The Psychology of Trauma

“In this slim volume, UK psychotherapists and academicians Farrington and Woodward provide a succinct description of trauma based on clinical studies, neuroscience, and social/cultural data. Especially useful is their three-phase structure of trauma-informed psychotherapy, culminating in a “celebration of post-traumatic growth.” They explain vicarious trauma and complex post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), debunk such adverse advice as “everyone has trauma” and “just get over it,” and provide a list of common symptoms along with appropriate exercises for addressing them. The book is replete with case studies, charts, and diagrams, including one that depicts the role of dissociation in PTSD. The chapter on attachment theory leads into a delineation of helpful suggestions for the family and wider community. Unique are the discussions of neurodiversity, sexual diversity, and ethnic diversity. This reviewer's personal favorite was the chapter on the brain’s evolution and how it responds to trauma through fright, fight, freeze, or flop. The only quibbles are the authors' omission of PTSD nightmare therapy and their use of the term “traumatic event” instead of “traumatic experience”; an event may be traumatizing for one person but not for another."

--S. Krippner, California Institute of Integral Studies. CHOICE Review February 2025