTSD, as opposed to simple (single incident) trauma, leads to greater pathology, more elaborate identify confusion, layers of shame and a longer course of treatment. Accordingly, a book about it benefits from solid structure in editing and clear organization. Schwartz provides that in eight chapters, each containing clinical examples that bring the clients and their experiences to life. For example the topic of treating a client who has internalized a perpetrator’s violation, leading to “complex betrayal dynamics” is illustrated with the relatively simple story of a woman who secretly removed several fish from the aquarium in the community room of the treatment unit, nearly killing them, returned them to the tank, and then raged at the staff for not doing enough to help the ill or nearly dying fish.The author’s twenty five years of experience working in the field result in addressing key aspects of complex trauma thoroughly yet succinctly. Schwartz’s clinical examples give specifics while his discussion addresses the larger cultural and social context in which complex trauma occurs. These contexts range from two person relationship violation (severe child abuse) to larger contexts such as forced prostitution, gang members, trafficked persons, cult victims, and child soldiers abducted into armed cartels and other conflicts throughout the world. The immediacy and relevance of this book is reinforced by recent news coverage of kidnapped girls by Islamic extremists in northern Nigeria and abducted boys in Sudan.There are references to salient material, e.g. Joseph Campbell’s Hero With a Thousand Faces as a description of archetypal mythology that can help clients recovering from complex trauma create meaning to heal from their experiences. Schwartz acknowledges such material and deftly explains its utility and significance, all in 230 pages, making this book an encouragingly efficient introduction to a complex topic.The first eleven pages of the book, table of contents and much of the index are available through Amazon’s “Look Inside” feature. Due to the high cost of the book readers may want to consider making a request for library purchase.

This is more than brilliant. Schwartz uses language in the most extraordinary way. Even though there are technical terms they are always used with devastating exactness and finesse. He also does not use the term "Ritual Abuse" in the title because the creation of complex trauma is common across different perpetration types. In his masterstroke he makes the comparison with the child soldier phenomenon. This is crucial when it comes to perpetration types that remain unfaced and unadmitted at high levels of government and law enforcement in The West. Schwartz masterfully identifies an unexpected source that contributes to complex trauma. A matrix of influences from society that too often looks at these serious forms of organised crime purely in terms of "mental health" and psychiatry. Part of the reason for that has been manipulations by perpetrators but many need to move beyond obfuscations to get at the "nitty gritty"; the raw reality of the problem. The details can be horrific and disturbing, but here Schwartz is so unwavering in his facing of the truth that victims will feel liberated and practitioners will have a very real resource to really help victims. I was reminded time and time again of this work being practically like a military or intelligence briefing document ... not surprising in light of his child soldier comparison. This work deserves to be right up there with the international "go to" works on child soldiers that he cites. Schwartz brilliance (and a kind of congruence of decades of research from many other bold souls) led me on to realisation after realisation. Very addictive empowerment. For example I never knew that J Edgar Hoover and the FBI never admitted the existence of The Mafia until 1957. This is another solid comparison for Ritual Abuse that, until now, remains at a pre-57 stage in terms of being accepted as real. Whereas Child Soldiers are completely documented and accepted as a real phenomenon. A curious comparison here that warrants mentioning is the video game Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain that reflects a fundamental world shift on these topics. The creator of that game made a very bold decision to make Child Soldiers part of the story. The angry/rage filled children in the game mirror the internal "child parts" that Schwartz describes (but please note the game is quite explicit and might be too much for some survivors/victims).So all in all this work is a clarion call for working to really help child, and now adult victims, of these kinds of perpetration, especially in the West. In Africa and other countries Child Soldiers get help in United Nations centers. They are not drugged and electroshocked as they are (as adults or children) in The West. This work will go a long way to combating the incredulity and disbelief that surrounds so much of the worst kinds of perpetration in The West.