Reclaiming Your Life From A Traumatic Experience

Those who have experienced a traumatic event and are having trouble moving past feelings of fear, shame and guilt, or helplessness may be diagnosed with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Reclaiming Your Life from a Traumatic Experience: A Prolonged Exposure Treatment Program can help readers to overcome and reclaim their lives from PTSD. Best used in combination with treatment by a mental health professional, the second edition of this Workbook, along with the accompanying Therapist Guide, will help readers work through PTSD regardless of the type of trauma experienced-be it a motor vehicle accident, physical or sexual assault, or combat-related event. The program outlined in this book will reduce anxiety and distress, teaching readers to face memories of trauma while processing their emotions about the event using a scientifically tested and proven technique called Prolonged Exposure Therapy. Instead of avoiding or escaping situations that provoke anxiety and other negative emotions, readers will learn how to reevaluate feelings and beliefs to think differently about their traumatic experiences. Complete with information on PTSD, as well as case examples, self-assessment tools, and homework assignments, Reclaiming Your Life from a Traumatic Experience is an invaluable tool on the road to recovery from PTSD.

Reclaiming Your Life from a Tragic Experience, Workbook teaches you how to emotionally process your traumautic experience in order to reduce your PTSD and other trauma-related problems.

Best used in combination with treatment with a mental health professional, this workbook will help patients work through PTSD regardless of the type of trauma experienced. This programme will reduce anxiety and distress as patients learn to face memories of trauma, while processing emotions about the event using a scientifically tested and proven technique called Prolonged Exposure Therapy (PE). It provides a guide for patients to learn how to confront these situations and begin to re-evaluate feelings and beliefs in order to think differently about the experience.

While there are many different approaches to healing trauma, few offer a wide range of perspectives and options. With innovative insight into trauma-related difficulties, Jasmin Lee Cori helps you: Understand trauma and its devastating impacts Identify symptoms of trauma (dissociation, numbing, etc.) and common mental health problems that stem from trauma Manage traumatic reactions and memories Create a more balanced life that supports your recovery Choose appropriate interventions (therapies, self-help groups, medications and alternatives) Recognize how far you’ve come in your healing and what you need to keep growing Complete with exercises, healing stories, points to remember, and resources, this is a perfect companion for anyone seeking to reclaim their life from the devastating impacts of trauma.

Restoring your sense of self after trauma. “In 1981 as a thirteen-year-old child I was given a routine antibiotic for a routine infection and suffered anything but a routine reaction. An undiscovered allergy to the medication turned me into a full-body burn victim almost overnight. By the time I was released from the hospital I had lost 100% of my epidermis. Even more importantly, I had completely lost myself.” Now a professional coach who specializes in helping trauma victims rebuild their lives, Michele Rosenthal struggled with the effects of medically-induced post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) for over 25 years before reaching a full recovery. Today, she is 100% free of symptoms of PTSD. In this book, she applies her personal experience and professional wisdom to offer readers an invaluable roadmap to overcoming their own trauma, in particular the loss of sense of self that often accompanies it. If you suffer from the effects of trauma or PTSD, whether it was caused by a single-incident like a car accident, or from chronic childhood abuse, domestic violence, illness, or war trauma, you are well aware of how disconnected you feel from the person you most deeply wish to be. Trauma interrupts—even hijacks—your identity. To cope, you may rely on mechanisms to keep your emotions, triggers, and responses in check, but these very habits can often prevent the true restoration of safety, stability, and inner connection. How can you rediscover your sense of self so that you honor who you were before the trauma (even if that trauma began at birth), understand who you are at this very moment, and determine who you want to be going forward? Like a therapist in your back pocket, Your Life After Trauma guides you in finding answers to these tough questions. Expertly written by a helping professional who keenly understands the post-trauma identity crisis that is so common among trauma and PTSD sufferers, it is a simple, practical, hands-on recovery workbook. Filled with self-assessment questionnaires, exercises, tips, and tools—not to mention insightful personal and professional vignettes—it takes readers through a step-by-step process of healing the identity crisis, from understanding some of the basic brain science behind trauma and why you feel the way you do, to recognizing who you were (or had the potential to be) before the trauma, who you are today, after the trauma, and who you want to become. With this book by your side, it is possible to regain a sense of calm, confidence, and control on your road to recovery.

Survivors of trauma—whether abuse, accidents, or war—can end up profoundly wounded, betrayed by their bodies that failed to get them to safety and that are a source of pain. In order to fully heal from trauma, a connection must be made with oneself, including one’s body. The trauma-sensitive yoga described in this book moves beyond traditional talk therapies that focus on the mind, by bringing the body actively into the healing process. This allows trauma survivors to cultivate a more positive relationship to their body through gentle breath, mindfulness, and movement practices. Overcoming Trauma through Yoga is a book for survivors, clinicians, and yoga instructors who are interested in mind/body healing. It introduces trauma-sensitive yoga, a modified approach to yoga developed in collaboration between yoga teachers and clinicians at the Trauma Center at Justice Resource Institute, led by yoga teacher David Emerson, along with medical doctor Bessel van der Kolk. The book begins with an in-depth description of trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), including a description of how trauma is held in the body and the need for body-based treatment. It offers a brief history of yoga, describes various styles of yoga commonly found in Western practice, and identifies four key themes of trauma-sensitive yoga. Chair-based exercises are described that can be incorporated into individual or group therapy, targeting specific treatment goals, and modifications are offered for mat-based yoga classes. Each exercise includes trauma-sensitive language to introduce the practice, as well as photographs to illustrate the poses. The practices have been offered to a wide range of individuals and groups, including men and women, teens, returning veterans, and others. Rounded out by valuable quotes and case stories, the book presents mindfulness, breathing, and yoga exercises that can be used by home practitioners, yoga teachers, and therapists as a way to cultivate awareness, tolerance, and an increased acceptance of the self.

An estimated 70% of adults in the United States have experienced a traumatic event at least once in their lives. Though most recover on their own, up to 20% develop chronic Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. For these people, overcoming PTSD requires the help of a professional. This guide gives clinicians the information they need to treat clients who exhibit the symptoms of PTSD. It is based on the principles of Prolonged Exposure Therapy, the most scientifically-tested and proven treatment that has been used to effectively treat victims of all types of trauma. Whether your client is a veteran of combat, a victim of a physical or sexual assault, or a casualty of a motor vehicle accident, the techniques and strategies outlined in this book will help. In this treatment clients are exposed to imagery of their traumatic memories, as well as real-life situations related to the traumatic event in a step-by-step, controllable way. Through these exposures, your client will learn to confront the trauma and begin to think differently about it, leading to a marked decrease in levels of anxiety and other PTSD symptoms. Clients are provided education about PTSD and other common reactions to traumatic events. Breathing retraining is taught as a method for helping the client manage anxiety in daily life. Designed to be used in conjunction with the corresponding client workbook, this therapist guide includes all the tools necessary to effectively implement the prolonged exposure program including assessment measures, session outlines, case studies, sample dialogues, and homework assignments. This comprehensive resource is an exceptional treatment manual that is sure to help you help your clients reclaim their lives from PTSD. TreatmentsThatWorkTM represents the gold standard of behavioral healthcare interventions! · All programs have been rigorously tested in clinical trials and are backed by years of research · A prestigious scientific advisory board, led by series Editor-In-Chief David H. Barlow, reviews and evaluates each intervention to ensure that it meets the highest standard of evidence so you can be confident that you are using the most effective treatment available to date · Our books are reliable and effective and make it easy for you to provide your clients with the best care available · Our corresponding workbooks contain psychoeducational information, forms and worksheets, and homework assignments to keep clients engaged and motivated · A companion website (www.oup.com/us/ttw) offers downloadable clinical tools and helpful resources · Continuing Education (CE) Credits are now available on select titles in collaboration with PsychoEducational Resources, Inc. (PER)

In one way or another, we all carry trauma. It can manifest as anxiety, shame, low self-esteem, over-eating, under-eating, addiction, depression, confusion, people-pleasing, under-earning, low mood, negative thinking, social anxiety, anger, brain fog and more. Traumas, big or ‘little’, leave us trapped in cycles of dysfunctional behaviours, negative thoughts and difficult feelings. Yet many people are unaware they’re stuck in old reactions and patterns that stem from their past traumas. Many of us are wary of the word and push it away instead of moving towards it and learning how to break free. Dr Sarah Woodhouse is a Research Psychologist who specialises in trauma and is passionate about helping people face this word and their past. In You’re Not Broken she teaches you what a trauma is (it’s probably not what you think), and how to recognise when, why and how your past is holding you back. She gently explains the pitfalls of ignoring awkward, upsetting episodes and how true freedom comes from looking back at your past with honesty. Then, sharing the latest research-based techniques and her own personal experience, she guides you towards breaking the trauma loop, reawakening your true self and reclaiming your future.