Therapist Reading Recommendations
The books I recommend the most. On Trauma:
My Grandmother's Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Mending of Our Bodies and Hearts by Resmaa Menakem Complex PTSD: From Surviving to Thriving by Pete Walker The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma by Bessel van der Kolk No Bad Parts: Healing Trauma and Restoring Wholeness with the Internal Family Systems Model By Richard Schwartz Romantic Relationships:
Polysecure: Attachment, Trauma and Consensual Nonmonogamy by Jessica FernHold Me Tight: Seven Conversations for a Lifetime of Love by Sue JohnsonWired for Love: How Understanding Your Partner's Brain and Attachment Style Can Help You Defuse Conflict and Build a Secure Relationship by Stan Tatkin
The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work: A Practical Guide from the Country's Foremost Relationship Expert by John M. Gottman and Nan SilverTherapy and Changing the World:
I Hope We Choose Love: A Trans Girl's Notes from the End of the World Show Details By Kai Cheng ThomWhat It Takes to Heal: How Transforming Ourselves Can Change the World by Prentis HemphillConflict Is Not Abuse: Overstating Harm, Community Responsibility, and the Duty of Repair by Sarah SchulmanFamily and Other Relationships:
Set Boundaries, Find Peace: A Guide to Reclaiming Yourself by Nedra Glover TawwabAdult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents: How to Heal from Distant, Rejecting, or Self-Involved Parents by Lindsay C. GibsonGeneral Wellness:
Self-Compassion: The Proven Power of Being Kind to Yourself by Kristin NeffSexuality
Come as You Are: The Surprising New Science that Will Transform Your Sex Life Emily Nagoski“Trauma is also a wordless story our body tells itself about what is safe and what is a threat.”
“In search of relationship safety, our attachment system is primed to seek the answers to certain questions regarding our partners . . . If I turn towards you, will you be there for me? Will you receive and accept me instead of attack, criticize, dismiss or judge me?. . . Can we lean into and rely on each other?”
““Models of justice that centre punishment do not prevent abuse but only react to it, and they don’t offer a pathway toward healing for either perpetrators or survivors. Nor do they acknowledge the dual reality that a great many perpetrators are themselves survivors.”
