What is Trauma?
According to the APA, trauma is " an emotional response to a terrible event like a car accident or a natural disaster. Immediately after the event, shock and denial are typical. Longer term reactions include unpredictable emotions, flashbacks, strained relationships and even physical symptoms like headaches or nausea. "
This page offers a list of library books and resources about trauma. Resources include popular memoirs, psychology workbooks, and self-help books. Remember that everyone recovers from trauma differently, and healing is not a linear process. Please consult SHaW staff for more resources and help.
- Veteran's Crisis LineImmediate support if you or a loved one who is a veteran needs support.
- RAINN (National Sexual Assault Hotline)Call 800.656.HOPE. RAINN is the US's largest anti-sexual violence organization. It is free and confidential. Also offers an app and text message assistance.
- YWCA New Britain Sexual Assault Crisis ServiceSACS offers free, confidential service for victims of sexual assault, including:
24-hour English and Spanish confidential hotlines with immediate access to trained, certified counselors. Text and chat also available.
On Campus Resource
In-Power: Support Group for Victim-Survivors
In-Power is a weekly student-led support group dedicated to building a gender-inclusive community that welcomes victim-survivors of sexual assault, stalking, and/or intimate partner violence at any point in their healing process. Through a focus on empowerment, autonomy, and resilience, the group aims to help participants claim agency over their own stories and experiences, as well as the direction of the group. We’ll be accomplishing this with a variety of discussion topics and self-care methods.
In-Power is open to any UConn student regardless of gender identity. We are run out of the Women’s Center, but in no way does this mean that you must identify as a woman in order to be in the space. This semester In-Power will be held in-person on Tuesdays from 5PM-7PM EST in SU 417.
More Info: in-power@uconn.edu
Literature resources on trauma
Photo by "Freestocks" on Unsplash
Digital Library Books
The Deepest Well: Healing the Long Term Effects of Childhood Adversity by ISBN: 9781328502667Publication Date: 2019-01-01The stunning news of Burke Harris's research is just how deeply our bodies can be imprinted by ACEs--adverse childhood experiences like abuse, neglect, parental addiction, mental illness, and divorce. Childhood adversity changes ourbiological systems, and lasts a lifetime. For anyone who has faced a difficult childhood, or who cares about the millions of children who do, the fascinating scientific insight and innovative, acclaimed health interventions in The Deepest Well represent vitally important hope for preventing lifelong illness for those we love and for generations to come
The PTSD Workbook: Simple, Effective Techniques for Overcoming Traumatic Stress Symptoms by ISBN: 9781626253704Publication Date: 2016-05-01In the third edition of The PTSD Workbook, psychologists and trauma experts Mary Beth Williams and Soili Poijula offer readers the most effective tools available for overcoming post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). PTSD is an extremely debilitating condition that can occur after exposure to a terrifying event. But whether you're a veteran of war, a victim of domestic violence or sexual violence, or have been In this fully revised and updated workbook, you'll learn how to move past the trauma you've experienced and manage symptoms such as insomnia, anxiety, and flashbacks. Based in cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), this book is accessible and easy to use.
My Grandmother's Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies by ISBN: 9781942094470Publication Date: 2017-09-19In this groundbreaking book, therapist Resmaa Menakem examines the damage caused by racism in America from the perspective of trauma and body-centered psychology.
Healing Sexual Trauma Workbook by ISBN: 9781684036523Publication Date: 2021-07-01Title recommended by SHaW. Overcome shame and stigma; and bring a newly felt sense of safety, awareness, and life to your body. If you've experienced rape, sexual abuse, molestation, or sexual trauma, you may feel as if you've lost your sense of self. You may have difficulty setting boundaries or building satisfying sexual relationships. Sometimes, you may even feel like your body isn't your own. You aren't alone. The scars of sexual trauma exist not only in the mind, but also in the body. And in order to heal, build resilience, and discover a sense of hope, you must address both. Drawing on the powerful mind-body techniques of somatic therapy, The Healing Sexual Trauma Workbook is a step-by-step guide to overcoming the psychological effects of sexual trauma, and increasing positive body awareness and vitality.
Hell Yeah Self-Care! A Trauma Informed Workbook by ISBN: 9781787752467Publication Date: 2021-01-21Take a moment to pause... Breathe... And ask yourself, what does self-care mean to you? Times are very tough-in a world that pushes us to go faster, be the best, and get ahead of others, we often forget to focus on ourselves, leaving us with anxiety, anger, burnout, stress, and trauma. In this creative workbook and journal leading mental health pioneers, Alex Iantaffi and Meg-John Barker, provide you with the tools to begin your self-care journey and develop sustainable self-care routines and rituals that work for you.
Getting Past Your Past: Take Control of Your Life with Self-Help Techniques from EMDR Therapy by ISBN: 9781594864254Publication Date: 2012-02-28Title recommended by UConn SHaW Staff. A totally accessible user's guide from the creator of a scientifically proven form of psychotherapy that has successfully treated millions of people worldwide. Whether we've experienced small setbacks or major traumas, we are all influenced by memories and experiences we may not remember or don't fully understand. Getting Past Your Past offers practical procedures that demystify the human condition and empower readers looking to achieve real change. Shapiro, the creator of EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing), explains how our personalities develop and why we become trapped into feeling, believing and acting in ways that don't serve us. Through detailed examples and exercises readers will learn to understand themselves, and why the people in their lives act the way they do.
It Didn't Start with You: How Inherited Family Trauma Shapes Who We Are and How to End the Cycle by ISBN: 9781101980361Publication Date: 2016-04-26A groundbreaking approach to transforming traumatic legacies passed down in families over generations, by an acclaimed expert in the field Depression. Anxiety. Chronic Pain. Phobias. Obsessive thoughts. The evidence is compelling: the roots of these difficulties may not reside in our immediate life experience or in chemical imbalances in our brains--but in the lives of our parents, grandparents, and even great-grandparents. The latest scientific research, now making headlines, supports what many have long intuited--that traumatic experience can be passed down through generations. It Didn't Start with You builds on the work of leading experts in post-traumatic stress, including Mount Sinai School of Medicine neuroscientist Rachel Yehuda and psychiatrist Bessel van der Kolk, author of The Body Keeps the Score.
The Post-Traumatic Insomnia Workbook by ISBN: 1608820769Publication Date: 2010-09-02Difficult and traumatic life experiences affect our lives in unexpected ways and can even change the way we sleep. In fact, up to 75 percent of all people who have experienced abuse, violence, or traumatic incidents have sleeping problems after these events, even after all other trauma-related symptoms have diminished. If you've experienced these problems for yourself, The Post-Traumatic Insomnia Workbook is for you. This workbook is based in cognitive behavioral therapy, a powerful approach that has been proven to be more effective over the long run than sleeping pills. Included are easy tips and techniques you can start doing right away to help you sleep better. You'll learn a variety of relaxation and sleep-scheduling skills that will help you put an end to broken sleep, the need to stay on high alert throughout the night, and sleep-sabotaging habits you may have developed.
Flowers in the Dark: reclaiming your power to heal trauma with mindfulness by ISBN: 9781946764577Mindfulness teacher Sister Dang Nghiem, MD, is an inspiration for anyone who has ever suffered from abuse, life-changing loss, severe illness, or the aftermath of war. In this book, she brings together her lived experience as a survivor, certified MD, and ordained Buddhist teacher to offer a body-based, practical approach to healing from life's most difficult and painful experiences. Offering insights from Buddhist psychology and simple somatic practices for tapping into our Five Strengths--our inner faculties of self-trust, diligence, mindfulness, concentration, and insight--Sister Dang Nghiem's approach to trauma is radically accessible; it begins with awareness of our breathing. With each chapter containing a progression of guided reflections an exercises, this book can be read as an adjunct to therapy and a helpful guide for moving through trauma in the body. With the practice of mindfulness, we can access our strength as survivors and our joy in being alive.
Know My Name: A Memoir by ISBN: 9780735223721Publication Date: 2020-08-18Title recommended by UConn SHaW Staff. She was known to the world as Emily Doe when she stunned millions with a letter. Brock Turner had been sentenced to just six months in county jail after he was found sexually assaulting her on Stanford's campus. Her victim impact statement was posted on BuzzFeed, where it instantly went viral--viewed by eleven million people within four days, it was translated globally and read on the floor of Congress; it inspired changes in California law and the recall of the judge in the case. Thousands wrote to say that she had given them the courage to share their own experiences of assault for the first time. Now she reclaims her identity to tell her story of trauma, transcendence, and the power of words. It was the perfect case, in many ways--there were eyewitnesses, Turner ran away, physical evidence was immediately secured. But her struggles with isolation and shame during the aftermath and the trial reveal the oppression victims face in even the best-case scenarios. Her story illuminates a culture biased to protect perpetrators, indicts a criminal justice system designed to fail the most vulnerable, and, ultimately, shines with the courage required to move through suffering and live a full and beautiful life.
Kintsugi: Finding Strength in Imperfection by ISBN: 9781449497309Publication Date: 2019-06-11Winner of the 2019 Golden Nautilus Book Award. Japan is an inspiration in the personal growth and development field. Kintsugi is the ancient Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with powdered gold. Day after day, week after week, stage by stage, the object is cleaned, groomed, treated, healed, and finally enhanced. Nowadays it has also become a well-known therapy metaphor to resilience. This practical book will help you overcome rough times, heal your deepest wounds, and become whole again through the numerous stages, writing exercises, and testimonies.
Indelible in the Hippocampus: Writings From The Me Too Movement by ISBN: 9781944211714Publication Date: 2019-09-10"Indelible in the hippocampus is the laughter," said Dr. Christine Blasey-Ford when she testified to congress in September 2018 about the men who victimized her. A year earlier, in October 2017, the hashtag #MeToo shone a light on the internalized, normalized sexual harassment and abuse that'd been ubiquitous for women for generations. Among the first books to emerge from the #MeToo movement, Indelible in the Hippocampus is a truly intersectional collection of essays, fiction, and poetry. These original texts sound the voices of black, Latinx, Asian, queer, and trans writers, to name but a few, and says "me too" 23 times. Whether reflecting on their teenage selves or their modern-day workplaces, each contributor approaches the subject with unforgettable authenticity and strength. Together these pieces create a portrait of cultural sea-change, offering the reader a deeper understanding of this complex, galvanizing pivot in contemporary consciousness.
Heart Berries: A Memoir by ISBN: 1619024233Publication Date: 2018-02-13Having survived a profoundly dysfunctional upbringing only to find herself hospitalized and facing a dual diagnosis of post traumatic stress disorder and bipolar II disorder, Terese Marie Mailhot is given a notebook and begins to write her way out of trauma. The triumphant result is Heart Berries, a memorial for Mailhot's mother, a social worker and activist who had a thing for prisoners; a story of reconciliation with her father―an abusive drunk and a brilliant artist―who was murdered under mysterious circumstances; and an elegy on how difficult it is to love someone while dragging the long shadows of shame.
Drawing Power by ISBN: 9781683356738Publication Date: 2019-09-17More than 60 female comics creators share their personal experiences with sexual violence and harassment through new and original comics Inspired by the global #MeToo Movement, Drawing Power: Women's Stories of Sexual Violence, Harassment, and Survival is a collection of original, nonfiction comics drawn by more than 60 female cartoonists from around the world.
Bodyfulness : somatic practices for presence, empowerment, and waking up in this life by ISBN: 9780834841697Publication Date: 2018 ShambhalaAs a foundation for a contemplative life, the body can both literally and metaphorically help us wake up. Breathing, sensing, and moving-the ways we know our body-carry tremendous contemplative potential, and yet, we so often move through our days unaware of or in conflict with our physical selves. In Bodyfulness, renowned somatic counselor Christine Caldwell offers a practical guide for living an embodied contemplative life, embracing whatever body we are in. Each chapter offers insights and practices that help us recover our lost physical wisdom-to integrate our bodies with mindfulness, to deal with emotions, and to develop attuned relationships. Bodyfulness inspires us to reclaim a body-centered contemplative life and challenges us to harness our potential to effect social and personal transformation in this body now.
Physical Library Books
Physical library books may be paged for retrieval at the service desk of your choosing. Go to the library record and click on "Request It." You can then choose the campus where you would like to pick up the book when ready. You will receive an email once the book is ready for pick-up.
The Myth of Normal: trauma, illness, and healing in a toxic culture by ISBN: 9780593083888Publication Date: 2022-09-13In this book,physician Gabor Maté 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.
What Happened to You? conversations on trauma, resilience, and healing by Call Number: Leisure Reading Collection: B LevelISBN: 9781250223180Publication Date: 2021-04-27Our earliest experiences shape our lives far down the road.
This book provides powerful scientific and emotional insights into the behavioral patterns so many of us struggle to understand. "Through this lens we can build a renewed sense of personal self-worth and ultimately recalibrate our responses to circumstances, situations, and relationships. It is, in other words, the key to reshaping our very lives."--Oprah Winfrey
Misfits: A Personal Manifesto by Call Number: Leisure Reading Collection: B LevelISBN: 1250843448Publication Date: 2021-09-07From the brilliant mind of Michaela Coel, creator and star of "I May Destroy You" and "Chewing Gum," comes a passionate and inspired declaration against fitting in. When invited to deliver the MacTaggart Lecture at the Edinburgh International Television Festival, Michaela Coel touched a lot of people with her striking revelations about race, class and gender, but the person most significantly impacted was Coel herself. Building on her celebrated speech,Misfits immerses readers in her vision through powerful allegory and deeply personal anecdotes--from her coming of age in London public housing to her discovery of theater and her love for storytelling. And she tells of her reckoning with trauma and metamorphosis into a champion for herself, inclusivity, and radical honesty.
The End of Trauma: how the new science of resilience is changing how we think about PTSD by ISBN: 9781541674363Publication Date: 2021-09-07A top expert on human trauma argues that we vastly overestimate how common PTSD is and fail to recognize how resilient people really are
What my bones know : a memoir of healing from complex trauma by ISBN: 9780593238103Publication Date: 2022-02-22A searing memoir of reckoning and healing by acclaimed journalist Stephanie Foo, investigating the little-understood science behind complex PTSD and how it has shaped her life
Disclaimer
Disclaimer: This content guide is meant to be solely informational in nature. It is not meant to provide professional care or recommendations. It includes general considerations, but readers should contact their medical provider for individualized advice, treatment, and recommendations.
If you are experiencing a mental health emergency, call 911 or go to your local hospital. If you are in crisis, please call 860-486-4705 to be directed to the UConn on-call therapist. During winter breaks, crisis support is available only during business hours.
