Unbroken: The Trauma Response Is Never Wrong

And Other Things You Need to Know to Take Back Your Life

De: MaryCatherine McDonald PhD

Narrado por: MaryCatherine McDonald PhD

A profound new approach to healing trauma, grounded in a radical reframing of how we understand this nearly universal experience

For centuries, we’ve been taught that being traumatized means we are somehow broken—and that trauma only happens to people who are too fragile or flawed to deal with hardship. But as a researcher, teacher, and survivor, Dr. MaryCatherine McDonald has learned that the only thing broken is our society’s understanding of trauma. “The body’s trauma response is designed to save our lives—and it does,” she says. “It’s not a sign of weakness, but of our function, strength, and amazing resilience.”

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. Here, you’ll explore:

• What is trauma? The latest science that undoes the stigmas of shame, blame, and humiliation

• Moral injury—having our basic sense of how the world should work overturned

• The truth about triggers—what they really are and how they can guide the healing journey

• Traumatic patterns—new findings to help break free from recurring habits and toxic dynamics

• Why we can always rewrite our inner narratives, no matter how much time has passed

• Finding a “relational home” for trauma—how we can help each other return to wholeness

Dr. McDonald’s case studies reveal the many ways trauma can manifest and persist in our lives, yet there’s one factor every case has in common: the trauma response itself reveals the path to healing. “Our traumatic experiences reveal that we can be bent, dented, or bruised,” she says, “but we cannot be broken.” For anyone who has gone through trauma or wants to help others who are struggling, here is an empowering resource for finding our way home to our bodies, rebuilding our relationships, and returning to full engagement with life.

©2023 MaryCatherine McDonald, PhD (P)2023 Sounds True

Reseñas de la Crítica

“Equal parts memoir, client stories, and neuroscience, Unbroken: The Trauma Response Is Never Wrong will radically reframe everything you’ve ever thought about trauma and how to heal from it. No more feelings of shame. Just newfound empowerment.”—Mark Epstein, MD, author of Going to Pieces Without Falling Apart and The Zen of Therapy

“We all experience trauma. And it leaves scars for most of us. We can learn to better handle it using Dr. MaryCatherine McDonald’s fresh, positive, and scientifically rigorous approach. Her toolbox full of practical, down-to-earth advice and methods enables us to lift the burdens of shame, guilt, and fear that we all shoulder when we suffer from trauma. Unbroken is essential to showing us how we can become empowered, moving beyond the trauma in our past.”—Allan Hamilton, MD, author of The Scalpel and the Soul and the forthcoming Cerebral Entanglements

“I call MaryCatherine the Brené Brown of trauma. She normalizes trauma and helps us get rid of shame so that we can accept our stories fully and embrace our humanness—something that we need now in the world more than ever.”—John Kim, aka The Angry Therapist

I never read a book twice-but this one!

I’ve been studying trauma and it’s effects on our brain, relationships, and self concept for over 10 years. This book is invaluable. The information is cutting edge relevant and easily accessible. I love the author’s narration and am still reeling with all the good good info I’m so excited to apply in my life, my business, and my healing modality (Untherapy)-this is a MUST READ for anyone who is interested in understanding themselves or others more deeply.

Great listen!

I loved this book. Great scientific and personal info. Inspiring on many levels! So happy the author narrated.

Best book

Brilliant book. I highly recommend this to anyone on their healing journey. I definitely will listen again and again. 

Brave, insightful, and helpful

I didn’t expect a book on trauma to trigger so much hope. "Unbroken: The Trauma Response is Never Wrong" is a well-written primer on trauma that is a quicker, easier to read than "The Body Keeps the Score" with equally useful content. She distills how the brain processes trauma in a brief but understandable couple pages, explains the impacts of trauma, and provides practical tools for coping with and healing trauma. I finished the book feeling stunned and uplifted by the author’s insight and bravery. A must read for everyone.

Phenomenal Read

I now have more profound insight on what trauma is and how it affects us. I don't feel so fearful and now have hope that I can heal. The author explained everything thoroughly and the exercises were incredibly helpful. I recommend this book to anyone suffering from trauma and PTSD. It will give you a better understanding of trauma, triggers, and the hope that you can heal and that you aren't alone in your battle. Thank you so much!

Toggle off the traumatic response

The author defined Trauma as: unbearable emotional experience that lacks a relational home.

I loved what she wrote about providing a relational home for yourself and others to help process the traumatic memories.

My favorite quote was:
“We cannot predict what will happen, while we simultaneously must predict what will happen in order to function.” In order to live, we must come to grips with the fact that this means we will be vulnerable.

Super helpful

Well written, well told, inspired and life changing. I can’t say enough about this! It is shared as a peer, not a pedantic lecture, with authenticity and the depth and weight that only comes from experience. I think this is my new favorite. I can’t recommend this more. Do read, or listen.

Fantastic, empowering, and freeing

I think everyone should read this book. It changes so many perspectives. Everyone has trauma so I think everyone can relate on some level or another. I think we would have a better world if we could all meet each other with understanding and acceptance in our healing.

Extraordinary

This is the most simple, meaningful, and impactful book on trauma I have ever consumed.

As a 46 year old with PTSD and CPTSD I have read works by, included but not limited to, Pete Walker, Bessel Van Der Kolk, Brené Brown, and so many others. This work stands among them. I believe this is the next generation of understanding trauma and trauma therapy.

Looking for hope, give this one a read!

Practical and applicable tools

This is probably the best book I've ever read on the subject of understanding and unraveling the effects of trauma. She offers explanations and defines various types of trauma and their effects. Throughout the book she reminds the reader to be gentle with themselves. She organizes trauma, and its effects, into an order in how the brain organizes these effects. Then come the tools. This book was masterfully ordered for me, and how my thought process, and understanding, works. Thank you so much for writing this book. I feel like it has broken through some very stubborn barriers for me.