There is no doubt most of us will remember 2020 as a traumatic year. Whether it's because of the pandemic, resulting economic hardship or loss of a loved one, any one of the many major environmental crises (forest fires, etc.), or the political situation. Trauma, unfortunately, is all around us. Of course it always has been. Trauma does not just refer to things which result in clinically diagnosed PTSD. Trauma exists on a continuum and it is also very individual. Two people may be in a car accident together and one may have no lasting psychological effects while the other could end up with serious PTSD. I deal with trauma regularly in my counselling practice and do a type of trauma therapy called EMDR. The causal event can be anything from a difficult birth of a child to childhood sexual abuse to the loss of a loved one. Post-Traumatic Thriving: The Art, Science, & Stories of Resilience was written by Randall Bell, a consultant who specializes in disaster recovery projects a
As you can tell by the lack of frequency of my posts, I am a bit busy right now. I think I am burning myself out trying to help my counselling clients with burnout 😏 It seems the pandemic has either forced people into extreme boredom or working 24/7 without any separation between work and home (since most of us are working from home!). Anyways, I pushed myself to read these 2 books because they are work-related and I am always trying to learn more as a therapist and I also like having books to recommend to my clients. Fight Back: End Cycles of Anxiety and Depression This book is written by a Hypnotherapy practitioner and life coach, Mike Oglesbee, who himself battled anxiety and depression for years. Though his approach to treating anxiety and depression is really just cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) repackaged, I did like this book. Oglesbee starts by explaining parts of the brain as well as the mind (unconscious vs conscious, critical and primitive). The strategy he employs is