The Courage to Heal: A Guide for Women Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse (first published in 1988) is a popular book written by Ellen Bass and Laura Davis that discusses the impact of child sexual abuse and how to address it. The primary thrust of the book is that individuals (mainly women) with a vague set of symptoms have been abused. The book also states that in some cases the memories of the abuse have been forgotten but are responsible for the individual's current problems. A variety of techniques are proposed to help these individuals heal, involving confronting their alleged abusers, adopting an identity as a "survivor", overcoming the associated trauma and in cases where there is no memory of any abuse, recovering the memories.