From Amazon.com: “From one of America’s most influential psychiatrists, a powerful manifesto for reimagining justice, based on the testimony of trauma survivors
The #MeToo movement brought worldwide attention to sexual violence, but while the media focused on the fates of a few notorious predators who were put on trial, we heard far less about the outcomes of those trials for the survivors of their abuse.
The conventional retributive process fails to serve most survivors; it was never designed for them. Renowned trauma expert Judith L. Herman argues that the first step toward a better form of justice is simply to ask survivors what would make things as right as possible for them. In Truth and Repair, she commits the radical act of listening to survivors. Recounting their stories, she offers an alternative vision of justice as healing for survivors and their communities.
Deeply researched and compassionately told, Truth and Repair envisions a new path to justice for all.”
From Amazon.com: “The instant New York Times bestseller
By the acclaimed author of In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts, a groundbreaking investigation into the causes of illness, a bracing critique of how our society breeds disease, and a pathway to health and healing.
In this revolutionary book, renowned physician Gabor Maté eloquently dissects how in Western countries that pride themselves on their healthcare systems, chronic illness and general ill health are on the rise. Nearly 70 percent of Americans are on at least one prescription drug; more than half take two. In Canada, every fifth person has high blood pressure. In Europe, hypertension is diagnosed in more than 30 percent of the population. And everywhere, adolescent mental illness is on the rise. So what is really “normal” when it comes to health?
Over four decades of clinical experience, Maté has come to recognize the prevailing understanding of “normal” as false, neglecting the roles that trauma and stress, and the pressures of modern-day living, exert on our bodies and our minds at the expense of good health. For all our expertise and technological sophistication, Western medicine often fails to treat the whole person, ignoring how today’s culture stresses the body, burdens the immune system, and undermines emotional balance. Now Maté brings his perspective to the great untangling of common myths about what makes us sick, connects the dots between the maladies of individuals and the declining soundness of society—and offers a compassionate guide for health and healing. Cowritten with his son Daniel, The Myth Of Normal is Maté’s most ambitious and urgent book yet.”
From Amazon.com: “One day, maybe sooner, maybe later, someone you love will be in an emergency situation. An elderly parent, a spouse, a child. Maybe you’ve taken CPR. More than likely, you have a First Aid book on the shelf. But when the crisis hits, after you’ve called 911 and, if appropriate, propped up the victim’s head or feet, what do you do? What do you say? ‘Hang in there, Joe,’ or ‘Don”t die on me, damn it,’ may be heartfelt but is not exactly helpful. “But there ARE words, and ways of saying them, that are not only helpful, but can turn the situation around, can positively affect Joe’s heart rate, temperature, breathing, in fact his cardiovascular, limbic, endocrine, circulatory and respiratory systems.” That is how THE WORST IS OVER begins. This book has been called “the ‘bible’ for crisis communication by The International Journal of Emergency Mental Health. And in the years since it was first published we have received letters from all over the world telling us how true those words are…and how helpful when every moment matters. The Worst Is Over: What to Say When Every Moment Counts is a book that is changing the way all of us—from first responders and health care workers to neighbors and family members—are speaking to each other in times of medical emergencies, trauma, and crisis. This in-depth guide to the protocol of Verbal First Aid™ is a revolutionary method of using the power of words to promote healing in emergency situations. Research indicates that saying the right words at the right time in the right way can change the outcome of critical care, alter the chemicals the body generates, and set the course of recovery for people even before they arrive in the emergency room. People in crisis are in an altered state of consciousness while experiencing an emotional crisis or medical emergency, which is precisely why what you say is as important as what you do. At such times, words act as commands to the autonomic nervous system, which regulates bleeding, blood pressure, body temperature, muscle contractions, interpretations of pain, even emotional reactions. The right words can actually change the medical outcome. And the right words said in a frightening situation may help shift the memory from one of trauma to a memory of rescue and perhaps even courage. Because we are a mind-body, physically and emotionally words can harm or words can heal. While Verbal First Aid had its birth in the dramatic world of emergency rescue, it does not stop there. Verbal First Aid is the language of healing and can be used wherever and whenever the human heart is vulnerable. It is not only useful with asthma attacks and car accidents, but it can also be a life-saver when dealing with a loved one struggling with chronic pain, fighting the fear of cancer, or suffering from nightmares. The principles involved in using language to connect with the body and spirit for healing apply anywhere, everywhere, to all of us whenever sensitivity, understanding, kindness, and conviction are required. And isn’t that all the time? Medical professionals and first responders across the country and around the world have discovered this protocol and are using it to calm, relieve pain, promote healing, and save lives. And all of us, because we all have words and the ability to use our empathy and kindness, are ultimately equipped to help start the healing and change the outcome for the better. Will you know what to say when every moment counts? With this book and the protocol of Verbal First Aid, you can be that invaluable resource.”
From Amazon.com: A doctor’s personal and unsparing account of how modern medicine’s failure to understand pain has made care less effective
In The Song of Our Scars, physician Haider Warraich offers a bold reexamination of the nature of pain, not as a simple physical sensation, but as a cultural experience.
Warraich, himself a sufferer of chronic pain, considers the ways our notions of pain have been shaped not just by science but by politics and power, by whose suffering mattered and whose didn’t. He weaves a provocative history from the Renaissance, when pain transformed into a medical issue, through the racial legacy of pain tolerance, to the opiate epidemics of both the nineteenth and twenty-first centuries, to the cutting edge of present-day pain science. The conclusion is clear: only by reckoning with both pain’s complicated history and its biology can today’s doctors adequately treat their patients’ suffering.
Trenchant and deeply felt, The Song of Our Scarsis an indictment of a broken system and a plea for a more holistic understanding of the human body.”
By Dawson Church, PhD, CEHP (2016)
From Amazon.com: “Psychological trauma is among the most
devastating of conditions. Though classified as a mental health disorder, it
affects the body at the most fundamental levels. This monograph traces the
physiological roots of posttraumatic stress disorder in the body’s many
systems: The brain, the autonomic nervous system, the endocrine system, and the
many organs they control. It weaves together the most current research from
many different scientific fields. These include: • Epigenetics •
Neuropsychology • Developmental Psychology • Evolutionary Biology • Immunology
• Polyvagal theory • Biofeedback • Energy Psychology • Epidemiology • Memory
Reconsolidation. This up-to-date review of the science shows how when we are
traumatized, especially at an early age, changes occur deep in the brain. These
are reinforced by neural plasticity, our brain’s ability to rapidly add new
synaptic connections. Over time, these intensify the symptoms of PTSD, often
leading to disabling personal limitations. This monograph also reviews the
evidence from the new field of memory reconsolidation. This shows that under
very specific conditions, fear-based memories may be revised by the brain. The
new therapies emerging in the field of energy psychology, especially EFT
(Emotional Freedom Techniques), are able to quickly neutralize traumatic
emotions. This monograph explains the physiological mechanisms behind the
efficacy of these novel therapies. Besides discussing several key clinical
trials showing rehabilitation of over 80% of PTSD sufferers, it contains many
case histories of veterans and others who have made full recoveries using EFT.
It is a unique resource for scholars, therapists, physicians and journalists,
as well as patients who wish to understand the underlying physiology of stress.”
From Amazon.com: “The second edition of this classic work on recovery for alcohol families updates and expands the original, which won a Marty Mann Award as an outstanding contribution on alcohol communications. The first ten chapters of Another Chance pull the curtain back on the alcoholic family. We meet its cast of characters: the Dependent, the Enabler, the Hero, the Scapegoat, the Lost Child, the Mascot. The author then spells out a treatment plan for halting the downward spiral of alcoholism — a powerful blend of the Twelve Steps pioneered by Alcoholics Anonymous, the Family Reconstruction process developed by Virginia Satir, Wegscheider-Cruse’s innovative and eclectic approach to therapy, and her own recovery from co-dependency. The second edition also addresses adult children of alcoholics, spirituality, and co-dependent therapists.”
![The Myth of Normal: Trauma, Illness, and Healing in a Toxic Culture by [Gabor Maté]](https://i0.wp.com/m.media-amazon.com/images/I/511PjW+qSyL.jpg?w=660&ssl=1)
