Coping with / advice about PTSD and other psychological traumas Books

Book SynopsisA masterful approach to rewire our brains and bodies from the inside out.' Arianna Huffington, Founder and CEO, Thrive GlobalFrom Harvard stress expert, Dr. Aditi Nerurkar, comes a reimagined approach to overcoming your stress and burnout using five small but mighty mindset shifts.Stress has a bad reputation but is actually a healthy biological phenomenon that helps us tackle life's many demands. It simply becomes problematic when it's out of tune with the frequency of our lives, resulting in burnout, fatigue, sleep disturbances, and many other physical symptoms. To bring stress back to healthy levels, Dr. Nerurkar offers her five science-backed mindset shifts for when life gets hard:The First Reset: Get Clear on What Matters MostThe Second Reset: Find Quiet in a Noisy WorldThe Third Reset: Sync Your Brain and Your BodyThe Fourth Reset: Come Up for AirThe Fifth Reset: Bring Your Best Self ForwardDr. Nerurkar illuminates why our everyday attempts at being resilient' like multitasking, sleeping less, and undergoing huge lifestyle overhauls aren't beneficial to our stressed brains. Instead, she prescribes practical, real-world solutions for our modern-day perils that are time efficient, cost-free, and can be applied to anyone's life, including following the Resilience Rule of 2 (making no more than two changes at a time because doing more is unsustainable), accepting that multitasking is a myth (our brains are wired to do one thing at a time!), and adopting her Bookend Method (creating boundaries).The five mindset shifts, along with fifteen proven techniques, offer you a road map to change your relationship with stress, bring your biology back into balance, and feel calmer right now.Trade Review‘The key is managing stress, so we can lead healthier, happier lives. The 5 Resets will help you do just that.’ – Katie Couric, Journalist and Founder and CEO, Katie Couric Media ‘A masterful approach to rewire our brains and bodies from the inside out.’ – Arianna Huffington, Founder and CEO, Thrive Global ‘A captivating read from start to finish. The 5 Resets answers the questions plaguing us about stress and burnout in the new normal. It’s filled with time-efficient strategies so you can manage your stress and value your time – perfect for busy parents!’ – Eve Rodsky, New York Times bestselling author of Fair Play ‘My lifelong intention has been to help others look their best. The aim of The 5 Resets is to help you feel your best. Less stress. Less burnout. Easy-to-apply techniques. Beauty from the inside out.’ – Bobbi Brown, Founder and CEO, Jones Road Beauty

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Book SynopsisA holistic method for resolving individual and intergenerational trauma. The journey to healing trauma is not always straightforward. As Euphrasia “Efu” Nyaki reveals in detail, the healing process is a complex ritual of energy movement on the physical, emotional, and spiritual levels. Born and raised on Mount Kilimanjaro’s slopes in Tanzania, East Africa, Efu explains how she came to develop her profoundly successful system for helping people heal trauma by integrating ancestral tribal wisdom with a fusion of two Western healing systems: Somatic Experiencing and Systemic Family Constellations Therapy. She shares how her journey to become a healer was initiated by her Grandfather, who told her the legend of the sacred healing snail of the Nyaki clan. She explains how she discovered Somatic Experiencing and Systemic Family Constellations Therapy, and how combining these therapies created a powerful system for releasing cellular memories and healing the intergenerational and collective traumas hidden beneath the surface of suffering. Sharing stories from her healing work around the world, she presents action steps, such as meditations, breathwork, or creating a family tree, that readers can take immediately to regulate their nervous systems, deepen their awareness, and engage the personal healing process. Demonstrating how trauma survivors can transform their suffering into vibrant wholeness, the author shows how healing trauma is the result of bringing the physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual aspects of our lives into an integrated coherence.

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewThe beauty and value of Alex Howard’s book is that he speaks from his personal story. He had support to transform and transmute his own trauma, which led him in the direction of developing the clinical expertise to help thousands of people and to writing this book to reach even more. His joy in life and depth of knowledge make him a trustworthy guide to your own liberation from the past. - Gail Larsen, teacher and author Transformational Speaking: If You Want to Change the World, Tell a Better StoryAlex Howard has done it again! It’s Not Your Fault is a book that will benefit everyone, though the reader will feel it was written specifically for them. Alex addresses a complex topic with empathy and understanding while providing tools to navigate the impacts of past traumatic experiences. - Andrea Nakayama, Functional Medicine Nutritionist, Educator and SpeakerIt’s Not Your Fault is a candid and refreshingly honest journey into the wounds and emotions we do everything to NOT feel and the powerful path through to the freedom we each desire for our future. It’s Not Your Fault is an essential, practical, and living read for anyone with a human body, emotions, chronic illness, or in the chaos of escaping emotions. Alex Howard squarely places himself among the giants with It’s Not Your Fault, where he brings Mind-Body Medicine from an idea to life with heart, stories, and vulnerability. Readers will feel the book almost describing their own inner life and be provided with one of the best modern composed prescriptions combining different modalities that actually works. I recommend this book to all those seeking healing! - Dr. Aimie Apigian, Founder and CEO of Trauma Accelerated HealingHeartfelt, powerful, and brilliant – this could be the best book on trauma I’ve ever read. It combines good science on the neuropsychology of trauma, personal stories, and tons of useful methods. Alex Howard provides a new comprehensive framework to move this field forward. Clearly and beautifully written, it carries the reader along quickly, with useful insights, warm encouragement, and practical tools on every page. A gem. - Dr. Rick Hanson, New York Times best-selling author of Hardwiring Happiness and ResilientIt's Not Your Fault is a powerful book with an important message – our trauma is not our fault, but it is possible for us to heal. Through his two decades of clinical experience, Alex has developed powerful and easily accessible frameworks that will help you not just understand how you have been shaped by childhood trauma, but most importantly how you can heal from it. - Peter A. Levine PhD, author of Healing TraumaTherapist Alex Howard has written a beautiful, informative and kind book on recovering from trauma. He writes in easy-to-understand, empathic language so that you are drawn into this vital subject. Alex’s message is that your pain and trauma are gateways to healing. It’s Not Your Fault teaches you to reset your nervous system, develop emotional resilience and practise loving self-care as past trauma heals and you emerge into a happier and more satisfying life. - Judith Orloff MD, author of The Genius of Empathy

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Book SynopsisThis powerful self-help book will change the way you see your past and transform the way you live now.Do you struggle to find happiness in yourself or in your relationships? Do you have issues with your physical or mental health such as fatigue, anxiety, sleep problems, addictions or depression? Do you feel emotionally numb, or are you unable to truly feel your emotions? You are not alone. And maybe you need to stop blaming yourself.We are all affected by our early experiences – both good and bad. But for many of us, the patterns of our younger years have damaged us as adults, leaving us unable to truly feel or form lasting positive relationships with ourselves and others.As children, we're dependent on those around us to meet our emotional needs for us – the need for boundaries, safety and love. When these key needs go unanswered, the template for good mental health in adulthood is not properly formed. As adults, we can learn to meet these needs for ourselves, and to break free from a life of unnecessary suffering. Doing so doesn't just heal the impact of our past, it also helps us unlock our true potential in life.Childhood trauma will continue to trap us throughout our lives if we don't seek to confront it. Drawing on his own healing from childhood trauma and his clinical work with thousands of patients, Alex Howard sets a clear path to understanding your own unique blueprint from childhood and then provides a clinically proven reset plan for healing.It's Not Your Fault will help you to understand your trauma and heal its impact, build better boundaries and connect to your emotions to create healthy and fulfilling relationships.

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Book SynopsisA holistic approach for healing trauma stored in the gut. A healthy gut is fundamental to a healthy life. Embedded within our digestive ­system is the enteric nervous system, our “second brain,” which serves to protect us from the external world of adversity, including not only viruses and bacteria, but also traumatic events. As Nikki Kenward, CST-D, MCSS, explains, past challenges and traumas, whether emotional or physical, are held in the enteric nervous system in many ways, including fascial tension, cellular changes, and unhelpful “default settings.” Exploring in depth what she calls “the Post-Traumatic Gut,” Kenward describes the anatomy and physiology of the enteric nervous system, including the polyvagal system, and the many ways that our emotional history and current emotional state can impact our digestive system. Sharing recent research, she describes the science behind the emotional gut and how to apply it to chronic digestive issues like IBS and Crohn’s disease as well as mental health issues such as anorexia, bulimia, anxiety, and depression. She explains how and why the digestive gut absorbs emotions and what you can do to heal its functions by addressing psychosomatic stressors, rather than just nutrition. Presenting case studies from her 25 years in clinical practice as well as her own healing journey, she reveals the synchronicity between digestive/metabolic functions and psychological/perceptual insight and how allowing the cells to “speak” through bodywork such as CranioSacral Therapy and SomatoEmotional Release Therapy can help renew the microbiome of the second brain, release intergenerational trauma and illness, and restore one’s psychospiritual life. Sharing visualization exercises and a hands-on process of listening to the gut layer by layer, the author helps readers unwind stagnant cellular patterns, discover the dynamic intelligence in every cell, and transform Post-Traumatic Gut into Post-Traumatic growth.Trade Review“In recent years, our awareness of the importance of the gut—its structures and the mysteries it contains—has been raised by the arrival of numerous texts on the subject. Most are really useful for reference purposes and for a greater sense of the map and features of the territory within us. Knowledge is useful, but to accelerate our understanding of these mysteries, it is important to have a resource that takes us into the reality rather than simply the theory. Nikki’s personal story takes us into that lived reality. It helps to bring the anatomy of the gut to life and, more importantly, to gain some understanding of its relationship to our deepest levels of health and well-being. There are also valuable insights into the potentially long-lasting effects of PTSD and its link to the function of our gut. This book provokes questions and encourages us to look further into this dynamic and fast-evolving area of research and study.” * Margaret Anne Gill, MBA, CST-D, MCSS, coauthor of The Inner Power of Stillness *“Overcoming Chronic Digestive Conditions is a brilliant read. It’s engaging, insightful, educational, and accessible. I would highly recommend it to anyone grappling with their own gut challenges or working in a therapeutic capacity treating those with gut-related health issues. Nikki brings to life through her own experiences how gut health problems are linked to our emotional and physical health, both now and earlier in our lives. The book helps us understand the vicious cycle of cause and effect: how challenges in our emotional and physical health have a knock-on effect on our gut health and how, in turn, the resultant gut challenges further negatively impact us emotionally and physically. I found the practical guidance and strategies immensely powerful as well as the new scientific research. And for those providing hands-on therapy, it will expand their capacity to treat patients, not just with gut disorders but also those with PTSD and neurodegenerative illness, such as Alzheimer’s and Dementia. This book never promises to deliver the silver bullet but instead offers a new lens through which to view this complex and fascinating subject.” * Linda Marsh, International Coaching Federation accredited and director at Gravitas MM, Ltd. *“This book arose out of Nikki’s personal journey toward recovery from PTSD following a diving accident. Along the way, her journey took her into an exploration of her own ‘gut feeling.’ Her personal journey has become a professional focus. Nikki is using her gathered knowledge to help her own patients as well as educate colleagues and students of many hands-on treatment modalities about this rapidly changing and exciting new area of medical science—the gut/ brain connection.” * Fiona Gilbraith, CST-D, qualified member of the CranioSacral Society *Table of ContentsForeword by Eric Moya, RMT, CST-D, MS/Mfct Acknowledgments Preface About Upledger CranioSacral Therapy 1 Why Are We Here? 2 Our Life in Our Body 3 Searching for Stories in the Second Brain 4 Finding Compassion for Your Gut’s History 5 Container for Shame 6 SomatoEmotional Release and Safety 7 The Black Hole 8 Still Frozen? Cells and Our Family Trees 9 Torn and Battered: My Heart’s Clothes and the Complexities of Grief 10 Peering down the Microscope 11 Post-Traumatic Gut Disorder Lives 12 So, What Now? How to Go from Dis-ease to Ease in the Gut Appendix: Tummy Tracker References Index About the Author

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Book SynopsisA harrowing memoir of life with manic depression. All In My Head reveals the terrible reality of the condition and it’s devastating impact on the life of a young woman.

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Book SynopsisA superb study brilliant stories, hilarious observations and jaw dropping revelations about so many figures in public life we thought we knew but never understood' EMILY MAITLIS Loss and adversity are part of the human condition, but an imperfect past isn't always an indicator of what's to come. This book traces a pattern: why is it that often the people with the hardest beginnings in life children who experience displacement, disease, financial ruin, abandonment or bereavement become the most successful adults? And is there something to learn from those people, who perhaps have the strongest sense of what matters most?Of Britain's fifty-five prime ministers, twenty-five lost one or both of their parents as a child and 69 per cent suffered some form of serious childhood trauma. For their acclaimed podcast Past Imperfect, Thomson and Sylvester spoke to some such prime ministers, as well as pioneers and poets, CEOs and chefs, actors and archbishops, sports stars and Nobel prize-winniTrade Review PRAISE FOR WHAT I WISH I’D KNOWN WHEN I WAS YOUNG ‘This is a superb study of the way strength can emerge from childhood trauma – brilliant stories, hilarious observations and jaw dropping revelations about so many figures in public life we thought we knew – but never understood’Emily Maitlis ‘A punchy portrait of how character is forged in adversity. As an idiosyncratic, wide-ranging study, it works. Sylvester and Thomson have succeeded in avoiding “pity porn”; their book is provocative and even uplifting’The Times PRAISE FOR THE PAST IMPERFECT PODCAST ‘I promise not to praise Times podcasts unless I really like them. I’ve been recommending Past Imperfect to friends so it would seem unfair of me not to recommend it to readers. In Past Imperfect the paper’s crack interviewing team of Rachel Sylvester and Alice Thomson talk to politicians and celebrities about their pasts. Their theory is that all successful people are driven to achieve by childhood trauma. As a keen armchair psychologist I am fully behind this premise … Excellent’James Marriott, The Times

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Book SynopsisSHORTLISTED FOR THE SUNDAY TIMES YOUNG WRITER OF THE YEAR AWARD 2024SHORTLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR NON-FICTION 2024SHORTLISTED FOR THE JHALAK PRIZE 2024LONGLISTED FOR THE ONDAATJE PRIZE 2024BOOK OF THE YEAR 2023 ACCORDING TO THE GUARDIAN, SUNDAY TIMES, NEW YORKER Raw and radical, strange and beguiling - a love letter to Britain''s breathtaking flatlands, from Orford Ness to Orkney, and a reckoning with the painful, hidden histories they contain''Expansive, arresting, with sly humour... Masud establishes herself as a significant chronicler of personal and national experience'' Financial Times''Noreen Masud fathoms the depths of flat landscapes - sharp, subtle and very moving'' Robert Macfarlane''Haunting and generous, beautifully written - this book is a gift'' Preti Taneja''A Flat Place reminds us that there is hope in the smallest of gestures'' Sara AhmedTrade ReviewIt would be easy to assume that A Flat Place, dealing as it does in the currency of trauma, racism and exile, is a bleak book. But this memoir is too interested in what it means and how feels to be alive in a landscape to be anything other than arresting and memorable... Masud characterises with sly humour "the proper nature people", with maps in plastic pockets round their necks... In the flatlands of Britain, and in the memories they evoke of the flat places of Pakistan, Masud both finds a way to comprehend her own story and establishes a strong voice that confirms her as a significant chronicler of personal and national experience... A Flat Place is a slim volume, but that belies its expansive scope * Financial Times *Marvellous. A radical, affecting testimony to unbroken spaces, histories, and notions of selves -- Eley Williams, author of 'The Liar’s Dictionary'Masud's moving work of nature writing is grounded in a vital impulse: our need to bring suffering of all kinds out into the light -- India Bourke * New Statesman *Nature writing can feel a bit samey [but] Noreen Masud offers a powerful antidote . . . A journey into flatness might sound like a tough sell, but this is so worth it. The whole book is zingily fresh * Sunday Times, 'Best Books of 2023' *A domineering father . . . features in Noreen Masud’s lyrical, melancholy A Flat Place, in which the author travels to some of Britain’s starkest landscapes, including Morecambe Bay, Orford Ness and Orkney, while reflecting on themes of exile, heritage and her troubled childhood in Lahore, Pakistan * Guardian, 'Best Memoirs and Biographies of 2023' *Stark, careful, enlightening -- Jenn Ashworth * Guardian, '2023 Summer Reads' *Haunting and generous, beautifully written, revealing and refusing in the best ways - this book is a gift to all who have experienced complex trauma, all who seek the long view, all who crave solitude as we do community, all who see in flat landscapes the chance to reflect on the depths of the self as it heals -- Preti Taneja, author of 'Aftermath'In this profound and moving book, Noreen Masud shows how what has been overlooked as flat and empty is alive with significance. The writing is not only achingly beautiful, it conveys in its own rhythm how small undulations give nuance and form. We learn how complex trauma gets everywhere, affects everything; who one is, how one is, with whom one is. Stories of violence and memory, colonialism and patriarchy, family and friendship, are interwoven with delicacy and care. A Flat Place teaches us how the struggle some of us have to be in the world can be how we craft different worlds. It reminds us that there is hope in the smallest of gestures -- Sara Ahmed, author of 'The Feminist Killjoy Handbook'Flat lands are overlooked, the bearers of our inattention. Moors, deserts, floodplains, fens alike have too often been effaced to the point of invisibility. In A Flat Place, Noreen Masud makes brilliantly good this lack; her book fathoms the depths of such landscapes, and their curious abilities to archive and erase, to unsettle and to console. In her prose, terrains of the spirit and the earth begin to slip over one another, like acetate sheets seeking a match. Sharply, subtly and very movingly, Masud thinks with places, seeking as she does to find a way back into, and then out of, the traumas of her early life -- Robert Macfarlane, author of 'The Old Ways'A moving, lyrical and frank reflection on place, space and the shifting contours of self. This is a new kind of migration narrative, one that finds stories in both stillness and movement, in flatness and undulation -- Priyamvada Gopal, author of 'Insurgent Empire'A beautifully written, important memoir, exploring environmental experience alongside trauma, belonging, prejudice and the self. It's a profound look at how landscapes can help us understand our inner worlds, and how our relationship with nature and place might make new ways of being possible -- Rebecca Tamás, author of 'Strangers: Essays on the Human and Nonhuman'Psychologically and politically riveting: Noreen Masud dares to poke the bones of the psyche with idiosyncratic brilliance, while she unwraps clingfilm-racism: airtight, watertight, hard to see and vital to name, that sly racism by which experience is exiled -- Jay Griffiths, author of 'Kith' and 'Wild'Like the flat places she so values, Masud 'refuses to perform beauty in predictable ways'. Mountains are 'coercive' in their beauty - likewise a culture that expects survivors of trauma to pinpoint a rupture and overcome it. Noreen Masud invites us to think instead on places without desire - places that are forgiving because they are absorbed in being themselves. She uses them as a balm against a personal trauma that never had a climax, no event that could be scaled like a mountain face in the terrain of therapy. A Flat Place cuts new ground, mixing literary criticism, decolonial history, and boldly anti-Romantic 'nature' writing, in searing prose as sad as it is funny, to confront the noninnocence of writing 'nature' and place. This is an important and original interruption of the so-called 'nature cure' -- Abi Andrews, author of 'The Word for Woman is Wilderness'In this compelling, compassionate account of the aftermath of complex trauma, Noreen Masud sets out across the flatlands that fascinate her, in search of 'an imperceptible distress in the landscape that you can't pin down', reckoning with what it means to connect. Stark and beautiful as the terrain it describes, A Flat Place offers a psychogeography of such trauma, in which flat places become, paradoxically, sites of relief. The book is above all a tribute to (human and animal) friendship, and a testament to the power of forging strange relationship with strange things' -- Emily Berry, author of 'Stranger, Baby'Noreen Masud conjures a sensibility that has eluded most - writers hoodwinked into supposing that what's flat must be empty of significance. But to dwell upon flatness, as Masud does, is to find oneself reoriented. It is to ask who we are and where we are if we no longer take the bait of imagining our lives as a dig or a summit or a horizon -- Devorah Baum, author of 'On Marriage'[A] startling memoir . . . It is a story of the feeling you get when the stories we tell ourselves refuse to disclose an essential or epiphanic message. A brave style of refusal that somehow still manages to convey a ringing affirmation * The Arts Desk *A beautifully written memoir that looks at how landscapes can help us understand ourselves . . . terrifically precise and lyrical . . . this book might be called a nature memoir: each chapter engages intimately with the natural world, from the Fenlands to the Orkney Islands, and even the stillest, flattest, and quietest revelations are inextricably tied to the environment. But equally, Masud pushes against determined traditions of nature writing. The expansive space of this memoir is an invitation to collapse boundaries and make room for experiences and bodies that are often erased from British history, and in doing so, Masud also voices the realities of this nation's colonial violence * The Big Issue *

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Book Synopsis***The Instant National Bestseller***A Next Big Idea Club must-read title for January 2024The definitive, paradigm-shifting guide to healing intergenerational trauma?weaving together scientific research with practical exercises and stories from the therapy room?from Dr. Mariel Buqué, PhD, a Columbia University?trained trauma-informed psychologist and practitioner of holistic healingFrom Dr. Mariel Buqué, a leading trauma psychologist, comes this groundbreaking guide to transforming intergenerational pain into intergenerational abundance. With Break the Cycle, she delivers the definitive guide to healing inherited trauma. Weaving together scientific research with practical exercises and stories from the therapy room, Dr. Buqué teaches readers how trauma is transmitted from one generation to the next and how they can break the cycle through tangible therapeutic practices, learning to pass down strength instead of pain to future generations. When a physical wound is left unhealed, it continues to cause pain and can infect the whole body. When emotions are left unhealed, they similarly cause harm that spreads to other parts of our lives, hurting our family, friends, community members, and others. Eventually, this hurt can injure an entire lineage, metastasizing across years and generations. This is intergenerational trauma. This trauma is why some of us become estranged from our families, why some of us are people pleasers, why some of us find ourselves in codependent relationships. This trauma can be rooted in the experiences of ancestors, who may have suffered due to unhealthy family dynamics, and it can be collective, the result of a shared experience like systemic oppression, or harmful ingrained behaviors in a culture like the acceptance of physical discipline of children, or even a natural disaster like a pandemic. These wounds are complex, impacting our minds, bodies, and spirits. Healing requires a holistic approach that has so far been absent from the field of psychology. Until now.

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Book SynopsisTable of ContentsAcknowledgments xi About the Author xiii Introduction to Second Edition xv Part One Identifying and Understanding Emotional Abuse Chapter 1 Emotional Abuse— The Destroyer of Relationships 3 What Is Emotional Abuse? 6 How Emotional Abuse Does Damage 7 Determining Whether You Are Being Emotionally Abusive 10 No Monsters Here 12 Ending Emotional Abuse 15 Chapter 2 Patterns of Abuse 17 Domination 19 Verbal Assaults 20 Constant Criticism/Continual Blaming 21 Abusive Expectations 22 Emotional Blackmail 22 Unpredictable Responses 24 Constant Chaos/Creating Crisis 25 Character Assassination 25 Gaslighting 26 Sexual Harassment 27 Clear and Consistent Patterns 28 Overt and Covert Abuse 28 Intentional and Unintentional Abuse 29 Chapter 3 Not All Emotionally Abusive Relationships Are Alike 33 The Seven Types of Emotionally Abusive Relationships 35 Part Two Healing Your Childhood and Your Unhealthy Patterns Chapter 4 Patterns That Begin in Childhood: Why We Abuse and Why We Take It 47 The Repetition Compulsion 50 The Core of the Compulsion— An Abusive Childhood 53 Abusive Styles of Parenting 55 The Power of Unfinished Business 58 Your Original Abuser 59 Another Pattern: Victim or Abuser? 60 Anger In, Anger Out—Male and Female Patterns 61 How Shame Affects Victims of Abuse 62 Chapter 5 Complete Your Unfinished Business (For Both Victims and Abusers) 65 1. Admit the Fact That You Were the Victim of Abuse or Neglect 67 2. Acknowledge to Yourself That You Have Unexpressed Feelings of Anger, Pain, Fear, and Shame Because of Your Childhood Experiences of Neglect, Abandonment, or Abuse 73 3. Allow Yourself to Feel and Express Your Emotions Connected to the Neglect or Abuse You Experienced 75 4. Find Safe, Constructive Ways of Releasing or Expressing These Feelings 77 5. Confront Your Abuser(s) (Indirectly Preferred) 79 6. Resolve Your Relationship With Your Original Abuser(s) (Set Boundaries, Temporary or Permanent Separation, Forgive) 80 Chapter 6 Healing Your Shame with Self- Compassion 81 The Cure for Shame: Self-Compassion 86 Repeating the Cycle of Abuse 92 Part Three Stopping the Abuse Chapter 7 Action Steps for Those Being Abused 99 The Program 103 Specific Advice and Strategies 121 Chapter 8 Action Steps for the Abusive Partner 123 The Program 126 Chapter 9 Action Steps for the Abusive Couple 147 Stop Blaming Each Other 150 The Program 152 Chapter 10 When Your Partner Has a Personality Disorder 161 Determining Whether Your Partner Suffers from BPD 164 Twin Fears— Abandonment and Engulfment 166 Strategies to Help You Cope and to Stop the Emotional Abuse 168 Determining Whether Your Partner Suffers from NPD 171 Strategies to Help You Cope and Stop the Emotional Abuse 174 Should You Tell Your Partner that You Suspect They Have a Personality Disorder? 177 When You Both Suffer from a Personality Disorder 178 Chapter 11 When Your Abusiveness Stems from Your Personality Disorder 179 Do You Suffer from BPD? 182 How BPD Can Lead to Emotionally Abusive Behavior 183 How You Can Begin to Change Your Emotionally Abusive Behavior 186 Strategies for Specific Borderline Behaviors 191 Do You Suffer from NPD? 191 How NPD Leads to Abusive Behavior 193 How You Can Begin to Change Your Emotionally Abusive Behavior 194 My Personal Program for Overcoming Narcissistic Tendencies 196 Part Four Where Do You Go from Here? Chapter 12 Should You Stay or Should You Leave? 201 Strong Reasons to Stay 203 You May Still Need to Leave 205 Strong Reasons to Leave 205 When You Definitely Need to Leave 206 When You Are Resisting Leaving 209 Trust and Forgiveness 209 Chapter 13 Preventing Emotional Abuse in the Future 211 For the Abused Partner 213 For the Abusive Partner— Catch Yourself in the Act 217 For Both Partners 218 Chapter 14 Continuing to Recover 221 True Power Comes from Knowing You Have Choices 223 Key Issues for Victims and Abusers 224 Specific Strategies for the Abused Partner 228 Recovery for the Abusive Partner 230 For Both Partners— Finding the Right Therapist 232 Treatment for BPD and NPD 233 Be Realistic about Your Partner Changing 234 Epilogue 235 References 237 Further Reading 239 Index 243

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Book SynopsisDespite its prevalence, post-traumatic stress, PTSD, is often seen as an unbeatable lifelong mental disorder. Leading trauma doctors and neuroscientists now understand that the result of trauma is not a disorder, but rather a physical injury to the body - invisible but tangible, and most importantly, treatable. Meet Dr. Eugene Lipov. His research and partnerships have led to an amazing discovery that all trauma has at its root a single piece of human hardware: the stellate ganglion. The symptoms of post-traumatic stress are the same for all of us, whether from childhood poverty or abandonment, the ravages of war, or the brutality of sexual assault. Dr. Lipov’s pioneering procedure appears to treat injury to the stellate ganglion, relieving even the worst symptoms of PTSD - irritability, hypervigilance, insomnia, and more - in a 15-minute treatment. Weaving hard science with moving human stories, The Invisible Machine reveals how this treatment was developed. It also tells the incredible story of the unlikely team, including the doctor, an artist, Special Forces leadership, and a sheriff, who are working together to change our understanding of post-traumatic stress and why it matters to society. Written in collaboration with Holly Lorincz and featuring stories of warriors, prisoners, abuse survivors, and the average citizen, The Invisible Machine reveals a stark new understanding of human pain. The implications for a better, pain-free world are astounding - and that world could be nearer than we think.

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Book SynopsisFor twenty-five years, paramedic and firefighter Christy Warren put each tragic, traumatizing call she responded to in a box and closed the lid. One day, however, the box got too full and the lid blew open—and she found herself unable to close it again. Her brain locked her inside a movie theater in which film after film of gut-wrenching scenes from her career played over and over again; she found herself incapable of forgiving herself for what happened at one call in particular. Caught in a loop of shame, anger, irritability, and hypervigilance—classic signs of PTSD—she began to spiral, even to the point of considering suicide, and yet still she was reluctant to seek help.In the end, it took almost losing her marriage to force Christy into action—but once she began to reach out, she found a whole army of folks waiting and ready to help her. The team of people supporting her eventually grew to include an EMDR therapist, a psychiatrist, her peers at a trauma retreat, and a lawyer who made the case for medical retirement and workers compensation. Along the way, Christy learned the vital truths that made it possible to keep going even in her darkest moments—that post-traumatic stress was literally a brain injury; that suicide and alcohol were not the only ways out; that asking for help was a sign of strength, not weakness; and that although it was ultimately up to her to do the work to change the dialogue in her head, she was not alone.Trade Review“Despite focusing on harrowing subjects, Warren maintains an approachable style that has an endearing buoyancy . . . The result is a well-balanced, courageously candid memoir that moves toward a note of hope, reassuring others that the grip of PTSD need not last forever. An honest, informative, emotionally stirring memoir.”—Kirkus Reviews“[Flash Point is] an intriguing and at times harrowing memoir. . . . Warren has created a paean to the difficult work done by all first responders. It’s eye-opening, even awe-inspiring.”—The Indypendent“Flash Point is essential reading. We depend on first responders who are willing to race to a crisis and put themselves in the path of danger. It’s time for us to tell the truth about the immense toll this career can take on a mind and body. I commend Warren for her deeply principled authenticity in this beautiful, heartbreaking, honest, laugh-out-loud funny, and ultimately triumphant memoir.”—Julie Barton, New York Times best-selling author of Dog Medicine: How My Dog Saved Me from Myself“Flash Point is a book for all of us. What author Christy Warren has captured is every human’s struggle to feel safe, secure, attached, and connected. This is a life-saving book with the understanding that we must take care of ourselves along the way. Warren expertly outlines how she worked through many of her struggles and realistically writes to her failures along her journey even while trying to heal. Her journey is many of ours—her recovery can also be ours.”—Tom Satterly, retired CSM Delta Force, and author of All Secure: A Special Operations Soldier's Fight to Survive on the Battlefield and the Homefront“Christy Warren's powerful memoir of her struggle with PTSD is both heartbreaking and inspiring. It's a must-read for first responders and the clinicians who help them heal.”—Ellen Kirschman, PhD, public safety psychologist and the author of I Love a Fire Fighter, I Love a Cop, and co-author of Counseling Cops“Christy Warren brings her incredible heart and psychological wisdom to this page-turner of a book. She engages with topics that most people would find too scary to even approach, and dives into them without fear of what she might find. What emerges from her efforts is a memoir about bravery, vulnerability, and the complexities of surviving complicated lives. This book is a gift for first responders everywhere, for the communities who support them, and for humanity at large. It is a must-read for anyone striving to become a better person.”—Maya Shankar, cognitive scientist and host of the podcast A Slight Change of Plans“A tough and emotional read but a must-read. Christy dives deep into her life's journey of trauma and, more importantly, her healing and ultimate recovery. I cried and I laughed and I can honestly say this book has helped me dig into my never ending healing process. If you need inspiration, Christy nails it. Thanks for helping me with my journey Christy.”—Clint Malarchuk, former NHL goaltender and author of A Matter of Inches“Christy captures the constant exposure to exigent calls a firefighter faces. Over time it takes a toll on our brains.”—Sig Wallen, San Francisco Fire Department

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Book SynopsisIf your partner is a survivor of sexual trauma, they may experience anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, or feel triggered by intimate situations. And you may feel confused, overwhelmed, or unsure of how to support them. This gentle guide will give you the tools you need to help nurture intimacy and trust, and cultivate a secure relationship.In Loving Someone Who Has Sexual Trauma, marriage, family, and sex therapist Megan Lara Negendank offers self-compassion and attachment-based communication skills to support your partner. You'll also learn powerful, trauma-informed techniques and strategies to help you understand the full impact of your partner's past experience, increase feelings of safety and connection, and ultimately improve your relationship in the here and now. In this gentle guide, you'll discover: - Communication skills to help promote trust - How to avoid or deescalate from common triggers - How to identify attachment styles and soothe conflict patterns - Emotional and physical bonding skills If you're ready to move beyond fear, anger, and disconnection to a thriving intimate relationship where you both can feel loved, safe, and connected, this book can help you get started.

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Book SynopsisIt’s time to heal the invisible wounds of complex trauma and reclaim your mind, body, and spirit.If you are a person of color who has experienced repeated trauma—such as discrimination, race-related verbal assault, racial stigmatization, poverty, sexual trauma, or interpersonal violence—you may struggle with intense feelings of anger, mistrust, or shame. You may feel unsafe or uncomfortable in your own body, or struggle with building and keeping close relationships. Sometimes you may feel very alone in your pain. But you are not alone. This groundbreaking work illuminates the phenomena of complex post-traumatic stress disorder (C-PTSD) as it is uniquely experienced by people of?color, and?provides a much-needed path to health and wholeness.In The Pain We Carry, you’ll find powerful tools to help you understand and begin healing from repeated trauma. You’ll discover ways to feel safer in your body, build self-compassion and resilience, and reclaim your health and wellness by reconnecting with your sense of self and your ancestral wisdom. You’ll learn how trauma is connected to grief, how it can affect both the mind and the body, and how it can persist from one generation to the next. Most importantly, you’ll find the validation you need to begin mending your heart, and the skills you need to live a life of intention—even in the midst of an oppressive system.It’s time to find relief from the trauma and burdens you have been carrying and start celebrating and rediscovering who you are. With this guide, you will uncover your own strength in order to work toward healing C-PTSD within the external constraints you face to live a life of resilience, empowerment, reflection, and perseverance.

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Book SynopsisDo you struggle with the ongoing effects of trauma? If you have experienced a traumatic event or suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), you may believe that you're permanently damaged; that the anxiety, self-doubt, depression, and fear will never go away. The truth is that it's possible to rewire your brain, so you can free yourself from the past, find healing, and live for the future. This workbook will show you how. In The EMDR Workbook for Trauma, you'll discover a complete program to help you get in touch with, understand, and heal from the beliefs, feelings, and bodily sensations connected to your trauma. You'll learn to work through past or current trauma using emotion regulation and grounding techniques, and identify the specific triggers, limiting self-beliefs, and symptoms standing in between you and lasting peace of mind. You'll also discover how to cultivate compassion for yourself when you're feeling stuck. Finally, you'll find tons of tips, tools, checklists, and worksheets to lead you step by step as you process, heal, and journey toward a life free from the effects of trauma. Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) is proven-effective, fast-acting treatment. Unlike other approaches for treating trauma, EMDR not only treats the symptoms, but helps you identify and resolve the underlying causes so you can safely process your traumatic memories. Using the EMDR techniques in this book-such as bilateral knee tapping and other variations of bilateral stimulation-you can actually train your brain to rewire itself and return to normal functioning, despite negative past experiences. If you're ready to address your trauma with confidence, this workbook will gently lead you on the path to healing.

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Book Synopsis'Innovative and transformational' - Gabor Maté'Changed my life' - Rangan ChatterjeeThe empowering new way to discover your multifaceted mind.Do you long to break free from a stuck part of you - the inner critic, 'monkey mind', a bad habit or an addiction? What if there was a way to approach those aspects of you, to free you from the constant inner struggle and find true healing?In this groundbreaking international bestseller, Dr Richard Schwartz reveals that we are each born with an 'internal family' of distinct parts within us. Some of our parts can become trapped in destructive patterns, but learning to relate to each of them with curiosity, respect and empathy can vastly expand our capacity to heal.The Internal Family Systems (IFS) model will help you challenge the destructive behaviour of these parts, turn the ego, the inner critic and the saboteur into powerful allies, and allow you to return to a more whole and harmonious 'Self'.Trade Review'Internal Family Systems (IFS) therapy...has been one of the great advances in trauma therapy. IFS is one of the cornerstones of effective and lasting trauma therapy.' * Bessel van der Kolk, author of THE BODY KEEPS THE SCORE *'In this highly readable volume, Dr. Richard Schwartz articulates and deftly illustrates his Internal Family Systems model, one of the most innovative, intuitive, comprehensive, and transformational therapies to have emerged in the present century.' * Dr Gabor Maté *'This may be the most transformational book you'll ever read.' * Dr Lissa Rankin, author of MIND OVER MEDICINE *'An enormous gift - transformative, compassionate, and wise. These simple and brilliant teachings will open your mind and free your spirit and your heart.' * Jack Kornfield, author of A PATH WITH HEART *'No Bad Parts is, I believe, Richard Schwartz's clearest, most comprehensive, and most inspiring manifesto. Anyone interested in IFS, indeed anyone interested in a happier, less conflicted life, should devour this life-changing, pioneering work.' * Terry Real, author of THE NEW RULES OF MARRIAGE *

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Book SynopsisBegin your healing journey with this step-by-step workbook to help you understand and deal with traumaTrauma may seem like a daunting word, but it can cover many distressing events - from negative childhood experiences to the ordeal of living through a pandemic. It is often at the source of our fears and anxieties, and it can affect the way we live our lives. The Healing Workbook contains practical advice, effective tips and guided exercises based on trusted cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) techniques to help you begin the process of recovery. Within these pages you will find support and encouragement as you begin to come to terms with the past and find your way back to yourself, your values and a life where you can flourish and thrive. Use the workbook either on its own or alongside therapy to help you work through your trauma and find a sense of peace and healing. Inside the book, you will find:- A relaxed and supportive approach, allowing you to calmly complete the exercises at your own pace- A hands-on attitude towards understanding your trauma, offering a wealth of tips and advice for working through your worries- Clear and actionable advice on making lifestyle changes to support and improve your mental well-being- Exercises grounded in research-supported CBT techniques

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Book SynopsisNow in paperback: a hopeful and approachable book from the creator of @HealingFromPTSD, the largest trauma healing community on Instagram, in which each chapter is inspired by the top-performing posts from the page.Madeline Popelka is a trauma survivor who knows firsthand how some survivors can feel like they’ve lost themselves to trauma, and that it might seem impossible to find the upside of a devastating experience. After Madeline was diagnosed with PTSD and began to heal, she felt a need to create a space where other trauma survivors wouldn’t feel so isolated. She then founded @HealingFromPTSD, which has grown into the largest trauma healing community on Instagram. In this hopeful and empowering book, there are 16 chapters, each reflecting a lesson or insight that Madeline gained along her healing journey. Among them: · Trauma Doesn’t Have an Expiration Date · Your Emotions Are Your Allies · You Weren’t Meant to Heal Alone · Hold Space for the Goodness · Embrace the Ongoing Process Writes Madeline, “I’m sharing the 16 key lessons that I wish I learned sooner, and the insights I gained that shifted my perspective and reduced my shame, with the hopes that they will do the same for you. I’m sharing what I needed to hear when I didn’t get the encouragement I wanted from my friends, family, or therapist. I’m sharing the thoughts that brought me comfort and peace when I was feeling isolated, and I hope that by sharing my story, you feel less alone and are inspired to take your healing into your own hands.”In You’re Going to Be Okay, you’ll learn that healing is a lifelong journey, and while it can be messy and uncomfortable, there are gifts to be found along the way.

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Book SynopsisTrauma is everywhere, from relatively simple car accidents all the way through to childhood neglect and abuse, or devastating combat experiences. These events have specific emotional and behavioural effects on a person. Accessing good quality professional support with the aftereffects of trauma can be a lottery and people are often left wondering what on earth is happening to their mind. Statutory services can be underfunded and have long waiting lists. Private services can be very costly, outside of many people’s budgets. So where can you get good quality, evidence-based advice to help yourself? This self-help book is the first of its kind: written by a highly experienced Clinical Psychologist, who has experienced significant trauma in her own life. Drawing on a range of therapeutic approaches including Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT) among others, this book helps you to understand what is happening to you in the aftermath of trauma and how to cope with these impacts. The approaches used in this book enable you to respond differently to the painful thoughts and feelings you have, and to recognise when your natural responses may be preventing you from moving forward towards the life you want to live. You will gain an understanding of how trauma works, enabling you to respond to yourself more compassionately, and you will learn tried and tested skills to cope well, moving from mere surviving, to thriving.Table of ContentsPart One What Do We Mean by “Trauma”? My Story Types of Trauma Impact of Trauma Added Complexity Trauma and the Brain Trauma and the Body Part Two The Healing Journey Helpful vs Unhelpful Coping Resources for Healing Acceptance and Commitment Therapy Mindfulness Grounding/Getting Present Dealing with Thoughts Valued Living and Thriving Conclusions and Further Help Appendices: Worksheets and Questionnaires

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Book Synopsis'Trauma-informed' has become a buzzword in the counselling and psychotherapy arena and the wider worlds of health and social care research and practice. But what does it mean in relation to practitioners' day-to-day work with clients? Susan Dale argues that all therapeutic work should put the client's needs, not the therapeutic model, at the heart of the process. Here she describes how she shapes her own collaborative narrative approach to work with people who have experienced trauma, whether from childhood abuse and neglect, violence, combat or other circumstances. Drawing on the literature and the first-hand accounts of trauma-experienced co-researchers, Dale weaves a narrative that demonstrates trauma-informed practice and its impact in the real-life therapy room. She includes approaches that are not formally badged as 'trauma therapies' as well as recognised models such as EMDR to demonstrate how such an approach, applied collaboratively and with acute sensitivity to the needs of the individual client, can make a lasting difference to people striving to rebuild lives that have been shattered by trauma.Trade Review'In this beautifully crafted and deeply moving book, Susan Dale helps the reader understand the harrowing and wide-ranging impacts of lived trauma experiences through the voices of her co-researchers. Ultimately, their stories of courage and resilience are a celebration of how people can recover from trauma and the diversity of therapeutic methods that can facilitate this. Highlighting that one size does not fit all, this is an essential read for all counsellors and psychotherapists.' – Dr Mhairi Thurston, senior lecturer in counselling, Abertay University. 'There are some good books on trauma, but this is truly a great book on trauma that in the opening pages alone grabs your attention and, thereafter, takes you into Susan Dale’s most wonderful, engaging and informative writing. It guides the way for collaboration and speaks to the power of storytelling and is absolutely a must-read.' – Professor Andrew Reeves, Professor in Counselling Professions and Mental Health, University of Chester. 'The idea for this book waited patiently for someone whose personal and professional knowledge, training, worldviews, and values could possibly realise it. Susan Dale came along. Her deeply relational and collaborative spirit, compassion, humility, passion and ethical mindedness radiate throughout. A window opens onto almost 30 years of counselling experience as, using ‘trauma-informed’ methodologies, Dale empowers her co-researchers to tell their trauma stories. Research-informed and evidence-based, this recommended book will help you develop a framework for working with trauma.' – Karen Stainsby, counsellor, supervisor and author. 'If you’re searching for a manual on how to ‘treat’ PTSD, or a review of ‘gold standard’ research on the subject, you’ll need to look elsewhere, but you’ll miss out on a superbly inspiring narrative inquiry into the subject. Susan Dale and her co-researchers provide the broadest introduction to post-traumatic stress and therapeutic ways of being with trauma-experienced clients. Both academically sound and experience-near, this should become the ‘go-to’ (rather than ‘how-to’) primer for counsellors and therapists seeking an introduction to working with trauma – whether single event, complex or indeed ‘complicated’.' – Dr Mike Gallant, NHS therapist and clinical supervisor. 'Written very accessibly, this in-depth narrative collaboration brings to life the vibrant connection between therapist and client, using an array of psychotherapeutic models to work with trauma. Susan Dale and her co-researchers offer a rare insight for anyone interested in working with trauma, from trainees to experienced counsellors looking for CPD, with stimulating questions for reflection throughout.' – Tracey Cleary, counselling officer, UHI Inverness. 'As I read this book I found it just the most fascinating reflection on trauma, its causes, legacy and interconnectivity with therapy. The most powerful element for me was the inclusion of the experiences of people who have suffered trauma, the isolation and loneliness it led to, the positivity of counselling and how it had helped them regain a life. This book is definitely one for everybody in the counselling professions to read.' – Steve Rattray, counsellor, psychotherapist and clinical supervisor.Table of ContentsContents Prologue Introduction Chapter 1 What is trauma and how does it affect us? Chapter 2 Working collaboratively with trauma Chapter 3 Trauma and its impacts on the body and central nervous system Chapter 4 Cognitive behavioural therapy and psychoeducation Chapter 5 Internal family systems Chapter 6 Narrative therapy: The Tree of Life Chapter 7 Metaphor and creative therapies Chapter 8 Telling stories of trauma and re-authoring conversations Chapter 9 Eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing Chapter 10 Definitional ceremony and collective biography Chapter 11 Other psychotherapeutic models: Practitioner perspectives Chapter 12 The ethics and practice of co-research References

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Book Synopsis

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Book Synopsis

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