Everyday Trauma: Overcoming daily stress, anxiety and painful memories

Description

The simple 8-week, science-based method to overcome trauma from distinguished Rutgers University neuroscientist professor Tracey Shors Difficult experiences are unavoidable; transform your resilience in three simple steps. Contrary to long-held belief, trauma is not only caused by exposure to a single, extreme event. The cumulative effect of common stressors that we encounter in our day-to-day lives can have an equally significant impact on our mental and physical well-being. From difficult childhoods, to bereavements, pregnancy and childbirth, and even stressful jobs, traumas - both large and small - are a part of life we can't control, but we can change the way we respond to them. In Everyday Trauma, distinguished neuroscientist Dr Tracey Shors draws on over thirty years of research to explain how your mind and body responds to trauma and how you can take control. Her science-based, three-step method is designed to help you process any kind of personal trauma from your past, reverse your symptoms and strengthen your resilience for stressors in your future. Its beauty is in its simplicity; by practicing her three simple mental and physical steps in combination twice a week, research has shown you can reduce the ruminative thoughts that trauma so often leaves us with, and avoid the trap of ongoing mental struggles such as anxiety, depression, insomnia and PTSD. Whether you can access formal therapy or not, in this important book Dr Tracey Shors has provided the tools for you to help yourself through traumas in your past, present and future. No matter what life throws at you, you can take positive steps to heal your mind for a better life.

Dr Tracey Shors is a Distinguished Professor in the Department of Psychology and Center for Collaborative Neuroscience at Rutgers University, where a primary goal of her research is to translate neuroscientific laboratory findings into practical interventions to help people recover from anxiety, depression, chronic stress, trauma and PTSD, especially PTSD related to sexual violence. She has spent over 30 years studying how stress and trauma affect the brain, as well as the thoughts and memories it generates. Her research has been published in some of the most prestigious journals, including Nature, Science, Journal of Neuroscience, Royal Academy of Sciences, and Scientific American. For more information visit www.maptrainmybrain.com.

Shors's research is impressive, and she effectively explains the complicated relationship between trauma and memory ... a fine introduction to the workings of trauma. * Publishers Weekly * In Everyday Trauma, Dr. Shors maps a path for recovery based on her deep knowledge of neuroscience and courageous compassion. This meditative 'fit for life' path of brain repair and restoration can enrich every moment, anywhere, anytime. -- Roberta Diaz Brinton, Regents professor of pharmacology and neurology, University of Arizona Everyday Trauma is an engaging book that informs the reader about the brain and bodily processes underlying emotional trauma, as well as effective treatments for the consequences of trauma. Tracey Shors, a highly recognised neuroscientist, presents the scientific evidence clearly and crisply and buttresses the findings with fascinating personal stories. Anyone interested in understanding emotional trauma should have this book. -- James L. McGaugh, author of Memory and Emotions An accessible, exciting and valuable description of a complex and important issue in mental health: the effects of trauma/stress on depression and anxiety - particularly in women - as mediated by ruminative thought patterns. It draws from many diverse areas of research and presents a beautifully developed analysis suggesting the value of specific mental and physical (MAP) activities to increase resilience to trauma: fascinating from a research perspective; potentially important in all of our lives! -- Caroline Blanchard, Emeritus Professor, University of Hawaii