Trauma and Recovery: The Aftermath of Violence--From Domestic Abuse to Political Terror

This author has a lot of knowledge of trauma, but they lack the poise to share the story of trauma survivors. For example, many times the author will share serious and vulnerable details of trauma survivors. I listened to The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel Van Der Kolk, and that book also shares some really serious imagery. However, Van Der Kolk maintains the ethos required to share these details of survivors without the stories sounding so alarming and triggering. I am a little curious as to why Judith Lewis Herman‘s colleague, Van Der Kolk, did not tell Herman to lay off on the coarse details. Parts of this book feel like trauma porn. From reading this book, I do not feel I learned anything about recovery from trauma. It provided a lot of examples of trauma, which isn’t helpful. Lastly, this book begins with Herman telling her role in learning about and sharing information about the way women experience trauma. In the vein of psychology and psychiatry this author works in, I thought incorrectly they would understand how all people are unanimously impacted by trauma. As a woman, I did not see any information that applied to women trauma survivors that has not been previously or further explored. I will not re-read or recommend this book. It is very triggering and not in a way that can build validation.