We often get asked for book recommendations for those recovering from trauma. Here are some of our top picks.
- “The Body Keeps the Score” by Bessel Van Der Kolk. This is a “go to” on any trauma therapist’s bookshelf and many of us recommend it regularly. Written by one of the preeminent experts in the field of trauma, this book was groundbreaking in its comprehensive and accessible explanation of how trauma impacts the entire body and thereby the mind. By detailing the neurological and physiological changes caused by traumatic experiences, Van Der Kolk provides a crucial understanding of how trauma disrupts a survivor’s capacity for pleasure, relationships, emotion regulation, and trust. Much of our contemporary treatment approaches to trauma stem from this author’s work.
- “No Bad Parts” by Richard Schwartz is another one of my favorites. One of the challenging consequences of trauma is that it can sometimes create a considerable amount of shame for the trauma survivor. This shame can act as a barrier to healing. Schwartz’ book offers a unique approach to this challenge by providing a roadmap to healing from an Internal Family Systems (IFS) therapy standpoint. This method is aimed at empowering the reader to engage with compassion and collaboration with every aspect of your identity – even the parts that you may have walled off because you view them as “negative” or “problematic”. The goal here is related to the idea that the integration of all aspects of our personalities, both the dark and the light leads to emotional health and inner harmony.
- Not exactly in the “self-help” realm per se, I can’t count the number of times I have recommended Mary Oliver’s book of poems “A Thousand Mornings”. Mindfulness is a term that is thrown around so frequently these days that it is hard to remember what it even means. I find that Mary Oliver helps me to remember. By capturing the essence of tiny moments, the stirring of a leaf, the inexorable coming and going of the tides, she reminds us to slow down our bodies and our minds in ways that are central to managing anxiety and PTSD.
- This recommendation comes from the art therapist in my group practice. This one is not a “book” exactly but a self-guided card deck by licensed creative arts therapist, Emily Sharp. The “Guided Art Therapy Card Deck: 75 Activities to Explore Your Feelings and Manage Your Emotional Well-Being” is what we repeatedly reach for in our art therapy work with clients, both children and adults. Because of the ways that trauma is stored in the body, sometimes language is not enough for recovery. We find that these prompts provide a rich and open space for “letting go” and expressing feelings through fully embodied art work. There is ample research on the impact of the creative arts in helping people to heal and this terrific deck of cards makes that work accessible to non-therapists for use in their own homes.
- No trauma booklist would be complete without the inclusion of Judith Herman, another major contributor to our professional and societal understanding of trauma. Her book, “Truth and Repair” is essential reading for anyone who wants to explore the profound effects of trauma on both individual and social levels. Herman extends her initial research from “Trauma and Recovery” to explore how truth-telling and social repair function as key elements in the healing process of trauma survivors. This book delivers important knowledge about trauma complexities while outlining why acknowledging harm matters and how restorative justice can be achieved. In a time period where there has been growing societal awareness of the impacts of trauma as well as a significant de-stigmatization of the topic, this book will be empowering to readers seeking to connect to a larger communal experience.