Coping with and communicating your trauma if you are at a stage where you feel ready to do so, is a journey very much within your own hands but not one you need to do alone. Whether you can afford access to a therapist or not, you are not excluded from healing and there are many incredible psychologists who have created guiding texts that will help you on your journey. During our interview, internationally acclaimed trauma, relationship and intimacy expert Dr Eve, gave me a list of some of these seminal texts on what trauma is and how to cope with it.
Read on to discover more about these incredible resources on coping with trauma and how they can aid your recovery…
One of the world’s leading specialists on trauma, Bessel van der Kolk, explores and explains in this incredibly insightful book, the way in which trauma impacts our brains and subsequently alters the ways we perceive, experience and behave in the world. This is a really good start if you are looking for a clear understanding either of why your trauma has impacted you in the way it has or if there are signs and symptoms within your life that may need care and attention.
Once we understand how trauma has changed us the next important step is to learn how to cope and heal from those changes. Peter A. Levine’s book provides a guide to doing just that, teaching you about and how to use his break through Somatic Experiencing methods to regain body awareness, address your symptoms at the source and find your way back to a trauma-free state.
This is more of a research text, aimed at psychotherapists, however, ‘Trauma and the Body’ is another read that can be incredibly helpful for the recovery process. The book focuses in depth on how we can notice through our body language and interactions the ways trauma might be impacting us and subsequently how to manage and cope with these symptoms.
Although Sue Johnson has written a number of texts on trauma, intimacy and attachment theory, this is the most user friendly and useful for those of us who are not psychotherapists. A particularly good read for couples looking to understand and heal from the effects of developmental trauma on their relationships, this book provides a fantastic ‘how to’ approach to creating a safe emotional connection with your partner and ultimately improving and strengthening your bond.
‘The Sexual Healing Journey’, is an exceptionally compassionate guiding text, providing help specifically to those who have been through sexual trauma. Author, Wendy Maltz provides readers with a fantastic step-by-step recovery process that includes expert insight with practical exercises and techniques to practice as well as real-life stories from men and women at different stages of their healing journeys.
This is a brilliant and incredibly helpful read/listen for anyone interested in exploring more about developmental trauma. Diane Poole Heller, providing an interesting look at the way trauma impacts our development, therefore the way we attach to others and how to develop healthier attachment styles.