Silent Screams is an engaging combination of science and reality that is stranger than fiction! It belongs to a different genre, aiming at providing the readers with current updates on child sexual abuse (CSA), its prevalence, consequences, and prevention. Based upon author D. S. Kashyap’s doctoral research on detection of CSA through children’s handwriting, it describes CSA as a significant contributory risk factor for psychopathology, especially depression, disruptive behaviour, poor social skills, difficulties in interpersonal relationships, and substance abuse. Another unique contribution of this book is that it imparts insight into graphology as an effective, noninvasive tool for diagnostic enhancement. The highlight of Silent Screams is the magnitude of CSA and explicit messages on each page you turn. The book also lists the pen-stroke formations detected in children’s handwriting due to abusive experiences.

This book brings together the two strands of the psychosocial fabric, the mindset and an accurate psycho neurological analysis. CSA is a tear, a gash in that fabric that can neither be exposed nor hidden but is ready to be mended. It emphasizes the fact that children neither are responsible for abuse, nor can they stop it on their own. Whenever abuse is disclosed, it needs to be responded with immediate provision of safety against the perpetrator and psychological support by the trained professionals. We have silently witnessed the gross and subtle levels of damage caused to the survivor’s existence for too long. It is imperative now to increase the frequency and outreach of prevention programs the world over. Every adult who believes that abuse is a complex life experience and not a disorder to be labelled-and who wants to enable survivors to hope again-should read Silent Screams.