Janice Haaken is a Professor of Psychology at Portland State University. She is also a clinical and community psychologist, documentary filmmaker and social justice activist. An interdisciplinary scholar, Haaken has published extensively in the areas of psychoanalysis and feminism, gender and the history of psychiatric diagnosis, group responses to violence and trauma, and the psychology of storytelling.

This book draws on interviews carried out over a period of eight years, as well as novels, films, and domestic violence literature, to explain the role of storytelling in the history of the battered women's movement.

Introduction. 1. Hard Ground: From Solitary Suffering to Sisterhood. 2. Between a Rock and a Hard Place: Feminist Psychology and the Politics of Violence. 3. Damsels in Distress: Popular Culture and Stories of Domestic Abuse. 4. Going Underground: Feminism and Shelter Practices. 5. Between the Devil and the Deep: Intervening with Batterers. 6. Running on Empty: Women, Children, and Strategies of Survival. 7. Conclusions: Beyond Survival.