Much has been learned about PTSD in the past two decades, yet many questions remain about the complex pathways by which trauma disrupts people's lives. This authoritative volume presents an innovative psychobiological framework to help clinicians and researchers better understand the myriad difficulties facing patients and navigate the array of available intervention approaches. Incorporating the latest theory and clinical research, the book provides a crucial reformulation of diagnostic criteria and treatment goals. It then brings together leading treatment experts to describe and illustrate their respective approaches, facilitating the selection and implementation of the most effective interventions for individual patients. The book first delineates a holistic, organismic model of PTSD. Particular attention is given to how the concept of allostatic load has enabled contemporary investigators to gain a more dynamic view of human stress responses and how they may go awry. Aided by clearly presented tables and charts, the volume elucidates the process by which traumatic experiences can give rise to 65 symptoms contained within five symptom clusters. Augmenting the traditional domains of PTSD symptomatology/m-/physiological disturbances, traumatic memory, and avoidance/m-/are two additional clusters dealing with frequently encountered problems with self and identity and with attachment, intimacy, and personal relationships. Contributors then provide detailed presentations of core therapeutic approaches: acute posttraumatic interventions, cognitive-behavioral approaches, pharmacotherapy, group psychotherapy, and psychodynamic techniques, as well as approaches for special populations. The concluding section reviews and synthesizes all case material presented, examining which symptoms are addressed by each modality, which treatment objectives are met, and which clients are likely to be helped.

Providing the information and guidance clinicians need to understand and assess psychological trauma and its effects, this book presents a step-by-step approach to conducting careful, appropriate, and accurate trauma assessments. From the initial screening, to the selection and administration of more in-depth measures for particular clients, to evaluating results and making a diagnosis, the author helps readers maximize their time and resources and brings much-needed clarity to what can be a confusing and difficult process. Instruments covered include self-report measures and structured interviews of trauma and trauma responses for adults and children. Detailed profiles of 36 measures recommended by the author--many not previously described in the clinical literature, and many available at low or no cost--identify each instrument's suggested uses, special features, format, and psychometric properties, as well as how it can be obtained.

Just as the prevalence of incest and child sexual abuse was a well-kept secret until recently, the phenomenon of multiple personality disorder (MPD) - recently re-labelled dissociative identity disorder DID - has been minimized. In her practice as a psychologist, Margo Rivera has found this to be no coincidence.

Confirming that the root of most severe dissociative conditions lies in severe trauma, most commonly child abuse, Rivera first discusses the general historical and social contexts of dissociation and proceeds through clinical theory, case vignettes, and recorded personal experience to provide practical guidance to assessment and treatment. Rivera covers such topics as 'therapeutic frame, ' 'transference and countertransference, ' and how to understand and make use of these concepts. She discusses the controversies around 'False Memory Syndrome' and ritual abuse, issues which currently divide professionals treating trauma survivors.

Rivera makes a unique contribution to the treatment of lesbian and gay abuse survivors. She theorizes that all sexuality is a social construct, subject to change over an individual's lifetime, a reality that is nowhere more clear than in those with MPD who may experience themselves as alternately heterosexual female, homosexual male, lesbian, and heterosexual male.

Insightful and provocative, this important therapeutic guide will be of interest to professionals who treat trauma survivors as well as to their clients.

Adult and adolescent survivors of childhood abuse and other traumas often struggle with addictive disorders, yet most helping professionals are ill equipped to deal with dual problems. Providing the tools professionals need to help this population, this book systematically integrates mental health paradigms with disease models of addiction and combines psychotherapeutic techniques with 12-step recovery practices. The result is an easy-to-replicate model for the effective assessment and treatment of this often difficult-to-treat population.

Serving to bridge the gap between differing approaches to psychology, this new text provides some of the most compelling evidence yet for the subjective presence and objective efficacy of the mental image. In this day and age of "dissociation" between physiological psychologists and other psychologists, between cognitive scientist and mentalist, between researchers and practitioners, mental imagery and its psychophysiology pose some intellectually "sticky" problems - and some promising resolutions - that should bind together differing disciplines within psychology.

History Flows through Us introduces a new dialogue between leading historians and psychoanalysts and provides essential insights into the nature of historical trauma. The contributors - German historians, historians of the Holocaust and psychoanalysts of different disciplinary backgrounds - address the synergy between history and psychoanalysis in an engaging and accessible manner. Together they develop a response to German history and the Holocaust that is future-oriented and timely in the presence of today's ethnic hatreds. In the process, they help us to appreciate the emotional and political legacy of history's collective crimes. This book illustrates how history and the psyche shape one another and the degree to which history flows through all of us as human beings. Its innovative cross-disciplinary approach draws on the work of the historian and psychoanalyst Thomas Kohut. The volume includes an extended dialogue with Kohut in which he reflects on the study of German history and the Holocaust at the intersection of history and psychoanalysis. This book demonstrates that the fields of history and psychoanalysis are each concerned with the role of empathy and with the study of memory and narrative. History Flows through Us will appeal to general readers, students and professionals in cultural history, Holocaust and trauma studies, sociology, psychoanalysis, psychotherapy and psychology.

An exhilarating journey into the unfathomable depths of the human mind, from the acclaimed author of Let Me Not Be Mad. What does it take to care for a stranger? Really care. The Case for Love is a reflection on a career treating patients with brain trauma - people whose thoughts and feelings are largely unknowable - and how and why those treatments failed. It is a reconstruction of three haunting cases in which the patients were tragically misunderstood - and an attempt through the power of the imagination to understand and make amends. It then describes the author's abandonment of his career and his tumultuous quest for healing and redemption. It is also a story of intimate relationships, pets, fatherhood and heartbreak, culminating in a moment of psychedelic transcendence and rebirth. It is about the overpowering need for connection - and how, increasingly, we are trapped in ourselves. It is a meditation on empathy and an act of atonement. It is a unique, hybrid work of clinical case study and pure invention that destroys the boundary between fact and fiction in order to bring us face-to-face with the shocking, liberating truth. __________ Praise for Let Me Not Be Mad 'Imagine a gonzo Oliver Sacks communing with Edward St Aubyn's Patrick Melrose, R.D. Laing and the spirit of Kafka's 'The Country Doctor', and you still won't quite have the flavour of this wild and strikingly original book' William Fiennes 'Stunning: clever, troubling, restless, honest, dishonest; one of the best portraits of madness and clinical practice I've read' Olivia Laing 'A perfectly extraordinary - not to mention extraordinarily perfect - tense Hitchcockian psychodrama. I have rarely read a more haunting and enthralling account of a descent into madness. An important, profound and fascinating book' Stephen Fry 'Blackly comic, warmly compassionate, a unique take on the human mind offering uncomfortable universal truths' Stewart Lee 'A slow-burn belter of a book ... terrific ... so finely described, the result has the terse force of a classic short story' Roddy Doyle 'Exhilarating ... dazzling ... a miraculous feat' Guardian

*Essential, expert guidance for parents of kids of all ages who have been through traumatic events. *Skills and strategies for coping with trauma no matter what the source, including accidents, grief, witnessing violence, or others. *Dr. Goldberg Mintz puts clear, concise explanations; numerous examples; and age-appropriate solutions at parents' fingertips. *Strong, warm parenting is the key to healing, but Dr. Goldberg Mintz also covers indicators of prolonged PTSD and when to seek professional help.

Rich in clinical examples, this book offers a fresh perspective on the roles of shame and guilt in psychological distress and presents a step-by-step framework for treatment. Martha Sweezy explains how the principles of Internal Family Systems (IFS) therapy are ideally suited to helping trauma survivors and other clients who struggle with debilitating shame to understand and heal psychic parts wounded in childhood. Annotated case illustrations show and explain IFS techniques in action. Other useful features include boxed therapeutic exercises, decision trees, and pointers to help therapists avoid or overcome common pitfalls.

*Authoritative work on helping adults heal, edited by a renowned expert. *Research is growing for the use of expressive arts to access and regulate powerful emotions and support recovery. *Practical features include case examples and suggestions for tailoring therapies to individual needs. *Covers a broad range of approaches--art, music, movement, writing, play, and more.

Many DBT clients suffer from posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), but until now the field has lacked a formal, tested protocol for exactly when and how to treat trauma within DBT. Combining the power of two leading evidence-based therapies--and designed to meet the needs of high-risk, severely impaired clients--this groundbreaking manual integrates DBT with an adapted version of prolonged exposure (PE) therapy for PTSD. Melanie S. Harned shows how to implement the DBT PE protocol with DBT clients who have achieved the safety and stability needed to engage in trauma-focused treatment. In a convenient large-size format, the book includes session-by-session guidelines, rich case examples, clinical tips, and 35 reproducible handouts and forms that can be downloaded and printed for repeated use.

*An innovative, research-based group treatment for a pervasive clinical problem. *The highly regarded developer of IR provides an accessible guide to the 9-session program. *Stands out by incorporating mantra meditations as well as mindfulness practices. *Complete; includes downloadable client handouts and audio recordings of guided practices.

*Bestselling clinical resource, now revised and updated; 50% new material includes new and reorganized chapters. *Presents an effective approach for helping tough-to-treat kids whose emotional development has been derailed by chronic, multiple stressors. *Revised to focus on 8 core treatment targets (down from 10); also gives greater emphasis to building caregivers' skills. *Increased attention to applications in nontraditional settings (schools, day care, primary care practices) as well as clinical settings, responding to ways the approach is actually being used. *Includes 72 downloadable worksheets and handouts, with 31 new to this edition.

Yoga and Resilience is part of a larger series put out by the Yoga Service Council in collaboration with the Omega Institute. To date, there have been three texts published: Best Practices for Yoga in Schools, Best Practices for Yoga with Veterans, and Best Practices for Yoga in the Criminal Justice System. This body of work takes a unique and groundbreaking approach of co-creation, calling on a diverse array of leading experts in the fields of trauma and yoga, to collaborate and distill best practices that will inform the fields of mental health, trauma-informed yoga, yoga service, and yoga more generally. Contributors and authors met during two symposia and engaged in an ongoing collaborative process resulting in the current text. Yoga and Resilience: Empowering Practices for Survivors of Sexual Trauma: Supports a holistic approach to ameliorating the impacts of traumatic stress, and specifically the impacts of sexual trauma. Serves as a resource to survivors, yoga teachers and practitioners, yoga service providers, trauma practitioners, and agency administrators among others. Presents a foundational understanding of sexual trauma and illuminates current best practices for integrating trauma-informed yoga and mindfulness practices into work with persons and systems impacted by sexual trauma. Explores an approach that moves beyond trauma-informed practice to a focus on resilience and universal inclusivity. Provides concrete tools to serve survivors better and to ensure that teachers and administrators not only seek to minimize harm but also combat sexual violence and its perpetration within yoga contexts. Contributors to the book: Keyona Aviles, Jacoby Ballard, Lisa Boldin, Maya Breuer, Regine Clermont, Colleen DeVirgiliis, Alexis Donahue, Pamela Stokes Eggleston, Jennifer Cohen Harper, Dani Harris, Nan Herron, Daniel Hickman, Diana Hoscheit, Beth Jones, Sue Jones, James Jurgensen, Mark A. Lilly, Jana Long, Anneke Lucas, Amanda J.G. Napior, Amina Naru, Emanuel "Manny" Salazar, Austin K. Sanderson, Lidia Snyder, Nicole Steward, Rosa Vissers, Kimberleigh Weiss-Lewit, Ann Wilkinson

This volume focuses on the role that religion and spirituality can play in recovery from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other forms of trauma, including moral injury. Religious texts, from the Bible to Buddhist scriptures, have always contained passages that focus on helping those who have experienced the trauma of war. Many religions have developed psychological, social, behavioral, and spiritual ways of coping and healing that can work in tandem with clinical treatments today in assisting recovery from PTSD and moral injury. In this book the authors review and discuss systematic research into how religion helps people cope with severe trauma, including trauma caused by natural disasters, intentional interpersonal violence, or combat experiences during war. They delve into the impact that spirituality has in both the development of and recovery from PTSD. Beyond reviewing research, they also use case vignettes throughout to illustrate the very human story of recovery from PTSD, and how religious or spiritual beliefs can both help or hinder depending on circumstance. A vital work for any mental health or religious professionals who seek to help people dealing with severe trauma and loss.

Addiction and trauma are two of the most common and difficult issues that people face. In this motivating book, leading expert Lisa Najavits explains the link between addiction and trauma and presents science-based self-help strategies that you can use no matter where you are in your recovery. Every chapter features inspiring words from people who have "been there," plus carefully designed reflection questions, exercises, and other practical tools. Learn how you can: *Build coping skills so that the future is better than the past. *Keep yourself safe and find support. *Set your own goals and make a plan to achieve them at your own pace. *Choose compassion over self-blame and shame. *Move toward your best self--the person you want to be. If you are a family member or friend seeking to support a loved one--or a helping professional--this book is also for you. Now in a convenient large-size format, the revised edition features added materials for professional and peer counselors. First edition title: Recovery from Trauma, Addiction, or Both. Mental health professionals, see also the author's Seeking Safety: A Treatment Manual for PTSD and Substance Abuse, which presents an evidence-based treatment approach developed specifically for PTSD and substance abuse.

From leading authority John Briere, this book provides a comprehensive treatment approach for survivors of childhood trauma who numb or avoid emotional distress by engaging in substance abuse, risky sexual activities, self-injury, suicidality, bingeing and purging, or other self-harming behaviors. Briere shows how to help clients identify and manage the triggers of these "distress reduction behaviors," learn to regulate intrusive emotional states, and safely process trauma- and attachment-related memories. Emphasizing the therapeutic relationship, Briere's approach draws on elements of psychodynamic, interpersonal, and cognitive-behavioral therapy; mindfulness training; and dialectical behavior therapy. The book combines cutting-edge clinical and experimental research with clearly described interventions, case examples, and reproducible handouts and forms. Purchasers get access to a Web page where they can download and print the reproducible materials in a convenient 8 1/2" x 11" size.

Traumatic experiences with an overwhelming life-threatening feel affect numerous people's lives. Death and disablement through accident, illness, war, family violence, natural and human-induced disaster can be experienced variously at an individual level through to whole communities and nations. Traumatic memories are intrusive and insistent but fragmented and distorted by the power of sensory information frozen in time. This volume examines the ways individuals, families, communities and nations have engaged with representations of traumas and the ethical dimensions embedded in those re-presentations. Contributors also explore the work of recovering from trauma and finding resilience through working with narrative and embodied forms such as dance and breathing. The ubiquity of trauma in human experience means that pathways to recovery differ, emerging from the way each engages with the world. Sharing, and reflecting on, the ways each copes with trauma contributes to its understanding as well as pathways to recovery and new strengths. Contributors are Svetlana Antropova, Peter Bray, Kate Burton, Mark Callaghan, Marie France Forcier, Monica Hinton, Gen'ichiro Itakura, Danielle Schaub, Zeina Tarraf and Paul Vivian.

Illustrating the power of play for helping children overcome a wide variety of worries, fears, and phobias, this book provides a toolkit of play therapy approaches and techniques. Coverage encompasses everyday fears and worries in 3- to 12-year-olds as well as anxiety disorders and posttraumatic problems. Leading practitioners describe their approaches step by step and share vivid illustrative case material. Each chapter also summarizes the research base for the interventions discussed. Key topics include adapting therapy to each child's developmental level, engaging reluctant or less communicative clients, and involving parents in treatment.

Bringing together the latest research and theory about a child's inner world and the impact of the world around them, this is a guide to understanding and responding to the emotional needs of traumatised children. Founded on the principle that traumatised children do not have a secure sense of self and therefore cannot relate to the outside world without becoming overwhelmed, this book brings psychoanalytic and psychodynamic understandings of child psychology together with current neuroscience and trauma theory. At the heart of the book is an attachment-informed assessment model and guidance for treatment. Professionals working therapeutically with traumatised children, including therapists, psychologists, psychiatrists, mental health workers, social workers and residential care workers, will benefit from the wealth of knowledge and valuable practice guidance presented in this book.

Traumatic events are more than a narrative or singular event in a person's life; the body remembers traumatic events and can experience them over and over, even after many years have passed. This book shows how trauma-sensitive yoga can be used in individual therapy and in groups to overcome trauma, by calming the nervous system and helping people to come out of dissociative states. The book also shows teachers how to detect when certain postures trigger anxiety, and offers ways to support healing in general yoga classes. Drawing on her experience as both trauma therapist and yoga teacher, the author focuses on the body-mind connection and presents asanas and breathing exercises that can help traumatised patients re-engage and take control of their bodies.

Some people heal naturally after they experience a traumatic event, but some trauma lasts and can develop into PTSD, with symptoms like depression, anxiety, panic, flashbacks, difficulty sleeping, or losing interest in life. You may find yourself on the sidelines, disengaged from your own life, with little sense of who you are and how to relate to others. The body, heart, and mind are all profoundly affected by trauma; in this way it can live on, causing a serious disconnect and a state of imbalance in which you're always in survival mode. How do you move on? This book is designed to target the most common symptoms of post-traumatic stress and PTSD, providing mindfulness-based practices to help relieve your symptoms and increase self-compassion. Offering meditations for re-connection with your body, heart, mind, and life, this guide presents a unique, evidence-based way to heal the disconnects and help you re-engage. Instead of getting stuck reliving your trauma or worrying about it happening again, these mindful meditations will ground you in the present moment and enable you to better cope with unpleasant thoughts and feelings as they arise-and then let them go. With Meditations for Healing Trauma, you'll explore your experience of post-traumatic stress and learn how the healing power of mindfulness can free you from suffering and bring back connection and balance to your life every day. This book will help you cultivate a wise mind and heart for regaining peace and well-being in the present moment- anytime, anyplace.

This book explores the impact of trauma and dissociation on physical health throughout the lifespan. Important chronic conditions, such as cardiovascular disease and chronic pain, are examined. In addition, trauma in childbearing women is considering, specifically examining the short- and long-term effects of the birth experience itself. Dissociationa (TM)s effect on long-term health is also described, and how it might manifest in patients in health care settings.

This book was based on a special issue of Journal of Trauma & Dissociation.

This volume presents an innovative psychobiological framework for understanding and treating PTSD. A major emphasis is the need to reformulate diagnostic criteria and treatment goals to reflect emerging knowledge about the complex pathways by which trauma disrupts people's lives. Within a holistic, organismic framework, the editors identify 65 PTSD symptoms contained within five (rather than the traditional three) symptom clusters, and spell out 80 target objectives for treatment. Expert contributors then provide detailed presentations of core therapeutic approaches, including acute posttraumatic interventions, cognitive-behavioral approaches, pharmacotherapy, group psychotherapy, and psychodynamic techniques, as well as approaches to working with specific populations, including children, refugees, and the dually diagnosed. The concluding section reviews and synthesizes all case material presented, examining which symptoms are addressed by each of the core approaches, which treatment goals are met, and which clients can most effectively be helped. Combining cutting-edge theoretical exposition with clear-cut recommendations for practice, this is an ideal resource for clinicians, students, and researchers.