Can You Suggest Books For Me?

[FauxLiz]

I had my session with my T this morning and we were really getting in to a few things as I had sent him a letter several weeks ago with a list of questions that I was too embarrassed to address in session. This was our first session where he truly used some of the phrases that I have read here and I feel as though I am swimming upstream all of a sudden. Because I am a researcher and reader to help me address problems I was hoping that I could get suggestions for books that could be helpful on topics such as re-parenting and younger self/inner child.

 

[JEKBreatheandBelieve]

I don't know if either of these address inner child or re-parenting, but I have liked what I have read so far in both "Complex PTSD: From Surviving to Thriving" and "The Body Keeps the Score".

 

[FauxLiz]

I have and have read "The Body Keeps the Score" I didn't take away from my reading anything along these lines. I will look in to Pete Walkers book though.

 

[JEKBreatheandBelieve]

I just looked in "Overcoming Trauma-Related Dissociation" and there is a whole chapter on Coping With the Needs of Inner Child Parts. In the Surviving to Thriving book I am not sure if it specifically mention inner child, but there are some good chapters on dealing with abandonment issues and I know my younger parts struggle with that.

 

[erigby]

@FauxLiz I recommend Peter Walker's book as well. It has been incredibly helpful and insightful for me.
I found a host of on-line articles etc. from Psychology Today and other well known organizations and publications. Just start googling your questions.
The articles have really helped me begin to understand the language and the dynamics of this complex illness as well as the many different treatment methods.
I have also found the moderators and administrators on this forum to be profoundly helpful in answering specific questions around therapy.
I have been seeing my therapist every week for over 4 months...and we are just now to a place where I can go in and almost be ready to talk about some of the more difficult things. It sounds like your therapist is open to you asking questions and offers space for you to do so in a non-threatening way. If you can ever get to the place where you can look him/her in the eye and say something really difficult...it can be a powerful and healing thing.
One of the things you will read a lot about in Walker's book is the importance of the therapeutic relationship in healing from childhood trauma/abuse etc.

 

[watundah]

I read a lot of online articles about IC work. I searched for books, too, but many seemed childish, and it doesn't work too well with an analytical mind...I wanted to understand the science behind it.

 

[Sandstone]

I too like to understand the theory behind everything. However, I have a suspicion that this one area where knowledge won't help and that we need to live the experience. I missed out on being cared for properly as a child, and I can't get that experience from a book.

Perhaps the one thing learning can do is help me identify the times when I refuse to be cared for now. It doesn't make it any easier to open myself up to receive it though.

***thanks to everyone here who persist / insists on showing me compassion and concern***

 

[FauxLiz]

@watundah I too am a theoretical learn that understands things better if I read them. I think that comes from having turned to reading as a child to escape. I will try to read the articles I find but I am not much of one to take things on faith.

 

[watundah]

Perhaps you can come to an acceptance that we have "frozen states" or parts of our psyche that hold the pain. Through non-dominant hand writing, I make amazing yet painful and informative discoveries that never would have happened otherwise. Sometimes it's still unbelievable, but the big thing is, will it help me to heal? Your therapist can also give you more scientific information on how it works.

 

[Dana1010]

It's from all the way back in 1967, but I just read a book called The Betrayal of the Body by Alexander Lowen. It talked about how neglectful or abusive parents arrest and distort the pleasure principle in children and how this carries over to adulthood. I found it really helpful.