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Book recommendations

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Bessel Van der Kolk & Pete Walker are the top 2 faves of most people I’ve known, regardless of trauma types. “Once A Warrior” by Hoge is the fave of most vets I’ve known.

What’s helped me the most, personally, are

- (textbook) Handbook of PTSD, Second Edition: Science and Practice: 9781462525492: Medicine & Health Science Books @ Amazon.com

- OLD stuff. Really, really, old stuff for the most part. Like, Ancient Rome all the way up to the (US) Civil War, and a few more modern sources. Because PTSD has always happened. But the ways people have dealt with trauma, and talked about trauma, and dealt with life after trauma, and talked about life after trauma? The words change, but people don’t. Even fiction, like Sherlock Holmes & Winnie The Pooh, help me conceptualize and wrap my head and heart around difficult topics. My status updates are maybe 1/3 quotes from various people/books that ring true to me for one reason or another. (Not all on trauma, but mainly). Right now is a perfect example... “Fear is a reaction. Courage, a decision.” -Churchill. Yep, that’s been said many times, many ways... it’s not a new concept for me, or for most people, but rather a good reminder. Jump back a couple millennium? “It does not matter what you bear, but how you bear it.” -Seneca. Or some reeeeeeally bad Latin (circa WWI?) that’s pure truth wrapped in a joke? “Illegitimi non carborundum“ (Don’t let the bastards grind you down). Ditto, minus the Latin? “We have done so much, for so long, with so little... we are now qualified to do anything, with nothing.” Far more than quotes, though? The different words, describing familiar moments; quotes, poetry, letters home, short stories, epics, whole durn books... are things I’m able to connect with. That’s not just helpful for me, it’s useful as f*ck. Because I have a very difficult time connecting, especially with things I actively avoid.

- Comics/SciFi/similar. Similar to the above, the added distance let’s me hear things I can’t usually listen to, explore things I can’t look at, feel things I can’t touch, relate when I’d rather run.
Thank you so much for your recommendations. I shall take a look for them 💜
 
Waking the Tiger: Healing Trauma by Peter A. Levine
 
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