The PTSD Workbook: Simple, Effective Techniques for Overcoming Traumatic Stress Symptoms - Softcover

Williams, Mary Bet

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1458746054 ISBN 13: 9781458746054

Publisher: ReadHowYouWant, 2012

Synopsis

Trauma survivors need to find ways to work through their experiences and get a sense of meaning and understanding is great. While the majority of those who have experienced direct trauma or who have witnessed trauma will heal, even persons who do not develop full-blown post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, will experience a number of the symptoms of post-traumatic stress: flashbacks; intrusive thoughts and memories; hyperreactivity; avoidance of persons, places, things, and other triggers; jumpiness; and other symptoms. Other persons have experienced lifelong traumas that are character changing; many of these people suffer from a syndrome that researchers are just beginning to describe, called complex PTSD. This workbook was conceptualized as a resource for the survivor who experiences a few or many of the symptoms of PTSD or complex PTSD. When we were first asked to develop this book, we asked colleagues to share exercises that might help survivors do the work themselves. We also began to focus on the exercises we use in our own clinical work. Indeed, our clinical experience is what makes us qualified to author this book. Both of us are primarily grunt workers in the trenches of the field of trauma. We have met with many clients on a regular basis for both short-term and long-term therapy. That extensive experience allows us to say that though the road of healing may be long and difficult, healing can and does happen. In this workbook, you will have the opportunity to complete numerous exercises that will give you insight into your symptoms, your beliefs, your behaviors, and your feelings about the trauma or traumas you endured. Many of these exercises can be completed in the book itself, so that the book becomes a record of your recovery from trauma as well as a resource for you to turn to again and again throughout that recovery. Other exercises can be completed in a separate notebook or journal, which can also be used to expand upon the exercises you complete in the book or to record your other thoughts and feelings along your journey to healing. We hope that this book will help you on that journey.

About this title

About the Author

Mary Beth Williams, PhD, LCSW, CTS, is an author, researcher, lecturer, and trainer in the area of trauma. In addition, she treats trauma survivors in private practice at the Trauma Recovery Education and Counseling Center in Warrenton, Virginia. Williams is the former president of the Association of Traumatic Stress Specialists. She is a trainer for Customs and Border Protection, cofounder of the proposed 501(c)(3) US Vet Source (www.usvetsource.com); and author of many articles, chapters, and books about trauma disorders.

Soili Poijula, PhD, is a clinical psychologist, licensed psychotherapist, and director at Oy Synolon, Ltd., Center for Trauma Psychology in Finland. She has done pioneering work in Finland as a developer of post-trauma psychotherapy, is a member of the Finnish Red Cross Catastrophe Group, and serves on Finland’s Ministry of Health Advisory Board.

Review

This excellent workbook, based on a rich body of research, will be helpful to anyone who has experienced a sudden, incomprehensible event or suffered lifelong abuse. The authors have provided readers with a clear, comprehensive explanation of trauma, accompanied by practical yet creative exercises to help them manage their trauma symptoms. It’s also a valuable resource for clinicians as well as members of the general public striving to understand trauma and return to everyday functioning.”
Betty Stevens-Guille, PhD, CPsych, trauma specialist, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

For those who believe that they will never feel normal’ after a traumatic event, this workbook provides many techniques that survivors can use to jump-start their recovery an extremely important tool for growth and strength.”
James D. Baxendale, PhD, CTS

The PTSD Workbook, Second Edition, is an excellent resource for those directly affected by a critical or traumatic event, as well as for professionals working in the trauma field. Filled to the brink with concrete, helpful tools and useful information, it will guide the reader in reducing the untoward effects of trauma. Clinical wisdom is combined with evidence-based information in a very readable book. Having worked with trauma and loss for over thirty years I know that this book will be an indispensable guide for the field.”
Atle Dyregrov, PhD, director at the Center for Crisis Psychology, Bergen, Norway

"This revised workbook is based on the latest research, but written with the same warmth and wisdom that informs the first edition. It is a classic for those who live with severe trauma on an ongoing basis."
M.E. Stevens-Guille, PhD

Edition details

• Publisher: ReadHowYouWant
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 1458746054
• ISBN 13: 9781458746054
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 536