Trauma and the Struggle to Open Up: From Avoidance to Recovery and Growth

by Robert T. Muller

Overview

Winner, 2019 Written Media Award, International Society for the Study of Trauma & Dissociation.

Winner, 2015 William James Book Award, American Psychological Association 

How to navigate the therapeutic relationship with trauma survivors, to help bring recovery and growth.

In therapy, we see how relationships are central to many traumatic experiences, but relationships are also critical to trauma recovery.  Grounded firmly in attachment and trauma theory, this book shows how to use the psychotherapy relationship, to help clients find self-understanding and healing from trauma.

Offering candid, personal guidance, using rich case examples, Dr. Robert T. Muller provides the steps needed to build and maintain a strong therapist-client relationship –one that helps bring recovery and growth. With a host of practical tips and protocols, this book gives therapists a roadmap to effective trauma treatment.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780393712278
Publisher:	Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.
Publication date:	06/19/2018
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	224
Sales rank:	955,979
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

Robert T. Muller, Ph.D. is author of the award-winning psychotherapy bestseller, Trauma & the Avoidant Client, as well as numerous articles on trauma, attachment, and psychotherapy. Professor of Clinical Psychology at York University, & Fellow of the International Society for the Study of Trauma & Dissociation, Dr. Muller is lead investigator on several multi-site programs to treat interpersonal trauma. An international speaker, with over 30 years in the field, he practices in downtown Toronto.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments ix

Introduction 1

Chapter 1 When the Story Is Too Painful to Tell 9

Chapter 2 How Traumatized Clients Avoid the Past, Painful Feelings, and Relationships 28

Chapter 3 What Underlies Avoidance in Trauma? 43

Chapter 4 The Dangers of Rushing In: When the Client-Therapist Relationship Is Unprepared 58

Chapter 5 Cultivating Safety Within a Relational Framework 75

Chapter 6 How Not to Face Trauma: Strained Apologies and the Rush to Forgive 100

Chapter 7 Mourning the Losses That Trauma Brings 116

Chapter 8 Change by Way of Relationship 141

Chapter 9 Reclaiming Identity 164

Epilogue 177

References 179

Index 191

Editorial Reviews

"An incredibly useful book showing you how to understand and manage therapy with relational trauma. Grounded in attachment theory, trauma theory, and psychotherapy research, it demonstrates the importance of repair of relationship difficulties."

Leslie S. Greenberg

"Thoughtful and nuanced. . . . Muller's writing helps to underscore the knowledge that there are many pathways to healing, and that our approach to treatment needs to honor the path of the person in front of us. "

Dana Ross

"Building on his first book—Trauma and the Avoidant Client—this second beautifully written book, with skillfully drawn cases, guides therapists toward an understanding of work with clients suffering from unresolved traumatic experiences. With moving and relevant vignettes, Dr. Muller masters the nuances of how to work toward healing, and how we unwittingly hinder healing. This book is essential reading for therapists of all disciplines who work with clients struggling with unresolved traumatic experiences."

Clare Pain

"Dr. Robert T. Muller has provided a gem of a book for clinicians working with persons who have experience psychological trauma. It is beautifully written, drawing on the accumulated wisdom of experts in the trauma field, and richly illustrated with descriptions of his work with clients. Dr. Muller explores the complex relational dynamics of work with traumatized patients and charts a thoughtful course to their treatment. His wisdom clearly comes from deep understanding of how his clients have experienced their lives, and his skill in walking with them through the process of recovery."

James Chu

"One of the great strengths of this accessible, fluidly written book is the way it honours the extremity and reality of posttraumatic stress, while also recognising the possibility and integrity of what he terms ‘post-traumatic growth’. . . trauma work is full of unexpected twists and turns. Here is a sound resource to help us navigate them."

Sussex Counselling and Psychotherapy News

"Like Robert T. Muller's first book (Trauma and the Avoidant Client), this book is beautifully written and a pleasure to read. I especially liked the chapter on 'Strained Apologies and the Rush to Forgive' and how we can unwittingly collude in avoiding difficult material by premature forgiveness."

Tara Clark

"Drawing on relevant research and richly illustrated case studies, Muller’s book beautifully demonstrates that in trauma, the healing is in the relationship. . . . Essential reading for therapists of all disciplines."

Psych Central

"Every therapist interested in helping clients with developmental trauma should read this book. A jewel of clinical wisdom, it focuses not only the content of trauma, but on the relational process of being with highly traumatized clients, and how to understand and work with the many avoidance strategies to dealing with trauma that we encounter in therapy. An approachable, culturally sensitive, and compassionate book, full of clinical vignettes, it illustrates the neglected but essential need to stay with the process: what a client feels when telling the story, how the client experiences telling the story to someone else, what happens in the therapeutic relationship when the client tells the story. A joy to read."

Kathy Steele