Books have been known to reach parts of the mind that no other medium reaches. Seeing a documentary, hearing it on the radio or from a person is never the same thing. Today it is particularly important because we are talking about a much-loved category of books, those dealing with trauma.
Trauma is a very sensitive subject, although many people suffer from it. In fact, more than half of the world’s population has had traumatising experiences that still affect their health today. In one of the previous articles I told you about this in a different light, I explained How to use writing as your free therapy.
| Today I have the pleasure of introducing you to a list of psychological books that will help you enormously. Above all to become aware of the weight that you carry on your shoulders every day, invisible but weighing on your every action. Some of these books will perhaps be difficult for you to digest because they will confront you with a reality that is often, and this is completely normal, difficult to accept. Becoming aware is often recommended to victims by psychologists because it has many benefits. It will help you detach yourself emotionally from the situation, just enough to be able to pull out whatever is troubling you. Furthermore, by analysing the situation with a more critical eye, you will have the opportunity to realise the most important thing, it was not your fault. None of it was. None of it. Remember to always be sensitive to yourself, to that frightened child in your chest. Facing the bad monster is always frightening, immobilising, at any age. So use sweet words and take your time, because the first ones who deserve a gentle look are you. |
All the Trauma Books Therapists Recommend
The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma
This book is often found in all the videos or articles that talk about trauma. Personally, I don’t feel like recommending it to you and now I will explain why.
True, it talks to you in detail about trauma and the ways that are used by psychologists to overcome these bad experiences.
But it is not intended for an audience of trauma survivors.
In fact it is a very good read for psychologists. Not for patients.
The Body Keeps the Score explains to you in detail the psychology behind your thoughts and behaviours but this may trigger you and bring the trauma to the surface, to the point that you will not even finish the book. It has happened to many people and some psychologists advise against it because inflicting this pain on yourself is not at all the best way to gain awareness. It is not a bad book, on the contrary, but it is more suitable for those who want information and feel more detached from what is being described.
Having said that, you are of course free to know of its existence and make your own choices, but it seemed only fair that you should know other points of view as well.
Waking the Tiger: Healing Trauma: The Innate Capacity to Transform Overwhelming Experiences
By Peter A. Levine Ph.D. and Ann Frederick
The book explains how trauma affects our bodies and our lives. Our relationships, our goals, our actions.
“Trauma is a fact of life. It does not, however, have to be a life sentence”.
Peter A. Levine Ph.D. and Ann Frederick
The book shows us a different point of view. Trauma does not have to be something negative. The energy and feelings stored in your body can be processed. We can use them to improve, change and evolve, especially as a species.
Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents: How to Heal from Distant, Rejecting, or Self-Involved Parents
by Lindsay C. Gibson
You quickly realise from the title that this book refers to a specific type of trauma. Neglect by parents. It can happen in many ways and from the outside the family unit can appear perfectly normal. But it is not.
Those who have this kind of trauma often do not know how to deal with large parts of their lives. Sometimes parents neglect the emotional part of the child but it happens that they do the same with the physical part.
For example, it has happened several times that children had no idea how to wash and take care of their bodies, because no one had bothered to teach them. Causing serious health problems. At other times, when it is more a matter of neglecting their children’s feelings, they find themselves doing anything to attract the attention, positive or negative, of their parents.
This book shows you the ways in which many experience this trauma and helps you heal from a wound that, unfortunately, you have to deal with as adults.
No Bad Parts: Healing Trauma and Restoring Wholeness With the Internal Family Systems Model
by Ph.D. Schwartz, Richard C. and Alanis Morissette
The title refers to the writer’s theory, central to the whole book. We are not just one, as was believed for centuries. Sometimes we find ourselves arguing with the voice, or voices, in our heads. Because they do not reflect what we want.
This book, on the other hand, tells us, “It is obvious that you have different thoughts, you are two different things”.
The writer thus shows us that healing is not all or nothing, that we must give attention and time to every single part of ourselves.
Each of them is traumatised in their own way and we have to understand and get to know them in order to heal. The writer explains his idea much better than I do, so what are you waiting for, hurry up and read!
What My Bones Know: A Memoir of Healing from Complex Trauma
by Stephanie Foo
This book on trauma deals with a mental condition that afflicts many, Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). In this book, the writer has included personal facts and feelings.
For who can understand a trauma survivor better than someone who is diagnosed with the same disorder. This book takes the reader by the hand and accompanies him or her on this long journey, of ups and downs, where every single feeling has the right to receive proper attention.
What is most acclaimed is that from these pages one can sense the enormous research, of information and of self, that the writer had to face. It deals with the return to childhood and what hurt us in those years that were so fragile for everyone.
Transforming The Living Legacy of Trauma: A Workbook for Survivors and Therapists
by Janina Fisher
The book I am presenting now is less theoretical than the others. Rather than explaining how you feel and why, it explains how you can improve. It offers you many methods that you can use on your own, or with the help of your therapist.
By understanding yourself, you will finally be able to change your fate and that of future generations. In fact, we have been talking about generational trauma for years now. The one we pass on through DNA to every single generation after us.
You who are reading this article are every single one of your ancestors, and a part of them will live in you forever. Unfortunately, especially the traumatic parts. When you decide to start healing, remember that there is much more of a wounded child behind it and that it will take patience and kindness to go through this journey.
The list ends here but I will probably do another article in the future. Because the list of books related to trauma is endless and each of them has something important to offer.
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