The Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Sourcebook: A Guide to Healing, Recovery, and Growth

by Glenn R. Schiraldi

Book Overview

Trauma can take many forms, from the most disturbing of circumstances such as witnessing a murder or violent crime to the subtle trauma of living with the effects of abuse or alcoholism. This guide... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 007161494X
• ISBN13: 9780071614948
• Release Date: January 2009
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill
• Length: 446 Pages
• Weight: 1.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 7.3" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

Thank heavens for this book! And Dr. Schiraldi...

Have been with PTSD for 7 years now. When I came across Dr. Schiraldis book on this very site, I didn't know what I was in for! - Most precise and compassionate information, so much help I'd never dreamed of, and the best possible of tools to learn how to cope - how to live with PTSD, and to start overcome it. I'll never forget how chapter one begins, "PTDS results form exposure to an overwhelmingly stressful event or series of events.... It is a normal response by normal people to an abnormal situation". How I needed to hear that! While everybody thought I'd gone mad, including myself. Later, I told my shrink about this phenomenal book, I said to her: "Finally, a "user's manual - a book for the man on the floor"... and she'd laugh and comment that I must have gotten somewhere, saying that! Now - dear Mr. Shiraldi, thank you from the bottom of my heart. You have no idea just how much you have helped me! (Pray this book will reach many more - no one could get better help/information/advice/suggesions than what this book provides!

Recovery Begins with Knowledge

I purchased this book in April after beginning therapy and first being diagnosed with chronic PTSD. I have suffered multiple traumas in my life: This book has been an excellent supplement to my therapy. It has helped me see fully realize the extent of my symptoms and also to see how the secondary symptoms have affected my relationships with others and thus gain perspective on much of the criticism I have endured through the years from colleagues and peers. PTSD affects all areas of the sufferer's life, including interpersonal relationships, school, the workplace, and the home. I am only now understanding how my PTSD has affected my life, and beginning to get a glimpse of a more positive future ahead. Futhermore, it has helped me to see that a positive support system is essential to recovery, and I do not have that within my family, so it will have to be cultivated from my friends. I also highly recommend this book for its straight forward, no nonsense style. I am a graduate business student at a top program and upon my diagnosis, I was able to integrate reading "Sourcebook" in with my heavy courseload without feeling like I was wasting time on a publication that was too much talk and not enough solution.

There is Hope

I was sexually abused by multiple offenders throughout my childhood. I was also sexually assaulted as a teenager. In addition to the sexual assault I was injured as a pedestrian and a passenger in three car accidents. I have spent my life trying to minimize the traumas I have endured, but I have been living with PTSD for most of my life. In the past few years my life has become very stable, and during this year I have begun to face the effects of my past. I looked through many books on PTSD, and found them all helpful in different ways, especially when they focused on the unique effects of incest trauma. But, when I found this book I began to see that there truly is hope for transcending long-term trauma. When I read the first section: "About PTSD" I was amazed at the accuracy. Word for word, experience for experience Glenn Schiraldi sheds light on the symptoms of trauma. PTSD is a normal reaction to trauma, and there is a way to heal and transcend all of it. This book has a very comprehensive introduction to many aspects of healing and healing options. Ultimately we will all find our own way to healing, but it always helps to be educated and to receive support. I feel it is very important for people (especially health care workers and healers) to be educated about PTSD, and the many kinds of trauma that people face. One of my goals in life is to help educate about trauma and sexual violence, and also to help people in need. There is hope, and I wish you all luck on your individual journeys to transcendence. Two other books that I recommend are "I Can't Get Over It" by Aphrodite Matsakis and "Trauma and Recovery" by Judith Lewis Herman.

An excellent survival guide for anyone with PTSD

I had gone through so much sadness, suffering and despair before coming across this book by chance. When I started reading it, it was as if I had awakened from a long coma, as if I was stepping out of a thick fog. Finally everything was starting to make sense! Schiraldi's writing style is clear and to the point, friendly without being patronizing. His description of the illness and treatment methods inspired me strength and confidence, now I know I can beat this thing! I very highly recommend this book to anyone who suffers from PTSD, as well as to all those who study this illness, there's much to learn from it. Thank you, Dr. Schiraldi, you don't know how much your book meant to me!

Survivors of PTSD Have a New Best Friend

This book may well become the best friend of every person recovering from PTSD. I frequently find myself turning to this book for direction and comfort when the symptoms become overwhelming. It is a powerfully effective tool against the panic and feelings of isolation that I face as a person with PTSD. The clear, concise explanations, acceptance of the reality of these symptoms, and specific instructions and suggestions for professional and self-treatment, organized in an easy-to-read format, have proven invaluable in my own recovery. Glenn has taken the fear and confusion of PTSD and turned it into an understandable and manageable situation. I would recommend this book to anyone suffering from PTSD. It may save your life, and will certainly save your sanity. I can't say enough good things about it. It has, truly, changed my life.