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A Trauma Psychotherapist's Top 5 Trauma Treatment Books.
Trauma is not an event or a cluster of experiences, it’s a client’s unique injuries as a result of their experience(s). Every therapy client experiences some degree of trauma. Therefore, an understanding of trauma and an ability to engage in healing is imperative for every clinician. As a trauma treatment specialist, I’ve chosen my top five trauma treatment books for clinicians.
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The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma by Bessel van der Kolk, M.D.
Many clients have read
The Body Keeps the Score
and it’s considered required reading in the trauma treatment community. Dr Kolk exceptionally describes how trauma impacts the brain and body. He also explores effective methods used to treat trauma such as safe trusting relationships, Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR), yoga, and neurofeedback. If you plan to read just one book from this list, it should be The Body Keeps the Score.
Healing Trauma: Attachment, Mindy, Body and Brain by Daniel J Siegel, M.D., Marion Solomon, Ph.D
Complex trauma can be difficult to assess, compherened, and treat. Dr. Siegel’s collection of articles written by heavyweights in trauma treatment such as Bessel A van der Kolk, Marion Solomon, and Francine Shapio provides attachment research, neurobiology, explanations of developmental trauma, and successful treatment methods. If you find yourself struggling with clients who experience complex/developmental trauma,
Healing Trauma
is for you.
Waking the Tiger: Healing Trauma by Peter A. Levine, Ph.D
Many clinicians do not know how to incorporate somatic experiencing into trauma treatment.
Waking the Tiger
explores the impact of trauma on the body and explains how bodies can heal and self-regulate. Dr. Levine, the founder of Somatic Experiencing, provides specific and simple body oriented healing methods for traumatized clients. If you struggle to understand or utilize somatic experiencing, Waking the Tiger is the perfect place to start.
Getting Past Your Past: Take Control of Your Life with Self-Help Techniques from EMDR Therapy by Francine Shapiro, Ph.D
EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing) can be difficult to understand. Dr. Shapiro, the founder of EMDR, provides an easy to understand exploration of trauma as unprocessed memories, negative cognitions, and body sensations.
Getting Past Your Past
explains how clinicians use EMDR to treat trauma and how clients can take aspects of EMDR to practice on their own. This book isn’t just for EMDR trained therapists, Getting Past Your Past serves as an EMDR ambassador to anyone whose experience trauma or works with traumatized clients.
The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog: And Other Stories from a Child Psychiatrist's Notebook by Bruce D. Perry, Ph.D and Maia Szalavitz
You can’t heal trauma without understanding how trauma impacts the brain. Dr. Perry and Maria Szalavitz provide vivid case studies of traumatized children in order to describe how trauma impacts the developing brain and how the brain can ultimately heal. With humility, compassion, and strong science,
The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog
transforms horrifying childhood traumatic experiences to opportunities for profound change and resilience.
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