Healing Violence

For readers seeking solutions to finally end the gun violence that kills tens of thousands of people each year in the United States— from a Harvard-trained trauma surgeon treating victims in Chicago If hope for ending gun violence can take hold in Chicago’s South Side, then it can take hold...

“They’re gone,” I hear someone say. “Your mother, they all left. Did you know?” The door opens without resistance. They didn’t even bother to lock; they never did. Doors are never locked here, not in this apartment nor any other. Who would steal anything here? There is nothing to take. Born in a rural desert town to a family of Persian immigrants, Miriam was twelve years old the first time she had three meals in one day. The tenth daughter of twelve siblings, she was raised so far away from anyone who might care that there was no one around to see her endure the debilitating ...

He traded nineteen years for a season. She traded her grief for a balance sheet. I used to believe that nineteen years made a marriage indestructible. I believed that endurance was the highest form of love. I was the anchor. I was the fixer. I was the devoted wife who managed the home, the finances, and the ego of a husband terrified of getting older. I was wrong. It started with a gym membership. Then came the mood swings. The aggression. The cold, dead look in his eyes when he told me I was suffocating him. He called it a mid-life crisis. He blamed it on the stress. He blamed it on the "...

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...

For survivors of PTSD and repeated, relational trauma -- and the people who love them. Gretchen Schmelzer watched too many people quit during treatment for trauma recovery. They found it too difficult or too frightening or just decided that for them it was too late. But as a therapist and trauma...

The family court system is meant to protect domestic violence victims, yet too often, it becomes an endless labyrinth that traps them inside. Abusers weaponize our judicial system to instill their revenge, from long, drawn-out divorces and custody battles to forcing their victims to spend thousands of dollars and endless time in court. In her new book, Kaytee Gillis tells the story of those victims trying to defend themselves against the revenge of post-separation abuse while navigating that legal labyrinth. When our judicial system fails to protect victims from this abuse, they give ...

In this classic work of developmental psychology, renowned psychiatrist and the coauthor of the #1 New York Times bestseller What Happened to You? reveals how trauma affects children—and outlines the path to recovery How does trauma affect a child's mind—and how can that mind recover? Child...

You deserve respect. In this fully expanded and updated third edition of the bestselling classic, you learn why verbal abuse is more widespread than ever, and how you can deal with it. You'll get more of the answers you need to recognize abuse when it happens, respond to abusers safely and...

Mataio (Matt) Faafetai Malietoa Brown offers the men in his barbershop a haircut with a difference: a safe space to be seen and heard without judgement. As the creator of My Fathers Barbers, Matt has inspired a new generation of New Zealand men to break free from the cycle of abuse - and those men have in turn inspired Matt and his wife, Sarah, to create the global anti-violence movement She Is Not Your Rehab. 

Since Bailey Rae Rigby’s adoptive aunt Winnie passed, Bent Oak, South Carolina, doesn’t have much of a hold on her anymore. So it seems. Bailey Rae aims to settle the small estate and, armed with her aunt’s inspiring personal cookbook, buy a food truck with an ocean view in Myrtle Beach. Everything goes awry when a distraught young mother arrives in town clutching a copy of that same cookbook. Embedded inside is a code that promises a safe place in Bent Oak for desperate women on the run. For Bailey Rae it opens up a world of questions.

An “eminently readable and beautifully written” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review) chronicle of Colombia’s descent into decades of civil war through the lens of an intimate, multi-generational tale of upheaval and betrayal. When presumed president-elect Jorge Eliécer Gaitán, champion of...

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...

Broken bones heal and bruises fade, but words can cut the soul. Do you believe that it’s your fault? Do you believe him or her when they say it's not bad enough to be abuse? Domestic violence manifests itself in different ways but most people who walk into the trap don’t recognize any of the signs. This is my deeply personal story sharing my journey of increasing mental and verbal abuse, my struggle to fix and control my life through binging and purging, and confronting the fear that he would make good on his promise to take our son or kill me if I tried to leave. Then there was a ...

Told by a former high-level member of the Peoples Temple and Jonestown survivor, Seductive Poison is the "truly unforgettable" (Kirkus Review) story of how one woman was seduced by one of the most notorious cults in recent memory and how she found her way back to sanity. From Waco to Heaven's...

Nine-year-old Archie and his five-year-old sister, Bobbi, are taken into emergency police protective custody after an incident of domestic violence at their family home. Rosie collects the children from their out-of-hours foster carer on New Year’s Day and instantly recognises Archie from a...

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...

From a rising literary star and the author of how to be a good girl comes a brilliant, biting, and beautifully wrought memoir of trauma and the cost of survival "Hood descends into the terrifying dark of the unsayable with the dimmest of flashlights and returns bearing verbal gems, treasures...

A top expert on human trauma argues that we vastly overestimate how common PTSD is and fail to recognize how resilient people really are “An important course-correction to what is now received wisdom about trauma and how to treat it.” ―Wall Street Journal After 9/11, mental health...

A warm, empathetic guide to understanding, coping with, and healing from the unique pain of sibling estrangement "Whenever I tell people that I am working on a book about sibling estrangement, they sit up a little straighter and lean in, as if I've tapped into a dark secret." Fern Schumer...

A practical recovery plan outlining ten foundational steps to true healing, from a psychologist and the author of Gaslighting. Surviving and escaping a toxic or abusive relationship can often only be part of the struggle. Long after, survivors often struggle to heal; your self-esteem may be...