Writing Trauma

A neuroscientist explores how trauma impacts the brain, especially for women—and how we can learn to heal ourselves Everyone experiences trauma. Whether a specific harrowing event or a series of stressful moments that culminate over time, trauma can echo and etch itself into our brain as we...

A practical and inspiring guide to transformational personal storytelling, The Story You Need to Tell is the product of Sandra Marinella’s pioneering work with veterans and cancer patients, her years of teaching writing, and her research into its profound healing properties. Riveting true stories illustrate Marinella’s methods for understanding, telling, and editing personal stories in ways that foster resilience and renewal. She also shares her own experience of using journaling and expressive writing to navigate challenges including breast cancer and postpartum depression.

Drawing on the mind-body techniques of somatic therapy, The Healing Sexual Trauma Guided Journal offers insightful writing prompts to help you explore your emotions, overcome internalized shame, and heal your traumatized nervous system.

This “witty, humorous, and heartfelt“ (Cinelle Barnes) memoir navigates the tangled branches of Annabelle Tometich’s life, from growing up in Florida as the child of and a Filipino mother and a deceased white father to her adult life as a med-school-reject-turned-food-critic. When...

“In the fairy tales about father–daughter incest—‘The Girl Without Hands,’ ‘Thousand Furs,’ the original ‘Cinderella,’ ‘Donkey Skin,’ and the stories of Saint Dymphna, patron saint of incest survivors—the daughters are all as you would expect them to be: horrified by...

In Stories Are What Save Us, Chrisinger shows - through writing exercises, memoir excerpts, and lessons he's learned from his students - the most efficient ways to uncover and effectively communicate what you've learned while fighting your life's battles, whatever they may be.

Coercive Relationships provides a beacon for survivors of partner abuse. Parker’s nonjudgmental, empathic voice offers knowledge gleaned from years of experience. Survivors gain answers to frequently asked questions: Am I being abused? Why do they hurt me? Why do I feel so crazy? What can I change? Why do they believe they should control us? How do I recognize abuse of power? How do I heal?Each chapter contains illustrative vignettes and suggestions for reflection to assist readers in discovering what they want. Coercive Relationships lifts the private shame survivors feel by connecting ...

Trauma and its effects can feel like a never-ending storm, and there's no safe harbor in sight from the thoughts and emotions that toss and turn so violently and unpredictably in your head. But healing is possible. Your brain can actually rewire these thoughts and emotions. And you can direct that powerful healing process through journaling.

In "Beyond Survivor" Frayne offers his own history, hoping to help other victims of abuse find the courage and strength to seek help to triumph over it, and to increase awareness and education among the general public. Author Patricia A. McKnight, in her review of the book, says, “This expertly written book shows the path of standing strong and achieving what all mankind desires; retrieving the happiness once destroyed by the wicked. This collection of outstanding poetry and prose is a must read for all as inspiration to prevail against the challenges put forth in the battle to obtain our...

Metamorphosis is the true tale of how a bitter, traumatized woman transformed herself and her life to fulfill all her wildest dreams. No matter how you slice it, everyone has had adverse experiences in life, experiences they wish they could take back and do differently or even banish altogether. After a duo of traumatic events at age twenty-nine, combined with a chip on my shoulder from growing up as a black child in a small, very white town, I found myself years later living in the past and unable to move forward. Miserable and hating how my life was playing out at age thirty-four, I made ...

Embark on a transformative journey with Niobis Queiro's upcoming book, Joy Notes: Balancing the Trauma with Triumph. This captivating masterpiece, penned by the celebrated motivational speaker, unveils Nio's remarkable life story, enriched with poignant insights drawn from her Near Death Experience. The book is a harmonious blend of personal anecdotes and interviews with accomplished women who have triumphed over health traumas.

"Five sexy, disturbing stars!" (Amazon Reviewer) "Hands down the best book I've ever read!" (Amazon Reviewer) I didn't expect this. I didn't ask for this. I never wanted to confront anything close to this feeling. Falling in love terrified me. I wasn't prepared for the ultimate "fall" from grace. I had plans to leave New York City and never look back. Growing up in a dysfunctional household with Mom and Rob had scarred my psyche. I needed to break my mother's generational curse. I didn't want to marry an abusive jerk and financially struggle while he broke all his promises. Little did I ...

One in six women is the victim of sexual assault. Using her own hard-won wisdom, author Jen Cross shows how to heal through journaling and personal writing. Writing Ourselves Whole is a collection of essays and creative writing encouragements for sexual trauma survivors who want to risk writing a different story. Each short chapter offers encouragement, experience, and exercises.

Your story is more than just words: It’s the medicine someone else needs to navigate through their own life's challenges. And in this way, your story becomes your mission. We all have a Soul's Calling Story: that one moment—or perhaps a series of moments—that changed the course of our lives. A crisis that shattered us. Chaos that left us reeling. And in the aftermath, one haunting question lingers: What do I do with this? You have a choice: Keep it locked inside, where it festers. Share it with family and friends, where it reaches only so far. Or, find clarity around your story and ...

Words Heal uses self-guided imagery, expressive writing therapy, and journaling to work with those recovering from or living with a range of tough personal challenges, or who struggle with discouraging health issues, chronic illness, traumas, distress, poor quality of life, negativity and adverse situations, and would like to have a better attitude, a better quality of life, a more joyful life, and develop a positive attitude all in the privacy of their own space at their own pace.

Where is Jesus when we need him most? An influential pastor shares how despair can lead us to discover true hope and a deeper relationship with God, helping us emerge stronger and more joyful from times of crisis. None of us live free of difficulties or hardships. But how can we learn to live richly in the midst of them? And even grow spiritually because of them? The answer is found in the hopeful humanity of Jesus.

Some secrets are too dangerous to tell and too dark to keep... When young Corianne Dempsey and her best friend, Rebecca, are approached by a stranger on their way to school, only one girl makes it home. When Rebecca turns up dead, Corianne's childhood ends abruptly. Growing up in the long shadow of this event, Corianne is now a conflicted young woman seeking solace in dangerous places. Her hauntingly-dark dreams begin crossing into waking life, hinting that the past she remembers may be a lie. Driven to make sense of what is happening, she returns to the only place she feels solid, the farm...

Jack’s Diary A novella by Damian Jay Clay “If I don’t write it, if I don’t say it, then it isn’t true.” Hidden behind an air vent, wrapped in plastic and shame, lies a notebook no one was ever meant to read. But Jack writes anyway. About his body, his silence, the bruises he’s told are love, and the God he’s told will never love him back. In the language of scripture, whispered desire, and unbearable confession, this raw, radiant diary traces one boy’s journey through religious guilt, abuse, awakening, and the impossible hope of being known. As Jack falls deeper into self-...

Armed with extraordinary medical talent and a winning smile, newly trained surgeon, Chase Callaway, enters the world of private practice in Los Angeles, only to be greeted by a wall of stunning peer rejection. A charge of malpractice is levied a mere three days into his career, followed by professional attacks intended to ruin, effectively ending his surgical practice after only one month. Battling back to respectability takes many years, but even then, dark clouds linger. Significant mental injuries still fester, reinforcing his growing fear and belief in a multi-generational family curse,...

Valentine Monroe's riveting reflection begins in the 1940s in New York. She and her mother flee to Texas after Valentine is severely injured by her babysitter's boyfriend. Traumatized and vulnerable, she is inspired by stalwart Aunt Nona's love and guidance. Believing that trouble is in the past, she is blindsided by devastating loss and a subsequent abduction attempt. Feeling powerless over her future as a helpless target for evil, she is haunted and weighed down by her past. Once she refuses to be a pathetic, joyless victim, she sets on a path of healing and renewal determined to break ...