Trauma and Recovery: The Aftermath of Violence--from Domestic Abuse to Political Terror by Basic Books

	Title: Trauma and Recovery: The Aftermath of Violence--from Domestic Abuse to Political Terror Purchase Item Manufacturer: Basic Books List Price: $17.50 Our Price: $8.49
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Trauma and Recovery: The Aftermath of Violence--from Domestic Abuse to Political Terror by Basic Books A classic, read it if you haven't before
Written from the heart as well as the head, Trauma and Recovery is the best introduction to what is more technically known as post traumatic stress disorder or PTSD. But don't let that scare you off! It is about what happens to people--may have happened to you or people you know--under conditions of fear, helplessness, torment, abuse, that many people discount as "not having been so bad really." What Judith Herman shows very elegantly and simply is how the body and mind change, are altered at the physical level, even without our knowing it or sensing it. This book is, in her words, about "human vulnerability in the natural world" and about "the capacity for evil in human nature." She even explains without rancor why at different times people have a backlash against the whole idea of abuse and trauma. This is an elegant and very compassionate book for understanding a particular kind of fracture of the human heart. I love books that lift us up even as they delve into the broken places, and Judith Herman's book on Trauma is an enduring classic.
Trauma and Recovery: The Aftermath of Violence--from Domestic Abuse to Political Terror by Basic Books A study of trauma and a process for healing
Traumatic experiences can permanently scar or change you. In this groundbreaking work, Judith Herman meticulously explores the impact of trauma on the human psyche, whether the trauma originates from a natural disaster, political terror, captivity or combat. Writing from a feminist political perspective, Herman also investigates traumas that result from domestic abuse, incest and rape, areas largely unexplored before the 1970s. She describes the symptoms of those who have experienced trauma, explains why they occur, puts forth a program for healing and sets it within a social matrix. This often-quoted book on posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) changed the way those in the psychiatric fields diagnosed trauma. It also created a new model for treatment. As such, it is required reading for advanced psychology students, therapists, social workers and counselors, particularly those dealing with patients suffering from PTSD. While it is not for the casual reader, getAbstract recommends Herman's complex, carefully constructed analysis to people who have PTSD or know someone who does.
Trauma and Recovery: The Aftermath of Violence--from Domestic Abuse to Political Terror by Basic Books For Class
I bought this book for a class I'm taking in college. It was very helpful and informative. Herman discusses several different types of trauma and coping mechanisms.
Trauma and Recovery: The Aftermath of Violence--from Domestic Abuse to Political Terror by Basic Books Feminist view of trauma
Dr. Herman has a new book out with almost the same title; I have not read it, so don't know how it compares to this one. This seems to me to be a view of trauma from a feminist clinician and researcher's point of view, not from a victim's or survivor's. The author is at pains to legitimize the fact of abuse to her psychiatric colleagues and to the public. Male readers will probably have a lot of trouble with it, since male survivors are mentioned almost exclusively when they are combat veterans. When a pronoun is used as a substitute for the word sufferer or the like, it is virtually always "she" or "her" -- never "he" or "his" (unless it is to speak of the abuser). The author speaks of several periods of "amnesia" in the history of the psychology of trauma, the last one being reversed through the "political" efforts of the women's movement. From this book it would appear that recognition of trauma affecting men outside of combat is still in a period of amnesia. On the cover of the book is a quote: "One of the most important psychiatric works to be published since Freud -- New York Times". Now of course the New York Times said no such thing. It must be someone at the New York Times. The author cannot be held responsible for the book jacket, but to me it is representative of the blind spots or omissions in the book itself.
Trauma and Recovery: The Aftermath of Violence--from Domestic Abuse to Political Terror by Basic Books An excellent foundation book
This book has been around for a while (first published in 1992), but it's still an excellent resource for understanding trauma. I believe that reading Trauma and Recovery will be helpful to trauma victims, although it does not cover current treatments such as EMDR, Somatic Experiencing (SE), and Energy Psychology (EP). --Fred P. Gallo, PhD, author of Energy Tapping for Trauma: Rapid Relief from Post-Traumatic Stress Using Energy Psychology
Trauma and Recovery: The Aftermath of Violence--from Domestic Abuse to Political Terror by Basic Books Product Description
When Trauma and Recovery was first published in 1992, it was hailed as a groundbreaking work. In the intervening years, Herman’s volume has changed the way we think about and treat traumatic events and trauma victims. In a new afterword, Herman chronicles the incredible response the book has elicited and explains how the issues surrounding the topic have shifted within the clinical community and the culture at large.Trauma and Recovery brings a new level of understanding to a set of problems usually considered individually. Herman draws on her own cutting-edge research in domestic violence as well as on the vast literature of combat veterans and victims of political terror, to show the parallels between private terrors such as rape and public traumas such as terrorism. The book puts individual experience in a broader political frame, arguing that psychological trauma can be understood only in a social context. Meticulously documented and frequently using the victims’ own words as well as those from classic literary works and prison diaries, Trauma and Recovery is a powerful work that will continue to profoundly impact our thinking.