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)