Trauma and Healing

The Body Keeps the Score - information - this book by Bessel van der Kolk is a useful compendium of information about the physical (somatic) effects of trauma, as well as ways to cope with them. Caveat: in my eyes, this book has a subtle but pernicious pathologizing/medicalizing attitude towards disability, and despite offering a fair bit of hope and understanding, can feel very difficult to read as a disabled person. The text is also very blatantly white, cishet, and male in its approach.

Trauma-Sensitive Mindfulness - information - useful guidance for the ways in which increased self-awareness, particularly of the body, can lead to complex resurfacing of lived trauma. Mostly aimed at clinical practitioners rather than trauma survivors, but contains a lot of resources for survivors who - like myself - prefer to guide our own journey of recovery.

Complex PTSD: From Surviving to Thriving (book) and the author Pete Walker's web site - information - this was one of my first major introductions to the lived experience of Complex PTSD. While I find quite a bit of Walker's advice to be narrow and likely unsuitable for everyone, it remains one of the few resources I know of that both addresses trauma from a first-person perspective of a survivor, as well as collecting practical, actionable advice for recovery. I find Walker's handling of the somatic element of trauma the most pointedly lacking, so I'd recommend this along with van der Kolk (also on this resource list). Best approached with a "take what works/leave the rest" mindset.

 

Additional Specialized Trauma Resources