LibGuides: Wellness Resource Guide: Trauma

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The information in this guide is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.

Trauma is an event or circumstance resulting in physical, emotional, and/or life-threatening harm. Trauma can be singular, or can be the result of multiple, compounding events. While most people recover from trauma over time, some people may develop Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

According to the National Institutes of Health, no one experiences trauma in exactly the same way, but some people experience at least one of the following as a result of trauma:

Experiencing physical symptoms (headaches, stomach aches
Feeling anxious, sad, angry, or irritable
Having trouble concentrating or thinking clearly
Continually thinking about what happened/having flashbacks
Crying often
Having nightmares or difficulty sleeping
Avoiding places or people that bring back disturbing memories and responses
Becoming isolated from family and friends

Below are some trauma-related resources. Additionally, Counseling Services offers confidential counseling, crisis intervention, and psychiatric services. Visit the Counseling Services webpage for more details.

Trauma Recover Resources on the Web

National Center for PTSD (U.S. Department of Veteran's Affairs)
This site provides helpful information about PTSD, spanning differing traumas and featuring information about handling race-based trauma, childhood trauma, and supporting loved ones undergoing trauma.
Recovering from Sexual Violence
RAINN's free resource guide offers thoughtful guidance on navigating life after experiencing sexual violence, as well as resources for supporting loved ones.

Books on Trauma

It Didn't Start with You by Mark Wolynn
Call Number: Wellness BF 637.S4 W6575 2017

Here, pioneer Mark Wolyn shows readers how they can overcome inherited trauma and reclaim their lives.
The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk
Call Number: Wellness RC552 .P67 V358 2014

ISBN: 0670785938

Publication Date: 2014-09-25

In this title, the author transforms our understanding of traumatic stress, revealing how it literally rearranges the brain's wiring--specifically areas dedicated to pleasure, engagement, control, and trust. He shows how these areas can be reactivated through innovative treatments including neurofeedback, mindfulness techniques, play, yoga, and other therapies.
The Boy Who Was Raised As a Dog by Bruce D. Perry; Maia Szalavitz
Call Number: Wellness RJ 499.34 .P47 2017

In the classic The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog, Dr. Perry tells their stories of trauma and transformation and shares their lessons of courage, humanity, and hope. Deftly combining unforgettable case histories with his own compassionate, insightful strategies for rehabilitation, Perry explains what happens to children's brains when they are exposed to extreme stress--and reveals the unexpected measures that can be taken to ease such pain and help them grow into healthy adults. Only when we understand the science of the mind and the power of love and nurturing can we hope to heal the spirit of even the most wounded child.
Trauma Is Really Strange by Steve Haines; Sophie Standing (Illustrator)
ISBN: 0857012401

Publication Date: 2015

This unique comic explains the strange nature of trauma and how it confuses the brain and affects the body. With wonderful artwork, cat and mouse metaphors, essential scientific facts, and a healthy dose of wit, the narrator reveals how trauma resolution involves changing the body's physiology and describes techniques that can achieve this.
What Happened to You? by Oprah Winfrey; Bruce D. Perry
Call Number: RC552.T7 P47 2021

ISBN: 9781250223180

Publication Date: 2021-04-27

Through deeply personal conversations, Oprah Winfrey and renowned brain and trauma expert Dr. Bruce Perry offer a groundbreaking and profound shift from asking "What's wrong with you?" to "What happened to you?" Here, Winfrey shares stories from her own past, understanding through experience the vulnerability that comes from facing trauma and adversity at a young age.
You Are the One You've Been Waiting For by Richard Schwartz
Call Number: Wellness RC 488.5 .S383 2023

In this book, you'll discover essential insights and tools to foster healthy dialogue with your parts and your partner, including: * How to recognize and disarm the cultural assumptions that create shame, guilt, and isolation in relationships* The Three Projects--why we fool ourselves into thinking we must change our partner, change ourselves, or give up on true intimacy* Finding and Healing Exiles--transforming the way our most vulnerable parts influence the way we treat each other* How to reorient relationship conflicts to help each of us grow toward the Self--the center of our clarity and wisdom* Courageous Love--building resilient intimacy with each other and our parts to create healthy, lasting partnerships.
Trauma and Recovery by Judith Lewis Herman
Call Number: Wellness - RC 552.P67 H47 1992

In a major new work of synthesis, the author of Father-Daughter Incest extends her ground-breaking work to explore the psychological consequences of the full range of traumatic life events. Integrating clinical and social perspective without sacrificing either the complexity of individual experience or the breadth of political context, Trauma and Recovery brings a new level of understanding to a set of problems usually considered individually.
Waking the Tiger: Healing Trauma by Peter A. Levine; Ann Frederick (Contribution by)
Call Number: Wellness - RC 552.P67 L48 1997

By understanding the dynamics that make wild animals virtually immune to traumatic symptoms, the mystery of human trauma is revealed. Waking the Tiger normalizes the symptoms of trauma and the steps needed to heal them. People are often traumatized by seemingly ordinary experiences. The reader is taken on a guided tour of the subtle, yet powerful impulses that govern our responses to overwhelming life events. To do this, it employs a series of exercises that help us focus on bodily sensations. Through heightened awareness of these sensations trauma can be healed.
In an Unspoken Voice by Peter A. Levine; Gabor Maté (Foreword by); Gabor Maté (Foreword by)
Call Number: Wellness - RC552.T7 L483 2010

In an Unspoken Voice is based on the idea that trauma is neither a disease nor a disorder, but rather an injury caused by fright, helplessness and loss that can be healed by engaging our innate capacity to self-regulate high states of arousal and intense emotions. Enriched with a coherent theoretical framework and compelling case examples, the book elegantly blends the latest findings in biology, neuroscience and body-oriented psychotherapy to show that when we bring together animal instinct and reason, we can become more whole human beings.
No Bad Parts by Richard Schwartz
Call Number: Wellness - RC 480 .S334 2021

With No Bad Parts, you'll learn why IFS has been so effective in areas such as trauma recovery, addiction therapy, and depression treatment--and how this new understanding of consciousness has the potential to radically change our lives.
My Grandmother's Hands by Resmaa Menakem
Call Number: Wellness - E185.615 .M38 2017

The body is where our instincts reside and where we fight, flee, or freeze, and it endures the trauma inflicted by the ills that plague society. Menakem argues this destruction will continue until Americans learn to heal the generational anguish of white supremacy, which is deeply embedded in all our bodies. Our collective agony doesn't just affect African Americans. White Americans suffer their own secondary trauma as well. So do blue Americans--our police. My Grandmother's Hands is a call to action for all of us to recognize that racism is not only about the head, but about the body, and introduces an alternative view of what we can do to grow beyond our entrenched racialized divide. Paves the way for a new, body-centered understanding of white supremacy--how it is literally in our blood and our nervous system.
Break the Cycle by Mariel Buqué
Call Number: Wellness - RC 455.4 .F3 B87 2024

From Dr. Mariel Buqué, a leading trauma psychologist, comes this groundbreaking guide to transforming intergenerational pain into intergenerational abundance. With Break the Cycle, she delivers the definitive guide to healing inherited trauma.
No Bad Parts by Richard Schwartz
Call Number: Wellness - RC 480 .S334 2021

With No Bad Parts, you'll learn why IFS has been so effective in areas such as trauma recovery, addiction therapy, and depression treatment--and how this new understanding of consciousness has the potential to radically change our lives.