Something's Not Right
Decoding the Hidden Tactics of Abuse—and Freeing Yourself from Its Power
"Am I the only one who sees this--am I just imagining things? Is something wrong with me . . . or could this be abuse?"Maybe you don't know for sure: all you know is something feels offwhen you think about a certain relationship or interaction with an institution or organization. You feel alone and confused--but calling it "abuse" feels extreme and unsettling, a label for what happens to other people but not you. Yet you can't shake the feeling: something's not right.In his debut book, researcher and advocate Wade Mullen introduces us to the groundbreaking world of impression management--the strategies that individuals and organizations utilize to gain power and cover up their wrongdoings. Mullen reveals a pattern that accompanies many types of abuse, almost as if abusers are somehow reading from the same playbook. If we can learn to decode these evil methods--if we can learn the language of abuse--we can help stop the cycle and make abusers less effective at accomplishing destruction in our lives.Something's Not Rightwill help you to identify and describe tactics that were previously unidentifiable and indescribable, and give you the language you need to move toward freedom and create a safer future for yourself and others.
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Summary: Emotional and spiritual abuse matters.
I am not new to the concept of emotional and spiritual abuse, but Something's Not Right is a good introductory book on abuse. It is not only about abuse within the church, but many of the examples are within a church or broadly Christian context.
I think Something's Not Right has a dual focus of validating those that have been abused and who are trying to understand their abuse and to seek healing. And at the same time, it is written toward Christian leaders who are seeking to prevent and/or be a healing place for those who have been abused. That dual focus mostly works because in the direct talk toward the abused, leaders can listen in to that discussion so that they can understand abuse better. But there are differences in how that discussion might be better focused to those two groups.
This is intended to be an introductory book. There are other places to go for more depth and nuance. Anne Marie Miller's book on how churches help those that have been sexually abused Healing Together: A Guide to Supporting Sexual Abuse Survivors is one of several books about that paraticular issue. Trauma in the Pews is about how trauma and abuse (especially developmental trauma and abuse) impact spiritual formation. The Body Keeps Score is a classic book on trauma from a secular viewpoint.