Self-Help for Survivors of Chronic Trauma
Jan 18, 2013
My apologies for this later than usual post -- I was let down by my "greed" for a "great deal" -- SurDoc was offering 100Gb of Cloud storage free for the first 12 months. Unfortunately, they failed to deliver on performance and I've had to spend the last couple of days trying to sort out the problem, only to return to my previous suppliers. Those familiar with my posts last year will know I make exxtensive use of Cloud storage to provide my readers with valuable resources.
Well, I've got some great resources to share, and have finally been able to post them to the Cloud -- stay tuned, I'll be posting links to these resources in the next day or two.
Among the resources to be posted will be some audiovisual materials from Rick Hanson Ph.D., and Dan Siegel M. D. I've also got a bundle of articles I've obtained from Prof. Ethy Dorrepaal, Psychiatrist and lead researcher on what has become one of the biggest source of links to my site -- her studies on Stabilizing Group Treatment for Complex Posttraumatic Stress Disorder -- like these papers [LINK] from 2010 and this [LINK] from 2012. Marylene Cloitre, Clinical Psychologist, has also provided me with some recent articles I've added to the Cloud, with links to be posted soon also.
Although I asked for "self-help materials", little was available directly, however, I was directed to this article by Wolfsdorf & Zlotnick (2001) [LINK] with the advisory that it discussed treatment in more detail than the other articles I was provided. I was also directed to a book by Marylene Cloitre and colleagues -- a bit of a modern classic of its type Treating Survivors of Childhood Abuse: Psychotherapy for the Interrupted Life [LINK] -- this book is particularly valuable from a therapist-manual, "self-help" perspective, as the text is well-written, easy to understand, and comes with handouts for clients at the end of the chapters.
I fully realise the discomfort and ditrust many survivors experience when seeking help from others, but I do encourage you to continue the search, using the guidelines for "safe therapy" I have provided previously in this blog, and on my website. After all my personal and professional experiences I consider the core element of recovery from childhood trauma to be "a healing relationship" and I pray you can find one, and go on to enjoy other relationships in which you, and your loved ones, can grow and flourish. Patients suffering from Borderline Personality Disorder often have experience of childhood trauma and I cannot leave this post without suggesting you look over the materials at http://www.dbtselfhelp.com/ [LINK] -- although the site is primarily for those interested in Dialectical Behavior Therapy as a form of treatment -- the focus is on problems often experienced by those with histories of childhood trauma.