Healing Trauma

A fascinating compendium of ar+cles that look at trauma through a myriad of lenses—existential neuroscience, history, psychoanalysis, sociology, trauma+c stress research, literature—these beautifly crafted essays engage the reader throughout. Dori Laub’s research into the importance of witnessing and gathering testimony from victims of severe trauma—whether related to the Holocaust, sexual abuse, or war—to help them create narratives out of what was inchoate pain, is central to so many of the contributors. Research is used as witness in Robert Jay Lipton’s work and so too is literature as in Schreiber’s discussion of Toni Morrison’s fiction. The chapters on brain research help us to better understand the individual and social impact of trauma and how much has been learned in recent years that influences the way clinicians interact with patients. Bringing together a neurobiological and psychological understanding of trauma, Schreiber’s edited volume is an essential book for psychoanalysts who want to have a more thorough understanding of trauma as well as for all those in other disciplines who are interested in the subject. —Batya R. Monder, MSW, BCD, Training & Supervising Analyst, Contemporary Freudian Society (CFS)