Childhood trauma is when a child witnesses or experiences a traumatic event. This can include physical, sexual, or emotional abuse. It can also include witnessing domestic violence or situations where a parent is very stressed or under a lot of pressure. This can all be considered traumatic for the child. Children who have experienced trauma may have symptoms like: high levels of anxiety, sleeping problems or nightmares, difficulty concentrating, feeling sad or depressed, experiencing “fight or flight” type responses, acting out or having temper tantrums, irritability, or acting hyperactive or overactive.
The effects of childhood trauma can be especially devastating for kids and teens. Traumatic experiences affect the developing brain and can result in a wide range of symptoms, including anxiety, depression, and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). If you’re looking for books that can help you understand the effects of childhood trauma, or find support after being affected by it, you’ve come to the right place. We’ve selected the best books about childhood trauma which includes research based nonfiction books, memoirs, and books on healing childhood trauma specially designed for kids .Read on to learn more, and don’t forget to share your favorites with others so they can find the support they need, too.
Recommended Books About Childhood Trauma for Adults:
If you want to deal with your trauma and perform better to have a healthy, happier life, here are some of the best books that will help obtain in-detail knowledge about different traumas and helpful guidelines of overcoming it.
The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma
Author: Bessel van der Kolk
Renowned trauma expert Bessel van der Kolk creates this revolutionary book that will make you think in a new way about dealing with your childhood trauma and other traumas that are still making your life difficult. He will guide you through the understanding of your traumatic experiences and reveal how it’s connected through our brain wirings. He explains some valuable techniques, innovative techniques which include self-practicing therapies, Yoga neurofeedback and much more.
Bessel van der Kolk gives a special focus on childhood traumas and describes how it impacts on our daily work activities. He clarifies how victims of child abuse gets ignored and placed many methods of dealing with such terrible traumas. He explains the importance of creating self- Strategies and therefore argues with logic that we cannot just use drugs to treat Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and other mental illnesses.
While going through this book you will get to know how your traumas push you to dangerous and unwanted situations against our will, affecting our perception, depriving us to express our discomfort, causing mental and physical disturbance. You really do not have to be a specialist to go through this book, rather this book is written in a simple understandable way using some scientific terms that won’t be hard for you to grasp. As an adult, if you are seeking a book about childhood traumas or looking for a book of handling traumas that has been imprinted on your life then this book is a must-read.
Adult Children Of Emotionally Immature Parents
Author: Lindsay C. Gibson
Lindsay Gibson, a clinical psychologist, uncovers the destructive nature of emotionally immature parents and how their behavior toward their children disrupts their mental development in this outstanding book. The author explains how to liberate yourself from your parents’ emotional immaturity so that you may express your genuine character and avoid disappointment.
This book is not intended to prove that your parents are wrong and you are a victim of their negligence; rather, it provides you with an approach of understanding and identifying your parents’ behavioral patterns, which are most commonly caused by their own abuse and mental illness, as well as trauma, addiction, and neglect in childhood, among other things. The author does an excellent job of differentiating between emotionally mature and immature parents, as well as the psychological impact on the children and their growth. He also teaches how to deal with difficulties that now-adults suffer with as a result of their traumatic upbringing, as well as how to interact with your parents in the present day so that you may develop a solid bond with a healthy future.
The book is written objectively and tells you the truth: sometimes your parents are not cured and discover ways to heal themselves by causing neglect to their children. If you’re seeking for books on healing childhood trauma, give this one a shot if you still have unresolved issues from your childhood or if you come from a troubled family and are now a parent.
Complex PTSD: From Surviving to Thriving
Author: Pete Walker
Renowned therapist Pete Walker created this book with an aim to help the people who are struggling with C-PTSD (Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder ). The most important feature of this book is that the author himself has struggled with trauma in order to recover which has made the book more practical and reliable among the readers. This book is a self-help manual for healing from the long-term consequences of childhood trauma and living a richer, healthier life.
The book walks you through the process of identifying your individual anxiety and depression that are hiding within you as a result of your childhood trauma. Pete Walker reveals the various aspects of complex trauma, such as managing flashbacks, differentiating trauma classifications, distinguishing the outer critic from the inner critic, healing abandonment depression, conquering negative thinking, and, most importantly, narrates how childhood traumas force us to perform unintentional emotional acts.
The book contains a wealth of beneficial advice and exercises that you can attempt without the assistance of a therapist. The tone of the book is approachable to all readers, and it is jam-packed with material from reliable sources, as well as many references and personal experiences. Anyone who had a tough upbringing or a poor connection with their parents would find this to be one of the best books on healing childhood trauma that explores the versatile areas of C-PTSD
The Drama of the Gifted Child: The Search for the True Self
Author: Alice Miller
Best-selling childhood trauma books that deeply discusses how the inner spirituality of a kid gets damaged forever while fulfilling the expectation of their parents. Author Alice Miller describes how parents’ relentless desire victimizes their children’s mental development, resulting in a variety of difficult emotional disorders that they must deal with for the rest of their lives.
This is a wonderful book that will entice you to discover more about yourself and how you came to be the way you are. The author focuses on the many psychological changes that an adult undergoes as a result of a traumatic childhood. He has also broadened the discussion by clarifying that a painful childhood is not limited to family abuse or violence, but that the spectrum is extremely broad, especially when children begin to work hard inside in order to win their parents’ love and gain their attention and can’t say no to them no matter what their parents imposed on them.
As a renowned therapist, author Alice Miller skillfully shows how children who are neglected, mistreated, or humiliated acquire a false sense of self and must confront the history of their traumatic childhood. If you are a father or a mother and belong from such a situation, this is a must-read to know yourself better for assisting your most precious treasure living a happy and healthy life.
Will I Ever Be Good Enough? Healing the Daughters of Narcissistic Mothers
Author: Karyl McBride
Mother is the biggest gift somebody could ever get in their whole life. There is no safer place than in a mother’s embrace. But what if those same arms push you away? A girl needs her mother more than anything else at key points in her life, and if she does not get the necessary support throughout her mental and emotional growth, a scar is imprinted on her that she must bear for the rest of her life.
“Will I Ever Be Good Enough?” by Karyl McBride is a book that explains how a girl’s early upbringing is mentally destroyed when she comes into contact with a narcissist mother. With twenty-five years of therapy practice, the author investigates the attitude and psychological disorders of adult females who grew up with a narcissist mother. The author reveals several healing methods and exercises that may assist an adult female in overcoming childhood trauma induced by her mother.
The book includes all you need to know about the orbit of narcissism and how to progressively recover yourself from your damaged upbringing. Karyl McBride discusses in an excellent manner that blaming your mother for her narcissistic behavior will never fix the problem, but rather forgiving your mother and moving on to a new and brighter life. One of the best recommended books about childhood trauma specially for girls and women who have experienced difficulties with their mother.
The Deepest Well: Healing the Long-Term Effects of Childhood Adversity
Author: Dr. Nadine Burke Harris
An extraordinary book on Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), which shows how adverse childhood events may shape our mental development and damage our physical health. Dr. Burke Harris masterfully describes in detail the impact of toxic stress on a child’s brain as a result of witnessing or being a victim of violence, constant emotional abuse, raging, absent, indifferent, or appalling parents, or parents whose loving attention is twisted by alcohol, and much more.
Burke Harris evaluates the ACEs, implying that the higher the ACEs score, the greater the danger to his or her health. He goes into detail on how chemicals produced in the brain during trauma kick off a chain reaction, and clarifies that the more intense and recurrent the trauma, the more embedded the dysfunction this may create. She also mentions workouts, meditation, and a good diet as techniques for stress management. Dr. Buke Harris’ study indicates that childhood trauma impacts our biological systems and lasts a lifetime, as well as how profoundly ACEs may imprint our bodies.This is a must-read ACEs book for everyone interested in learning more about the changes that occur in bodies as a result of traumatic childhood experiences.
Books About Childhood Trauma Based on Memoirs
Here are some of the memoirs on surviving horrific childhoods that are heart-breaking, shocking and at the same time will give you a new hope to live. Let’s jump in.
A Child Called “It”
Author: David Pelzer
Everything that has a beginning has an end. But for Dave Pelzer, the violence and cruelty he experienced as a child led him to believe that his sufferings would never stop. But only his dreams kept him alive—dreams of someone adoring him and naming him their son.
“A Child Called It” is a heartbreaking book written by author David Pelzer, who was brutalized, tormented, and malnourished by his mentally ill alcoholic mother, who abandoned him near death. He describes how he used to live by playing his mother’s unpredictable sadist games. David’s mentally ill mother rejected him as her son and found a way to entertain herself by keeping him as a pet slave in the basement. His only luxury used to be when her mother would sometimes allow him to eat rotting food that even the dog refused to eat. But the only power he had was the desire to live a happy life.
This is a difficult and emotional book to read. You will desperately want to rescue little David from his living hell as you read this memoir. If you are a caring mother, have boundless devotion for children, or have been a victim of child abuse, this book will make you scream inside. However, after finishing this book, you will know that no matter how messed up our lives are, we should never lose hope. If you are looking for a book about childhood trauma based on real-life stories then definitely this is a book for you to grab.
Jesus Land: A Memoir
Author: Julia Scheeres
Julia Scheeres’ memoir is a heartbreaking, frightening, but riveting portrayal of her and her brother’s physical and emotional abuse as children.She spells out the shocking stories of her heartless Christian parents and the abusive Christian reform school that she went along with her adopted African American brother named David. Her tale highlights the domination that is sometimes present in the American church , which forced her to endure horrible physical, emotional, and religious abuses.
Julia Scheeres comes from a troubled household in which her mother is a blind follower of Christian missionaries and cares more for the church than her own children. Her mother constantly keeps them under monitor to ensure the interest of her Christianity belief. Julia’s father, a violent surgeon, beats David till he has fractured bones. When Julia and David confront their parents and disagree with the belief in God things turn far worse beyond their imagination. They were taken to Escuela Caribe, a Dominican Republic Catholic reform school, where she experienced unimaginable hardships, racism, sufferings, mental and sexual abuse and brainwashing in the name of Christianity.
This autobiographical book is well written, but it is loaded with unpleasant, tragic, and horrific experiences that may lead you to believe that such events can only happen in fiction and not in real life. This narrative will show you how religious blindness can traumatize and harm innocent youngsters for life.
N.B: This book is not meant to cast a bad light on Christianity; rather, it demonstrates how a religious cult may use extreme religious blindness to damage a childhood.
The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog: And Other Stories from a Child Psychiatrist’s Notebook
Author: Bruce D. Perry, Maia Szalavitz
Experienced child psychologist Dr. Perry created this outstanding book on childhood trauma bringing out different case studies explaining how childhood trauma can infest the brain, behavior and adulthood and how clinical therapists, parents and other people around the childhood traumatized victim can play an important role in overcoming it.
Dr. Perry offers several memoirs of his young patients who had traumatic experiences and horrific suffering. He examines what happens to children’s brains when they are subjected to acute shock or spend an extended period of time in a fearful and abusive environment. He demonstrates brilliantly how trauma is tied to neurobiology and what kinds of barriers it produces for psychological and behavioral development. The author has included several horrifying incidents in order to make readers aware of the terrible impact of trauma on child psychology, such as a three-year-old seeing her own mother’s murder, a Russian adolescent who transformed into a rapist owing to his violent history, and much more. Dr. Perry also discusses neuroscience-related treatments for these wounded minds and unveils the brain’s amazing healing abilities.
Despite the fact that this book is not a single memoir of a specific victim, it is an engaging and fascinating book, well detailed and an easy read for anybody who wants to read a book on childhood trauma and comprehend the depth of trauma via many case studies.
A Stolen Life
Author: Jaycee Dugard
Remember Jaycee-Dugard? The 11-year-old girl who went missing near her home in Tahoe, California, and caused everyone to pray for her safe return. Spending eighteen years in captivity Jaycee Dugrad finally found in 2009 along with two daughters both fathered by the abductor named Phillip Craig Garrido. Finally after her freedom from the terrifying captivity Jaycee Dugard decided to narrate her own horrifying experiences in “A Stolen Life”.
Jaycee describes her life, her kidnapping, her torture, and her final freedom from a filthy backyard in her own words. She details the sort of cruelty, mind games, and perverted act that was performed on her, which will cause you to halt frequently and just breathe to calm yourself. She explains why she didn’t flee even after getting a measure of freedom and why she doesn’t hate the guy who raped her and tortured her lovely existence.
Despite her limited education as a result of her snatched existence, Jaycee Dugard masterfully explains in simple terms about her terrifying events that will be difficult for you to absorb. You haven’t read a memoir like this before.
Sickened: The Memoir of a Munchausen by Proxy Childhood
Author:Julie Gregory
What do you know about monsters? Do you know that monsters may occasionally take the form of parents? And monsters should never be addressed as “Mom” or “Dad.” Julie Gregory’s memoir “Sickened” presents such a monster, whom she used to call Mom.
Julie is a victim of Munchhausen. Through a proxy. It is a mental illness in which a guardian or caretaker (usually the mother) fabricates a medical condition in those under their care and even subjects them to starvation and physical abuse in order to seek sympathy from medical experts and other people. This is a terrible concealed sickness in which the victim does not survive in most of the cases.
Julie had been informed by her mother that she was sick since she was a child. Her mother made her sick by giving her medications and even abused her physically to make her look sick. She was subjected to continual X-rays, medicines, and surgery. She tells how she was punished if she did not conform to the symptoms her mother reported to the doctors. Finally, Julie realized that it is her mother who is mentally disturbed by a severe disease known as “Munchhausen By Proxy.”
This is a heart-breaking, shocking and a terrifying tale that will create a scream in your head and make you realize that sometimes childhood trauma and abuse goes far from your imagination. An excellent book for those who want to know more about complex illnesses.
Suggested Books For kids To Heal Up Their Traumatic Experiences:
When Kids go through any traumatic event, it is extremely important for the parents to act as a guarding shield. But along with it books that are specifically designed for kids for overcoming traumas can play a very good role. Here are some of the best recommendations for the children:
Healing Days: A Guide for Kids Who Have Experienced Trauma
Author: Susan Farber Straus
A wonderful book preferably for 6-11 year olds who have encountered certain physical or emotional trauma from bullying to severe issues. With excellent illustrations this book provides some very important tools that could be very helpful for inner child healing.
The readers will get to know about four children who are learning to coping up with their own trauma. This book places some helpful strategies that will help the traumatized children to handle their physical and emotional responses and triggers the ways to bring the enjoyment back to life .
This is an excellent resource packed with exercise, tips and activities. It is a very easy to understand book and does a great job of normalizing the traumatic experiences and will make the children feel more better to do well.
A Terrible Thing Happened
Author: Margaret M. Holmes, Cary Pillo (Illustrator)
One of the most outstanding books about childhood trauma designed to aid the children to deal with their traumatic and painful experiences. This book is written in an approachable manner for children in order for them to learn about the symptoms of PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). This book also discusses how crucial it is to speak about traumatic experiences in order to feel better.
The main character is a young racoon named Sherman Smith. Sherman saw the most terrible thing that he never expected to see. At the beginning, he tried to forget but soon he realized that there was something inside him that was bothering a lot. He felt nervous for no reason and often felt sad and had bad dreams. Soon he started to feel very angry and practiced mean things at school that no one ever expected from him. He began to feel like he was falling behind. Sherman found a new hope when he met Ms Maple. Ms Maple encouraged Sherman to talk about the terrible things that he was trying to forget. Sherman started sharing and with the help of Ms Maple he started feeling better.
The most intriguing aspect of this book is that the trauma remains anonymous throughout the novel, which might assist children in replacing their own pain relating to bullying, physical abuse, familial violence, accident, murder, and much more. This would be an excellent book to use to explain who are safe adults for children to open up to and why it is so important to share feelings, no matter how difficult it is. This book will also help the kids to realize that bad things may happen sometimes but it’s never their fault. A perfect recommendation for 4-8 years olds.
The Invisible String
Author: Patrice Karst, Geoff Stevenson (Illustrator)
Best-selling books on childhood trauma, with a focus on dealing with separation anxiety, loss, and sorrow. Patrice Karst creates an excellent narrative that will help youngsters think that even in their darkest nightmares, they will always be linked with their loved ones. The tale will fill any child’s heart with love, as well as yours.
Patrice Karst tells brilliantly how we are all attached to our loved ones by an unseen string. A string that binds us together for the rest of our lives, no matter how far apart we are physically. The author conveys a powerful message to children: they are always connected to their loved ones. The main purpose of this book is to calm a child’s fear of being apart from the ones they love. This is a very powerful book for any children that deals with the trauma of losing their loved ones or feels constant threat of separation anxiety. You won’t be wrong if you consider it as a book on healing childhood trauma.
When Sadness Is at Your Door
Author: Eva Eland
Eva Eland has crafted an outstanding book that actually teaches youngsters that it is entirely normal to feel sad and teaches them how to accept it. Eva Eland portrays Sadness as if it were a visitor, complete with a form and a face. Eva Eland explains in a simple and beautiful manner that will help the children to learn about the nature of sadness and how it’s not the same for everybody.
With amazing illustration this book describes a little girl’s evolving relationship with sadness and grief. The kids will progressively prepare themselves to cope with grief as they read this book. A highly recommended book for children who get upset or unhappy when they recall a traumatic incident or any terrible incident.