Hey there,
I’ve been working on healing through past trauma. I have an amazing partner and a therapist, but I am looking for books for additional support. I’ve had The Body Keeps the Score on my shelf for a long time, and started to read it last night, and in the first chapter it describes a veteran who brutally raped a woman and murdered several children in Vietnam, and is seeking help from the author while working as a lawyer in the US, and it made me feel physically ill. The idea of a rapist being a lawyer in rape cases enrages me in a way that has reinforced the hopelessness that I feel sometimes. I immediately lost all trust in the author and got rid of the book, and now I’m a bit nervous about finding something new. I’ve looked around and have a list of potentials, but I’d love to hear about what has been the most helpful to you.
I’m specifically looking for something that focuses on any of these topics: sexism, CSA, narcissistic families or abuse within the family of origin, going no-contact, PTSD, sex trafficking, healing as an adult survivor, or anything about protecting your relationships while working through trauma as an adult. If you have any suggestions, or warnings for books to stay away from, I’d love to hear them. I’m specifically looking for books that are educational or research-focused in nature, rather than fiction.
Thank you so much!
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The Myth of Normal, by Gabor and Daniel Mate.
There are a lot of people who don’t respond to that book – it should come with a bit of a warning label for trauma sufferers. It’s written for therapists, by a therapist.
Gabor Mate’s “The Myth of Normal” is a softer landing
It might also be helpful to do a search through r/cptsd. I’ve seen some recs in there before I believe.
Words to my Narcissist Mother by Olivia Km. I was literally just talking about this the other day in another sub. here’s the amazon link i bought from: https://a.co/d/eHnGmyS (it is poetry though fyi). But it really helped me heal. I keep going back to it when i want to feel grounded. The author can put my emotions into words better than i can ever describe.