Recommended Reading
This list has been compiled by survivors who used the following books to support and further their own healing:
Trauma & PTSD theory:
The Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Sourcebook: A Guide to Healing, Recovery and Growth
Glenn Schiraldi
Trauma and Recovery: The Aftermath of Violence from Domestic Abuse to Political Terror
Judith Herman
The Body Remembers: The Psychophysiology of Trauma and Trauma Treatment
Babette Rothschild
Waking the Tiger: Healing Trauma The Innate Capacity to Transform Overwhelming Experiences
Peter A. Levine
A Mind Frozen in Time: A PTSD Recovery Guide
Jeremy P. Crosby
Rebuilding Shattered Lives: The Responsible Treatment of PTSD and Dissociative Disorders
Dr. James Chu
No Open Wounds, Heal Traumatic Stress
Dr. Robert Bray
The Inner World of Trauma: Archetypal Defenses of the Personal Spirit
D. Kalshed
Invisible Heroes: Survivors of Trauma and How They Heal
Bellaruth Naparstek and Robert Scaer
Healing PTSD workbooks:
The PTSD Workbook: Simple, Effective Techniques for Overcoming Traumatic Stress Symptoms
Mary Beth Willams & Soili Poijula
I Can’t Get over it: A handbook for Trauma Survivors
Aphrodite Matsakis
The Way of the Journal: A Journal Therapy Workbook for Healing
Kathleen Adams
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Relationship: How To Support Your Partner and Keep Your Relationship Healthy
Diane England
Conquering Post Traumatic Stress Disorder: The Newest Techniques for Overcoming Symptoms, Regaining Hope, and Getting Your Life Back
Victoria Lemle Beckner & John B. Arden
Personal Accounts of Trauma Recovery:
My Stroke of Insight
Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor
Crazy: A Father’s Search Through America’s Mental Health Madness
Pete Earley
For survivors of childhood abuse:
The Drama of the Gifted Child: The Search for the True Self
Alice Miller (author shares personal experience)
Betrayal Trauma: The Logic of Forgetting Childhood Abuse
Jennifer Freyd (author shares personal experience)
Legacy of the Heart: The Spiritual Advantage of a Painful Childhood
Wayne Miller
Surviving and Transcending a Traumatic Childhood: The Dark Thread
Linda Skogrand, Nikki DeFrain, John DeFrain, Jean E. Jones
For survivors of childhood sexual abuse:
The Courage to Heal
Ellen Bass and Laura Davis
The Courage to Heal Workbook
Laura Davis
Allies in Healing
Laura Davis
I never Told Anyone: Writings by Women Survivors of Childhood Abuse
Ellen Bass
The Sexual Healing Journey: A Guide for Survivors of Sexual Abuse
Wendy Maltz
Outgrowing the Pain: A Book for and About Adults Abused as Children
Eliana Gil
About the Brain:
The Brain that Changes Itself
Norman Doidge
Lifting Depression: A Neuroscientist’s Hands-On Approach to Activating Your Brain’s Healing Power
Kelly Lambert
The Open-Focus Brain: Harnessing the Power of Attention to Heal the Mind & Body
Les Fehmi & Jim Robbins
Train Your Mind, Change Your Brain: How A New Science Reveals Our Extraordinary Potential to Transform Ourselves
Sharon Begley
Rewiring the Brain: Living Without Stress and Anxiety Through the Power of Consciousness
Rajnish Roy
The Biology of Belief: Unleashing the Power of Consciousness, Matter and Miracles
Bruce Lipton
Post-Partum PTSD:
Birth Crisis
S. Kitzinger
Understanding the Dangers of Caeserean Birth: Making Informed Decisions
Nicette Julelevics
When Survivors Give Birth: Understanding and Healing The Effects of Early Sexual Abuse on Childbearing
Penny Simkin & Phyllis Klaus
Born In the USA: How A Broken Maternity System Must Be Fixed To Put Women and Children First
Marsden Wagner
Miscellaneous:
Many Lives, Many Masters
Dr. Brian Weiss
The Hero Within: Six Archetypes We Live By
Carol Pearson
The Alchemist (A Novel)
Paolo Coelho
(Photos: Honey Jazz, Nina Camic, Perpetually, Weeping Willow)
