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.

The Body is a pulse-pounding supernatural horror story from bestselling author Bethany C. Morrow, where one woman must survive a series of bizarre and escalating attacks on her marriage. Mavis broke from her parents’ congregation years ago, but she still hasn’t recovered. Their impossible...

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...

"I Thought It Was Chronic Stress, Then I Learned that the Real Problem Was That My Nervous System Was Stuck in Survival Mode" Do you feel constantly wired, exhausted, or emotionally drained, no matter how much you try to relax? Is stress, brain fog, or chronic fatigue stealing your focus, energy, and joy? Or maybe you're stuck in a loop of stress, autoimmune flare-ups, or neuropathy that no diet or supplement seems to fix? You're not broken. Your nervous system is just dysregulated. So the solution is learning how to help your body regulate and feel safe again. When your system is stuck in ...

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 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...

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.

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.

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 ...

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...

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...

“The experience of an occasion by a toddler that's emotionally painful or distressful, which frequently leads to lasting mental and physical effects.” Childhood trauma can occur when toddler witnesses or experiences overwhelming negative experiences in childhood. Many childhood experiences can overwhelm a toddler. this will happen in relationships e.g. abuse, neglect, violence. This is often called interpersonal trauma. Children also can experience traumatic events. These include accidents, natural disasters, war and civil unrest, medical procedures or the sudden loss of a parent/...

When studying history, it becomes pretty clear that it’s always been the role of young people to spark change in the world. -Malcolm X was 32 years old when he stepped onto the national stage by galvanizing thousands of people to address police brutality in New York City. -Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was 26 years old when he led the Montgomery Bus Boycott that protested racial segregation in the public transit system. -Mary McLeod Bethune was 29 years old when she opened the Daytona Normal and Industrial Institute for Negro Girls in 1904. She built the desks and chairs herself. The school...

As a child, Sheila Wise Rowe was bused across town to a majority white school, and she experienced the racist lie that one group is superior to all others. We experience ongoing racial trauma as this lie is perpetuated by the action or inaction of the government, media, viral videos, churches, and within families of origin. In contrast, scripture declares that we are all fearfully and wonderfully made.

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.

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.

The Trouble with Trauma is the story of how the idea of psychological trauma appeals to the human mind. Trauma impacts many people psychologically, but the evidence on the long-term physical effect is incomplete. Theories that psychological trauma can permanently damage your brain, cause physical disease, and change your essential character have become staples of human thought worldwide.

With Unbroken: The Trauma Response Is Never Wrong, Dr. McDonald overturns the misconceptions about trauma with the latest evidence from neuroscience and psychology—and shares tested practices and tools to help you work with your body’s coping mechanisms to accelerate 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.