Description
A profound new approach to healing trauma, grounded in a radical reframing of how we understand this nearly universal experience
For centuries, we’ve been taught that being traumatized means we are somehow broken―and that trauma only happens to people who are too fragile or flawed to deal with hardship. But as a researcher, teacher, and survivor, Dr. MaryCatherine McDonald has learned that the only thing broken is our society’s understanding of trauma. “The body’s trauma response is designed to save our lives―and it does,” she says. “It’s not a sign of weakness, but of our function, strength, and amazing resilience.”
With Unbroken: The Trauma Response Is Never Wrong, Dr. McDonald overturns the misconceptions about trauma with the latest evidence from neuroscience and psychology―and shares tested practices and tools to help you work with your body’s coping mechanisms to accelerate healing. Here, you’ll explore:
• What is trauma? The latest science that undoes the stigmas of shame, blame, and humiliation
• Moral injury―having our basic sense of how the world should work overturned
• The truth about triggers―what they really are and how they can guide the healing journey
• Traumatic patterns―new findings to help break free from recurring habits and toxic dynamics
• Why we can always rewrite our inner narratives, no matter how much time has passed
• Finding a “relational home” for trauma―how we can help each other return to wholeness
Dr. McDonald’s case studies reveal the many ways trauma can manifest and persist in our lives, yet there’s one factor every case has in common: the trauma response itself reveals the path to healing. “Our traumatic experiences reveal that we can be bent, dented, or bruised,” she says, “but we cannot be broken.” For anyone who has gone through trauma or wants to help others who are struggling, here is an empowering resource for finding our way home to our bodies, rebuilding our relationships, and returning to full engagement with life.
This book is incredible. It really gives great information on reframing and learning to celebrate yourself for the things you’ve done in life to reach this point. Highly recommend this book to anyone interested in trauma, healing, radical acceptance and self-celebration!
Utterly helpful, very insightful, and completly on point; one of the best books I have ever read.
MaryCatherine McDonald is the best teacher/writer about trauma to come along since Bessel Van Der Kolk, Peter Levine and Deb Dana. This book is a big sigh of relief in paper form.
I have ADHD and struggle to read books without re-reading the same sentences over and over again until I get bored and put the book down … especially nonfiction. Unbroken is the first book I’ve been able to digest without having to do that 100% of the time. It’s a quick read that packs a punch. Afterward, you’ll have a better understanding of trauma in yourself and recognizing it in others. For me, I’ve found that most of the well known books on trauma over explain – which is great if you want that, but my neurodivergence makes that challenging. I recommend this be the first book about trauma you read before going further (if you need to at all).
This author has given a whole new perspective about trauma. Most therapy focuses on reliving the trauma and having to overcome it. This idea is about how you survived it & that makes you so much stronger than you ever imagined. It gives you your power back. I love this idea, being a survivor of trauma myself & having gone through years of therapy that has never helped. But now I realize that I am not a victim by choosing to be powerful in believing that if I was not a strong person, I wouldn’t be a survivor! If you are or were a survivor of trauma, do yourself a favor & just try reading this book that has real life experiences included in it (names omitted, of course). You will thank yourself!
Very well-written, extremely informative, just so, so good. Highly recommend.