The Pain We Carry

Healing from Complex PTSD for People of Color

By: Natalie Y. Gutiérrez LMFT, Jennifer Mullan PsyD - foreword

Narrated by: L. Malaika Cooper

Length: 7 hrs and 30 mins

Publisher's summary

If you are a person of color who has experienced repeated trauma—such as discrimination, race-related verbal assault, racial stigmatization, poverty, sexual trauma, or interpersonal violence—you may struggle with intense feelings of anger, mistrust, or shame. You may feel unsafe or uncomfortable in your own body, or struggle with building and keeping close relationships. Sometimes you may feel very alone in your pain. But you are not alone. This groundbreaking work illuminates the phenomena of complex post-traumatic stress disorder (C-PTSD) as it is uniquely experienced by people of color, and provides a much-needed path to health and wholeness.

In The Pain We Carry, you'll find powerful tools to help you understand and begin healing from repeated trauma. You'll discover ways to feel safer in your body, build self-compassion and resilience, and reclaim your health and wellness by reconnecting with your sense of self and your ancestral wisdom. You'll learn how trauma is connected to grief, how it can affect both the mind and the body, and how it can persist from one generation to the next. Most importantly, you'll find the validation you need to begin mending your heart, and the skills you need to live a life of intention—even in the midst of an oppressive system.

©2022 Natalie Y. Gutiérrez (P)2023 Tantor

Insightful and Needed

I found this to be very useful. It’s a feeling BIPOCs have, but she offered validity to it.

Important and affirming

This book was so important to me as a black women who has gone through a lot of trauma and still has to deal with this racist country

The words in this book were affirming and empowering and really every BIPOC person should read this rather they have C-PTSD or not

Meaningful (un)learning

I truly enjoyed listening and learning. I am very grateful for the end of the chapter check ins and encouragement to take time to check on myself.

I’m off to co-regulate with my dog

Gutierrez wrote a highly accessible and comprehensive trauma therapy 101 book that, though it contains complex concepts, provides an easy read for survivors. This was my first read-through, and I plan on returning to the physical book to work through the exercises. The exercises surely aren’t easy, but they seem very helpful to incorporate into my healing journey.

The perspective provided in this book is one I’ve needed. I appreciate its existence.

The content is great, but the narrator was a bad choice

The book itself is great. The story and the self help were very useful. The narrator was very slow and didn’t say Spanish words correctly. I had better hope for the narration as it’s aim for latines.
The narrator sounded like AI and soooo slow.

Affirming

This book has been so affirming to me as someone who lives with CPTSD and is a mental health provider and social work veteran. I am however extremely disappointed in the narration choice. I was frustrated to hear Spanish being mispronounced, a micro aggression.. in a book about racial trauma.

Healing in Color

This was well written and narrated. The prompts and questions allow you to sit and reflect on your upbringing, environment and experiences as a person of color while helping undo the desensitization of microaggressions and poor behavior

The narrator made it tough

I couldn’t even finish the book, I had to get a refund on my audible credit because I didn’t like the narrators style. I understand that is completely subjective though. She couldn’t pronounce the Spanish words and she spoke slowly and like she was trying to recite a spoken word. I’ll probably purchase a physical copy of the book. Definitely sample before listening!