Mental Trauma

An insatiable need for sex and love. Periods of overeating or starving. A pattern of unstable and painful relationships. Does this sound painfully familiar? Trauma counselor Kelly McDaniel has seen these traits over and over in clients who feel trapped in cycles of harmful behaviors - and are unable to stop. Many of us find ourselves stuck in unhealthy habits simply because we don't see a better way. With Mother Hunger, McDaniel helps women break the cycle of destructive behavior by taking a fresh look at childhood trauma and its lasting impact.

Did your childhood feel like something you survived instead of enjoyed? Painful childhoods naturally result in many sticky obstacles to adult success, ranging from distrust in others to self-sabotaging thoughts and behaviors. Chronic family stress prompts a young brain to create deeply ingrained physical and mental habits that help survive childhood but later work against you in adulthood, often resulting in diagnoses like depression, bipolar, ADD, post-traumatic stress disorder, and Complex PTSD.

The SMART (Sensory Motor Arousal Regulation Treatment) program addresses three key processes that can be derailed by developmental trauma—somatic regulation, trauma processing, and attachment-building—and uses movement and sensation to target the neurological structures that support emotional and behavioral regulation.

Three leading researchers and clinicians share what they have learned from treating and studying chronically traumatized individuals across more than 65 years of collective experience. Based on the theory of structural dissociation of the personality in combination with a Janetian psychology of action, the authors have developed a model of phase-oriented treatment that focuses on the identification and treatment of structural dissociation and related maladaptive mental and behavioral actions.

Do you struggle with the ongoing effects of trauma? If you have experienced a traumatic event or suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), you may believe that you're permanently damaged; that the anxiety, self-doubt, depression, and fear will never go away. The truth is that it's possible to rewire your brain, so you can free yourself from the past, find healing, and live for the future. This workbook will show you how. You'll discover a complete program to help you get in touch with, understand, and heal from the beliefs, feelings, and bodily sensations connected to your trauma.

A large segment of the therapy population consist of those who are in denial or retreat from their traumatic experiences. Here, drawing on attachment-based research, the author provides clinical techniques, specific intervention strategies, and practical advice for successfully addressing the often intractable issues of trauma. Trauma and the Avoidant Client will enhance the skills of all mental health practitioners and trauma workers, and will serve as a valuable, useful resource to facilitate change and progress in psychotherapy.

The Polyvagal Theory Workbook for Trauma offers evidence-based activities to help you heal the effects of trauma, rewire your nervous system, and return to a state of balance and calm. You'll begin by getting to know your nervous system, including an exploration of polyvagal theory and the vagus nerve. You'll also learn soothing, body-based practices to help you rewire your nervous response, including rhythmic movements (EMDR and tapping), conscious breathing, mindful movement, and more.

Images and sounds of war, natural disasters, and human-made devastation explicitly surround us and implicitly leave their imprint in our muscles, our belly and heart, our nervous systems, and the brains in our skulls. We each experience more digital data than we are capable of processing in a day, and this is leading to a loss of empathy and human contact. This loss of leisurely, sustained, face-to-face connection is making true presence a rare experience for many of us, and is neurally ingraining fast pace and split attention as the norm.

From trauma educator and somatic guide Kimberly Ann Johnson comes a cutting-edge guide for tapping into the wisdom and resilience of the body to rewire the nervous system, heal from trauma, and live fully.

While there are many different approaches to healing trauma, few offer a wide range of perspectives and options. With innovative insight into trauma-related difficulties, Jasmin Lee Cori helps you understand trauma and its devastating impacts. Complete with exercises, healing stories, points to remember, and resources, this is a perfect companion for anyone seeking to reclaim their life from the devastating impacts of trauma.

Eden was always good at being good. Starting high school didn’t change who she was. But the night her brother’s best friend rapes her, Eden’s world capsizes. What was once simple, is now complex. What Eden once loved—who she once loved—she now hates. What she thought she knew to be true, is now lies. Nothing makes sense anymore, and she knows she’s supposed to tell someone what happened but she can’t. So she buries it instead. And she buries the way she used to be.

There’s a brighter road ahead than you can possibly imagine and you have everything you need to reach it. Ready to unlock the door? It’s estimated that almost 2% of the population has borderline personality disorder, so you’re certainly not alone, but it probably doesn’t feel that way, does it? Still, no challenge is insurmountable, not even the challenge of overcoming BPD. There’s hope on the other side of this, and there are realistic approaches you can take to transform your experience of daily life.

Therapeutic Yoga for Trauma Recovery bridges the path of healing between the psyche and the body by walking you through the sacred practice of yoga so you can release the burdens of trauma from your body and mind. Grounded within the principles of polyvagal theory, affective neuroscience, and trauma-informed care, this book will help you gain a better understanding of how our brains and bodies respond to stress and trauma and offer a self-led healing journey toward feeling more empowered, grounded, clearheaded, inspired, and at ease.

Imagine a moment when the weight of your past begins to lift, allowing hope to shine through the darkness. You've faced more than your share of silent pain and emerged stronger, yet echoes of childhood trauma still linger. It is shaping your perceptions and relationships. An empowering path awaits, guiding you to understand and embrace your experiences while building resilience in every aspect of your life.

Growing up in a home where there is addiction or relationship trauma puts a child at great risk for long-term, post-traumatic stress effects that adversely compromise adult relationships. Best-selling author, psychologist, and psychodramatist Tian Dayton examines this trauma through an exploration of the way the brain and body process frightening or painful emotions and experiences in childhood.

Known for his magnetic and radiant personality, Frank spends his time training thousands of clinicians around the world on how to help clients with complex trauma make sense of their suffering. But underneath this charismatic exterior are his dark family secrets, including the marks of child abuse from his father and the invisible scars of shame.

Former big-city crime reporter Tamara Cherry calls on her award-winning skills as a journalist to examine the impact of the media on trauma survivors and the impact of trauma on members of the media. As Tamara documents the experiences of those who were forced to suffer on the public stage, she is confronted by everything she got wrong on the crime beat. Covering murders and traffic fatalities to sexual violence and mass violence, Cherry exposes a system set up to fail trauma survivors and journalists.

Stress is our internal response to an experience that our brain perceives as threatening or challenging. Trauma is our response to an experience in which we feel powerless or lacking agency. Until now, researchers have treated these conditions as different, but they actually lie along a continuum. Dr. Elizabeth Stanley explains the significance of this continuum, how it affects our resilience in the face of challenge, and why an event that's stressful for one person can be traumatizing for another.

Research shows that attachment patterns—our patterns of relating to others, which develop in early childhood—affect far more aspects of our lives than was previously thought. Given how crucial these patterns are to how every patient relates to the world and to their own selves, how can therapists harness attachment to provide more effective therapy? Using accelerated experiential dynamic psychotherapy AEDP® theory and methodology as a foundation, the authors present an innovative approach that tailors treatment to attachment patterns.

If your partner is a survivor of sexual trauma, they may experience anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, or feel triggered by intimate situations. And you may feel confused or unsure of how to support them. This gentle guide will give you the tools you need to help nurture intimacy and trust, and cultivate a secure relationship. In Loving Someone Who Has Sexual Trauma, marriage, family, and sex therapist Megan Lara Negendank offers self-compassion and attachment-based communication skills to support your partner.