Basic Books The End of Trauma: How New Science Resilience Is Changing We Think About PTSD

Well done. Insightful look at history of ptsd and personality. Great case studies. Author’s model very helpful. Highly recommend.

When we are really struggling, we naturally grasp for quick validation and simple solutions (which exist abundantly in most trauma books these days); but on some level, I think we all know that healing from trauma is much more complicated. It's easy to lose sight of that when we're deeply hurting and just want the pain to stop. The author clearly reminds us that resilience is not the absence of suffering or a trauma response, but the ability to move through it to find meaning again. To that end, Dr. Bonanno offers nuanced, specific guidance for authentic resilience. He reminds us that it's not that any coping skill is inherently good or bad, but how that skill interacts with the context and your goals is key. There is conceptual overlap with Acceptance and Commitment Therapy Principles on psychological flexibility, but this book stands on its own as a powerful guide for managing the inevitable hardships in life.In contrast to current social norms, one critique is that this book tends to examine trauma and recovery from the individual rather than the social justice lens. While this lends agency back to the survivor for recovery, some may take issue trauma response is laid mostly at the feet of the victim. I agree with the other reviewer that forms of betrayal trauma (which are incredibly common) could have been utilized as examples. Also, the ambiguity of drawing a line between normative human suffering and a "disorder" is not directly addressed but a key underlying theme.All in all, it is a highly engaging book that stands above most other writing on this issue. I have already recommended it to several clients and it has enhanced my practice.

Being familiar with (and a great admirer of) George's long and impressive research career, I anticipated being impressed by the insights and thoughtfulness of this book. I was not disappointed.I was not prepared for how excellent the writing is though - often the preciseness demanded by good social science work against fluency and creativity. Not so here. The narrative details are shockingly good. Quite fitting with the book's thesis, Bonanno vividly paints portraits of trauma while deftly side-stepping some of the sensationalism that I find mar so many books on trauma.The chapter of three interwoven first-person narratives of 9-11 in particular is an award-deserving piece of writing.

As a clinician, this book is a heaven sent! The prose flows well and information is packed in an engaging way for readers. The book got me pondering how I define resilience, and how resilience manifests for several people. I have learned many new things about resilience, and I cannot recommend this book enough for fellow therapists, students, and humans.