Social Trauma

The groundbreaking work on trauma that remains a “classic for our generation” (Bessel van der Kolk, MD, author of The Body Keeps the Score) Trauma and Recovery is the foundational text on understanding trauma survivors. By placing individual experience in a political frame, psychiatrist...

Indigenous author Renee Linklater explores healing and wellness in the Indigenous communities on Turtle Island. Drawing on a decolonizing approach, which puts the “soul wound” of colonialism at the center, Linklater engages ten Indigenous health care practitioners in a dialogue regarding Indigenous notions of wellness and wholistic health, critiques of psychiatry and psychiatric diagnoses, and Indigenous approaches to helping people through trauma, depression, and experiences of parallel and multiple realities.

In this groundbreaking book, therapist Resmaa Menakem examines the damage caused by racism in America from the perspective of trauma and body-centered psychology. My Grandmother's Hands is a call to action for all of us to recognize that racism is not only about the head but about the body, and introduces an alternative view of what we can do to grow beyond our entrenched racialized divide.

A longtime trauma worker, Laura van Dernoot Lipsky offers a deep and empathetic survey of the often-unrecognized toll on those working to make the world a better place. We may feel tired, cynical, numb, or like we can never do enough. These, and other symptoms, affect us individually and collectively, sapping the energy and effectiveness we so desperately need if we are to benefit humankind, other animals, and the planet itself. Through Trauma Stewardship, we are called to meet these challenges in an intentional way.

An essential tool for healers, therapists, activists, and survivors of trauma who are interested in a justice-centered approach to somatic transformation The Politics of Trauma offers somatics with a social analysis. This book is for therapists and social activists who understand that trauma...

Five years in the making—the powerful follow-up to Maslow Before Bloom: Basic Human Needs Before Academics. What if school wasn’t just about achievement… but about becoming? In Maslow Before Bloom… Then Gardner, Jung & Goleman: Educating the Whole Child With Needs, Strengths, Meaning & Emotional Intelligence, Dr. Bryan Pearlman invites educators, counselors, and leaders to reimagine what it truly means to help students thrive. Building on the truth that kids can’t learn if they don’t feel safe, seen, or supported, this book goes beyond Maslow to explore how we help students grow...

A top expert on human trauma argues that we vastly overestimate how common PTSD is and fail to recognize how resilient people really are After 9/11, mental health professionals flocked to New York to handle what everyone assumed would be a flood of trauma cases. Oddly, the flood never came. In...

David W. Powell enlisted for a tour of duty in April 1966 with the US Marines after receiving an imminent draft notice. Believing he would be able to leverage his existing skills as a computer programmer, he never thought all they would see on his resume was his Karate expertise. Even less that he would wind up serving as a Rocket man in the jungles of Da Nang and Chu Lai for a 13 month tour in hell. David's journey from naive civilian to battle-hardened combat veteran shows us all how fragile our humanity really is.

Does This Feel Familiar? [ ] You just woke up, but already feel tired and mentally foggy. [ ] You feel exhausted but "wired" at the same time. [ ] You can't fully relax, even when nothing is wrong. [ ] Small stressors (e.g., an unanswered text, a small mistake, etc.) trigger big emotional reactions. [ ] You overthink conversations long after they’re over. [ ] You shut down, procrastinate, scroll endlessly, or go numb when things feel overwhelming. If you recognize yourself in even one of these, your nervous system may be stuck in survival mode. It's important to note that you're not weak....

This book offers first-person accounts of the experience of psychosis from the inside and the outside, through the eyes of two doctors, one of whom has experienced psychosis and both of whom have worked for decades in the field of psychiatry. Underpinned by rigorous academic analysis using an evocative duo-ethnographic approach, the book explores the cultural and subcultural influences from childhood onwards—both traumatic and resilience-building—that have shaped their lives.

Most people are stuck living life on autopilot. Are you ready to break free? At the root of all healing work is awakening consciousness, a process of shining light into the darkness of the unknown. In recent years, Dr. Nicole LePera has become the leading voice in psychological self-healing...

In this fresh look at trauma-informed practice, Alex Shevrin Venet urges educators to shift equity to the center as they consider policies and professional development.  

Do you sense the world is a cage disguised as freedom? Therapy, culture, algorithms, even your own beliefs—they’re not salvation but a program suppressing your essence. Psychotherapy Won’t Help You isn’t a guide to fitting in—it’s a rebellion against the system that turns you into its pawn. From ancient codes of control to today’s digital scripts, this book exposes how a false “self” hijacks your perception, trapping you in someone else’s game. You’re not broken—you’re infected. This isn’t self-help; it’s a mirror revealing the absurdity of the system and ...

From one of America’s most influential psychiatrists, an essential manifesto for reimagining justice for survivors of sexual trauma. “An extraordinary book ...Beautiful, profound, and important.” —New York Times The #MeToo movement brought worldwide attention to sexual violence, but...

You are the one holding their world together. But who is holding space for you? Caregiving begins with love. It lives in the space between profound devotion and bone-deep depletion. It’s a reality of contradictions—where your heart is full of love, your mind a relentless ticker tape of worries and what-ifs, and your body aching in places your doctor dismisses as “just stress.” This is the silent, unseen work of a caregiver. It’s the moment you catch your reflection and barely recognize the capable, worn-out stranger staring back. It’s the strange, surreal grief of mourning ...

Five hundred years of colonization have taken an incalculable toll on the Indigenous peoples of the Americas: substance-use disorders and shockingly high rates of depression, diabetes, and other chronic health conditions brought on by genocide and colonial control. With passionate logic and chillingly clear prose, author and educator Suzanne Methot uses history, human development, and her own and others’ stories to trace the roots of Indigenous cultural dislocation and community breakdown in an original and provocative examination of the long-term effects of colonization.

As a black woman, you've navigated a world that often overlooks your struggles and diminishes your worth. But what if you could break free from the chains of societal expectations and embrace your true self? In Self-Love for Black Women, Nya Love takes you on a transformative journey, offering practical tools and strategies to help you overcome past traumas, improve relationships, and cultivate unshakable self-worth.

This psychologist is frustrated. In the final stretch of his doctoral internship, Dr. Jonathan Mathias Lassiter had just one more milestone to complete—the diversity project—where candidates insert themselves into a situation in which they’d experience what it’s like to be a minority...

The social perception of masculinity is very black and white: one is either an alpha male or a beta male, and there can be no variation. However, this is not the reality of masculinity in today's society. Non-alpha males exist somewhere in the middle of the masculinity spectrum and are far more common than most people realize.

From the author of For Brown Girls with Sharp Edges and Tender Hearts, a celebration of the women at the heart of Latine families. “This love letter to intergenerational relationships opens every window and door to one’s heart... A healing work of art.” —Yesika Salgado, author of...