Libby’s Library: Trauma Reference Section
Do you remember the reference section of your local library? It held dictionaries, encyclopedias, law books, and other texts that people might need for basic information. These books did not leave their special room and certainly did not circulate; people needing refreshers or to get a sense of a concept required their constant availability. With encyclopedia-like information available from home, I have not visited this part of the library in quite a while. However, without the reverent, ultra-quiet, vibe of a library reference section, within my personal library, I have a reference section.
Unlike the dictionary, I have read these texts cover to cover but keep them for their reminders and wisdom as I need them. And while I lend many books to clients, these texts do not circulate. This blog highlights three titles from my reference library, written by authors who have made significant contributions to the field of trauma recovery. As always in no particular order, here are my recommendations:
What Happened to You? Conversations on Trauma, Resilience, and Healing by Bruce Perry and Oprah Winfrey
Alright… maybe this book rose to the top of the list for a reason. I read a journal article published by Dr. Perry in a graduate school course over twenty-five years ago. Unfortunately, when inundated with literature in grad school and new to the field, I missed the full impact of this assigned reading. It wasn’t until well into my career that I completed training in the Neurosequential Model of TherapeuticsTM and truly embraced a new framework for understanding the developmental impact of trauma. Dr. Perry’s earlier work, The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog: And Other Stories from a Child Psychiatrist's Notebook—What Traumatized Children Can Teach Us About Loss, Love, and Healing, also holds a place in my personal reference section as a seminal work by this author. However, What Happened to You invites readers to look at their own experiences or those of loved ones through the neuro-developmental lens presented in the book. Researcher, clinician, trainer/educator, and author, Dr. Perry pulls from his experience in each of these roles to adeptly explain and validate the experience of the trauma survivor in this co-authored text.
Who might benefit from this book:
Readers wanting a conversation on trauma, those who have felt the sting of “what’s wrong with you,” and/or those looking for an accessible introduction to the developmental neurobiology of trauma.
One part of the book that I love:
Before jumping to the end of the book, spend time with every concept and every heuristic, which have been masterfully created over time. Once you reach the final chapters, you’ll truly appreciate Dr. Perry’s explanation of why we use the concept of others’ resilience as a shield for ourselves, which impacts how we show up, or don’t, for those who have experienced trauma in our society:
“In the wake of trauma, the hardest thing to understand is that nothing and no one can take away the pain. And yet that’s exactly what we desperately want to do – because we are social creatures, subject to emotional contagion, and when we’re around people who are hurting, we hurt, too. We don’t want to hurt. It is hard to sit in the midst of ruined lives and not feel the misery. It helps us regulate to try to undo or negate - to look away from - others’ pain…. We can help each other heal, but often assumptions about resilience and grit blind us to the healing that leads down the painful path to wisdom” (pp.188-189).
The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma by Bessell Van der Kolk
When I stay up too late, or sit for long stretches at the computer, my husband likes to say, “you know what they say… the body keeps the score.” It’s true. If I stay up too late my body will act sluggishly in the morning, and research well-documents the negative effects of chronic, insufficient sleep. While my husband knows origin of “the body keeps the score,” but enjoys the gentle jab, this frequently co-opted phrase belongs to Dr. Van der Kolk.
Staying up too late or sitting too long in front of the computer are choices; trauma is not a choice. However, in both situations, we cannot choose how our body responds. In The Body Keeps the Score, Dr. Van der Kolk explains the neurobiology of trauma, research findings on trauma, his clinical wisdom, and the impact of societal influences and structures on our approach to trauma treatment. Dr. Van der Kolk’s earlier work Traumatic Stress: The Effects of Overwhelming Experience on Mind, Body, and Society also introduced during graduate school, sits on my reference shelves as well.
Who might benefit from this book
Anyone who wants to better understand the brain structures and functions involved in the development of PTSD. (A client once joked that the first chapters of The Body Keeps the Score took him back to medical school reading.) Anyone wanting to understand how developmental trauma looks different from the DSM criteria for PTSD.
One part of the book that I love:
I’m interested in many aspects of brain functioning, but I find the concept of memory fascinating. Van der Kolk writes about dissociation, the fragmentation of traumatic memory and the intersection of memory processing with EMDR treatment. Experiencing our memories differently is salient to trauma recovery. Because we cannot change events of the past, if our understanding of ourselves in relation to past events were not adaptable, we would never recover.
“As long as a memory is inaccessible, the mind is unable to change it. But as soon as a story starts being told, particularly if it is told repeatedly, it changes – the act of telling itself changes the tale. The mind cannot help but make meaning out of what it knows, and the meaning we make of our lives changes how and what we remember” (p. 191).
Anchored by Deb Dana
This newer edition to my library has a different feel from the other two selections. While Dr. Stephen Porges conceptualized Polyvagal Theory, Deb Dana developed clinical applications for the theory. If you are not familiar with the concepts behind Polyvagal Theory, I’m not going to provide a one sentence synopsis. Give yourself time with the first couple chapters of Ms. Dana’s book or do a really deep dive and read The Polyvagal Theory: Neurophysiological Foundations of Emotions, Attachment, Communication, and Self-Regulation by Dr. Porges. Understanding this conceptualization of your nervous system can help to frame your own lived experience. I have discussed Polyvagal Theory with clients, who were sometimes relieved to the point of tears, and explored how their experiences aligned with this conceptualization. Dana’s book contains many exercises to understand, learn to modulate and realign the nervous system through reflective and somatic practices. The text does not offer an unrealistic “quick fix,” but outlines an ongoing process of collaboration with your nervous system.
Who might benefit from this book:
People looking for somatic practices to better understand and communicate with their bodies.
One part of the book that I love:
Dana writes about continuums between and within different states in a polyvagal context. Ventral vagal activation describes a state of safety and connection. After exploring the different states and how we experience them somatically, she presents exercises meant to enhance the energy of our ventral vagal system and to more readily access feelings of safety and connection. As an early step in enhancing ventral vagal awareness and experience, she writes about “glimmers,” which I would define as small moments of joy where we feel connected to something larger than ourselves. I catch glimmers when I see a stingray breach on the Gulf, or when I catch a rainbow during a Florida sun-shower, or when I hear my children laughing. Dana challenges us to move outside of our automatic, danger-seeking to consciously notice the safety already around us.
“Finding glimmers doesn’t mean that we don’t also experience suffering. Rather, it’s an acknowledgement that our nervous system is capable of holding both moments of safety and moments of survival. It’s easy to forget this when we’re immersed in a time of distress, and yet, when we bring an intention to notice glimmers, we feel the response of our nervous system to these moments of ventral vagal energy” (p. 92).
The Library Remains Open
This winter, (yes, I’m aware that it’s now July) I wanted to present readers with well-researched, impactful books, rather than AI written blogs or books without authenticity. I had such a hard time deciding which books I wanted to highlight, I became locked into over-analysis and subsequent writing paralysis. The books highlighted here represent only a snapshot of my reference section. There are other great books out there… and I may write about them at another time. For now, these texts will give you an approachable and evidence-based framework for your traumatology education.
If you have specific questions where a good literary resource might help you to understand and to explore your lived experience differently, please reach out! I’d be happy to act as your reference librarian, navigating the stacks of trauma literature together.