Suggested Reading on Trauma

Joyce Edward, CSW, BCS

The following is a list of readings that have either been recommended by Coalition members as having value or readings that I have located myself.  Those readings that I have had a chance to look at or actually read, I have briefly described. In some instances I have included   publisher’s blurbs or reviewer’s comments.

This list is very limited. The literature on this topic is vast. There is much I have not covered. I have not, for example, included any of the literature on medication, which is frequently recommended as an adjunct to other forms of therapy. Since I do not work with children, I have included only those few articles on child treatment, which were suggested by other Coalition members. There are no references to group therapy, which is an important approach in working with trauma patients. Finally, the list does not reflect adequately the diversity of perspectives that clinicians are drawing upon today.

I was reminded recently by one of the online courses on trauma being offered by PsyBC, Psych Broadcasting Corporation, of just how varied these approaches are. Therapists reported on psycho-spiritual therapy, art therapy, attitudinal healing, forgiveness therapy, E.M.D.R., cognitive behavioral therapy, energy therapies, flooding, to name but a few. As the reader will see this list draws mainly from the psychoanalytic literature on the topic.

I have included certain web sites that offer pertinent information, some of which offer more extensive and more diverse bibliographies on trauma.

 I look upon this list as a work in progress, and hope that over time Coalition members will share additional readings that they have found valuable in their therapeutic efforts. They can either be posted on our email list or sent to me (JoyceE95@aol.com) and when I have collected a number I would be happy to compile them into a list for the newsletter again. 

Books

Aberbach, D. (1989). Surviving Trauma, Loss, Literature and Psychoanalysis. New Haven. Yale University Press.

Akhtar, S. (Ed.) (2001). Three Faces of Mourning. Northvale, NJ: Jason Aronson.

As described by the publisher this book contains articles that address the multi-faceted processes involved in mourning and adaptation. Among the topics considered are the pain of mourning, the manic defenses often employed to ward of such pain, effects of age upon the capacity to mourn, difference in reactions to the loss of mother and the loss of father, the impact of childhood parental loss, and pathological forms of mourning.  It also includes the therapeutic strategies suitable for individuals with chronic interpersonal difficulties, the result of unresolved grief of long duration. Issues of transference-countertransference and separation reactions from the therapist are covered.

Barton, A. (1989). Communities in Disaster.  New York, NY: Doubleday.

Bellak, L. (1987).  Manual of Brief and Emergency Psychotherapy.  Larchmont, NY: CPS, Inc.

Boss. P.  (1999).  Ambiguous Loss - Learning to Live With Unresolved Grief. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

The therapist who contributed this reference notes that this book is particularly relevant to the World Trade Center Disaster in that it considers those situations in which there are no remains of the deceased for the survivors to bury.

Caplan, G. (Ed., 1964). Principles of Preventative Psychiatry.  New York, NY: Basic Books.

Caruth, C. (Ed., 1995). Trauma: Explorations in Memory. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.

This is a group of essays that demonstrate the ways in which a variety of disciplines contribute to an understanding of trauma. 

DeVries, M. W. & Hobfoil, S. (Eds., 1995). Extreme Stress and Communities. Boston, MA: Kluwer Academic Publishers.

This volume, considers the impact of large-scale traumatic events.  It examines personal, social and instrumental resources that have been found to aid adaptation to major stressful circumstances, and proposes strategies for research and intervention at the community level. It considers such topics as prevention, education, pre- and post disaster strategies and treatment.

Ehrenreich, J. H. (2001) Coping with Disasters: A Guidebook to Psychosocial Intervention. Center for Psychology and Society State University of New York College.

This is a comprehensive volume that considers a wide range of issues, including a consideration of the importance of appreciating the role that cultural background may play in how an individual experiences a traumatic event.

Ewing, P. (1978).  Crisis Intervention as Psychotherapy.  New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

Furman, E. (l974). A Child’s Parent Dies.  New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.

Garland, C. (Ed., 1998) Understanding Trauma A Psychoanalytic Approach (Tavistock Clinic Series). London: Gerald Duckworth & Co. Ltd. 

This book describes the psychoanalytically oriented work of the Unit for the Study of Trauma and its Aftermath in the Adult Department of the Tavistock Clinic. It draws (though not exclusively) on the contributions of Melanie Klein as well as those of contemporary Kleinians. Detailed clinical examples are included.  Though most of the book focuses on work with individuals, attention is also paid to group treatment.

Golan, Naomi  (1978) Treatment in Crisis Situations.  New York, NY: The Free Press.

Herman, J. L. (1997). Trauma and Recovery: From Domestic Abuse to Political Terror. New York, NY: Basic Books.

This book focuses on the importance of a “healing relationship” and the need for empowerment of the trauma survivor in the treatment experience. Three stages of recovery are delineated in detail, and demonstrated through clinical vignettes. The central task of the first stage is the establishment of safety; the second is that of remembrance and mourning. The task of the final stage is “reconnection with ordinary life.”

Hobfoll, S.E. & W.de Vries, M.W. (1995). Extreme Stress and Communities: Impact and Intervention. Boston, MA: Kluwer Academic Publishers.

This collection of papers is aimed at expanding an understanding of the role of communities in responding to large-scale traumatic events. The one chapter I read on widowhood contains findings from a large-scale study on widows, identifying some of the ways in which the needs of these women are often not met by those who would seek to comfort them, due to popular misconceptions and generalizations about the needs of this population.

Horowitz, M.J. (2001). Stress Response Syndromes. Northvale, N.J:  Jason Aronson.

This is a classic book that has been revised several times. It delineates in detail the feelings of fear, rage, shame guilt, and numbness associated with trauma and in particular on “intrusive images” that can haunt the victims for years afterwards. In order to overcome these feelings, the book emphasizes that the meaning of the trauma in a person’s biography needs to be understood.

Jacobs, S.  (1993) Pathological Grief: Maladaptation to Loss.  Washington. DC: American Psychiatric Press.

Jozefowski, J. T. (2001) The Phoenix Phenomenon: Rising From the Ashes of Grief.  Northvale, NJ: Jason Aronson.

The publisher describes this book as examining   the resiliency of individuals enduring great adversity and emphasizes the way in which pain and despair can become a transformative experience. The book seeks to show how while a person may not be the same after the death of a loved one, diminishments of self and of life are not the only possible outcome.

Janoff-Bulman, R. (1992). Shattered Assumptions: Towards A New Psychology of Trauma. New York, NY: The Free Press.

Krystal, H. (1968). Massive Psychic Trauma. New York, NY: International Universities Press.

Lifton, R.J. (1979). The Broken Connection: On Death and the Continuity of Life.  New York, NY: Schuster.

Lifton, R.J.  (1993). The Protean Self. New York, NY: Basic Books.

This is a book about human resilience under conditions of great fragmentation. It is a hopeful book, which helping professionals may find supportive.

Lindemann, E. (1979) Beyond Grief. New York, NY: Jason Aronson

Malkinson, R., Rubin, S. S., & Witztum, E. Eds. (2000). Traumatic and Nontraumatic Loss and Bereavement: Clinical Theory and Practice. Madison, CT: Psychosocial Press. 

The editors of this book and many of the contributors reside in Israel. The book includes chapters on childhood bereavement, on the therapeutic implications of cultural conceptions of death and bereavement, and on the topic of collective bereavement and commemoration. 

McCann, I.L. & Pearlman, L.A. (1990). Psychological Trauma and the Adult Survivor: Theory, Therapy and Transformation. (Psychosocial Stress Series 91) New York, NY: Brunner/Mazel.

Neal, A. G. (1998).  National Trauma and Collective Memory. Armonk, NY: M.E.Sharpe.

This book, written by a sociologist, examines the individual and collective reactions to such catastrophic events as Pearl Harbor, the Vietnam War, etc.

Parad, H. J. & Parad L. G. (Eds., 1999). Crisis Intervention. Lewiston, NY: Manticore Publishers. 

Parkinson, F (2000). Post-Trauma Stress. Tucson, AZ: Fisher.

This book deals with the effects of disasters on the rescuers and helpers involved as well as the victims and survivors. It alerts those involved to the normality of their reactions, and emphasizes the need for support on the part of all who are involved.  The author stresses the value of psychological debriefing and offers a detailed description of this process. The book also contains a detailed bibliography as well as references to relevant web sites.

Roberts, A. (Ed., 2000) Crisis Intervention Handbook: Assessment, Treatment and Research. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

Rogers, K. L., Leydesdorff, S. with Dawson, G. (Eds., 1999). Trauma and Life Stories.  New York, NY: Routledge.

This volume explores the relationships between the experiences of helplessness and terror associated with trauma, the ways in which the survivors recall their experiences, and the way in which they represent these memories in the language and form of their stories.  The books includes accounts of violence in South Africa, the violence in Ireland, experiences of Ethiopian Jews moving to Israel, as well as in other countries.  Though not directly useful in the clinical situation, some readers may find it, as I did, an interesting volume.

Rothschild, B. (2000). The Psychophysiology of Trauma and Trauma Treatment. New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Co.

Saakvitne, K.W. & Pearlman, L. A.  (1996). Transforming the Pain: A Workbook on Vicarious Traumatization. Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon.

Ulman, R. B., & Brothers, D. (1988). The Shattered Self: A Psychoanalytic Study of Trauma. Hillsdale, NJ: Analytic Press.

Van der V. Kolk, B.A.  & A. C. McFarlane & L. Weisaeth (Eds.). Traumatic stress: The Effects of Overwhelming Experience on Mind, Body, and Society. New York, NY: Guilford Press.

York, S.  (2000). Remembering Well: Rituals for Celebrating Life and Mourning Death. San Francisco, CA:  Jossey Bass.

This book by a Unitarian minister is described as a guide for those who wish to put death in a spiritual context but are unsure as to how to do so. It is written for those who have broken with tradition as well as those who wish to give new meaning of the rituals of their faith. Among the issues it addresses are the difficult decisions that survivors must make quickly when death occurs; the composing of a funeral service; and perhaps of special relevance today is a chapter on the impact of different ways that a loved one may die. It is entitled “All Deaths are Not Equal” and specifically considers deaths that result from violence.

Young, J. I., Ford, J. Ruzek, J. I. Friedman, M.J. &Gussman, F. Disaster Mental Health Services: A Guidebook for Clinicians and Administrators. White River Junction, VT: National Center for PTSD.

This is a very extensive volume focusing in detail on the delivery of services to those experiencing trauma at disaster sites during the crisis and over the long term. It has an extensive bibliography on trauma. The entire book can be accessed on the Web at http://www.ncptsd.org/treatment/disaster/index.html (not yet available in print form)

Wolfenstein, M. & Kastenbaum, R.J. (Eds., 1977)  Disaster.  North Stratford, NH: Ayer.

Articles

Bowlby, J.  (1961). Process of mourning. International Journal of Psychoanalysis. 52: 317-340.

Brunkow, K. (1996).  Working with dreams of survivors of violence: Facilitating crisis intervention with a psychoanalytic approach.  In: Fostering Healing and Growth A Psychoanalytic Approach, edited by J. Edward & J. Sanville, New York: Jason Aronson Inc. pp.212-225.

Interesting examples of effective short-term interventions, in which dreams are effectively used.

Classen, C. , Koopman, C. & Spiegel, D. (1993).  Trauma-dissociation.  Bulletin of the Menninger Clinic, 57: 178-194.

Congress, E.P.  (2000). Crisis intervention with culturally diverse families. In Crisis Intervention Handbooks: Assessment Treatment and Research. Edited by A. R. Roberts. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press. p. 430--491.

This article highlights the importance of sensitivity on the part of the clinician to the particular cultural backgrounds of those we treat. Given the diversity of the population affected by the World Trade Center Disaster, this article should prove informative.

Coyne, J.C., Wortman, C.B., & Lehman, D.R. (1988).  The other side of support: Emotional over involvement and miscarried helping.  In B.H. Gottlieb (Ed) Marshaling Social Support. Newbury Park: Sage Publications. pp. 305-330.

Craig, Y. (1977). The bereavement of parents and their search for meaning.  British Journal of Social Work, 7: 41-45.

Goldschmidt, O.  (1986). A contribution the subject of “psychic trauma” based on the course of a psychoanalytic short therapy. The International Review of Psychoanalysis, 13:181-199.

Laub, D., & Auerhahn, N. C. (1993). Knowing and not knowing massive psychic trauma: Forms of traumatic memory. International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 74: 287-302.

Lehman, D. R., Ellard, J.H., Wortman, C.B. & Williams, A.F. (1986). Social support for the bereaved: Recipients’ and providers’ perspectives on what is helpful. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 64: 438-446.

Lindemann, E. (1944).  Symptomology and management of acute grief.  American Journal of Psychiatry, 101:141-148.

Nagera, H. (l970).  Children's’ reactions to the death of important objects: A developmental approach. Psychoanalytic Study of the Child.  New Haven CT: Yale University Press. 25:360-400.

Pruett, K. (1984).  A Chronology of defensive adaptations to severe psychological trauma. Psychoanalytic Study of the Child.  New Haven CT: Yale University Press.39-591-612.

Roberts, A.R. (2000). An overview of crisis theory and crisis intervention.  In Crisis Intervention Handbook Assessment, Treatment, and Research. ed. A.R. Roberts.  Oxford: Oxford University Press.  Chap. 1-3.

Van der Kolk, B. A., & Van der Hart, O. (1995). The intrusive past: The flexibility of memory and the engraving of trauma. In C. Caruth (Eds.), Trauma: Explorations in Memory. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press.

Volkan, Vamick  (1985).  Psychotherapy of complicated mourning. In V. Volkan  (Ed.). Depressive States and Their Treatment.  Northvale, NJ: Jason Aronson.

Wolfenstein, M.  (1966). How is mourning possible? Psychoanalytic Study of the Child. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. 21:93-126.

Wortman, C.B. & Silver R.C. (1989). The myths of coping with loss. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 57: 349-357.

Yacoublan, V.V. & Hacker F.J.  (1989) Reactions to disaster at a distance.   Bulletin of the Menninger Foundation, 53:  331-339.

A brief summary of the responses of Armenian-Americans from a Los Angeles school after a massive earthquake in Armenia in l988.  Students were strongly identified with the victims, felt personally affected, and rushed into hectic activity in order to escape grief. The article identifies a special form of survivor guilt, which takes the form of envy of the victims, a feeling of having been excluded from a valued experience.

Zetzel, E. (1943). War neurosis: a clinical contribution.  In The Capacity for Emotional Growth. (1970) New York, NY:  International Universities Press; pages 2-32.

This article shows through several case vignettes how external traumatic events can bring to the fore specific unconscious conflicts that lead to symptoms.

Widom, C. S. (1987). The cycle of violence. Science, 244, 160-165.

Web Sites

 • American Mental Health Alliance

www.AmericanMentalHealth.com. 

This site contains an extensive bibliography on trauma developed by Dr. Michael G. Connor.

 http://www.redcross.org/pubs/dspubs/terrormat.html

http://www.icisf.org/911.html

This site offers a great deal of information, including material on work with adults and children.

http://www.ncptsd.org/treatment/disaster/index.html

This site contains a copy of the Disaster Mental Health Services listed above. It also contains an extensive bibliography on trauma.

http://%29cam@psychematters.com/

This site contains full-text papers on a variety of topics. Two papers are relevant to 9/11. One is entitled “The Phenomenology of Trauma” by Robert D. Stolorow PhD. It is a brief account of his own reactions following the death of his wife. The others is entitled “Fundamentalism and Terrorism” by Robert M. Young PhD. I expect that there will be more articles on trauma in the future. 

Journals

Journal of Traumata Stress Kluwer Academy Plenum Publishers, 233 Spring St., New York, NY, 10013-1578.

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