Your Life After Trauma

"In 1981 as a thirteen-year-old child I was given a routine antibiotic for a routine infection and suffered anything but a routine reaction. An undiscovered allergy to the medication turned me into a full-body burn victim almost overnight. By the time I was released from the hospital I had lost 100% of my epidermis. Even more importantly, I had completely lost myself." Now a professional coach who specializes in helping trauma victims rebuild their lives, Michele Rosenthal struggled with the effects of medically-induced post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) for over 25 years before reaching a full recovery. Today, she is 100% free of symptoms of PTSD. In this book, she applies her personal experience and professional wisdom to offer readers an invaluable roadmap to overcoming their own trauma, in particular the loss of sense of self that often accompanies it. If you suffer from the effects of trauma or PTSD, whether it was caused by a single-incident like a car accident, or from chronic childhood abuse, domestic violence, illness, or war trauma, you are well aware of how disconnected you feel from the person you most deeply wish to be. Trauma interrupts-even hijacks-your identity.To cope, you may rely on mechanisms to keep your emotions, triggers, and responses in check, but these very habits can often prevent the true restoration of safety, stability, and inner connection. How can you rediscover your sense of self so that you honor who you were before the trauma (even if that trauma began at birth), understand who you are at this very moment, and determine who you want to be going forward? Like a therapist in your back pocket, Your Life After Trauma guides you in finding answers to these tough questions. Expertly written by a helping professional who keenly understands the post-trauma identity crisis that is so common among trauma and PTSD sufferers, it is a simple, practical, hands-on recovery workbook. Filled with self-assessment questionnaires, exercises, tips, and tools-not to mention insightful personal and professional vignettes-it takes readers through a step-by-step process of healing the identity crisis, from understanding some of the basic brain science behind trauma and why you feel the way you do, to recognizing who you were (or had the potential to be) before the trauma, who you are today, after the trauma, and who you want to become.With this book by your side, it is possible to regain a sense of calm, confidence, and control on your road to recovery.

Michele Rosenthal, a certified professional coach and PTSD recovery specialist, hosts a popular weekly radio program, Changing Direction. She is a former faculty member of the Clinical Development Institute for Timberline Knolls, a popular keynote speaker, frequent blogger and contributor to a variety of health and wellness websites, and author of Before The World Intruded: Conquering the Past and Creating the Future. Visit her at YourLifeAfterTraumaBook.com.

"As I navigated my own journey post-trauma and sought to put together the pieces of my own 'new normal,' I would have loved to have such a clearly outlined path to healing and acceptance as detailed in Rosenthal's new book. No one ever expects the bad thing will happen to them, but in the aftermath of trauma we are all changed in profound and impactful ways. Rosenthal's important book provides us all with a roadmap for going forward so that we can gracefully accept and evolve into our own best next stage. This study of trauma and identity is really the cutting edge of where the field is going and Rosenthal's work has applications for all of us, no matter what the specifics of our journeys." -- Lee Woodruff, bestselling author of Those We Love Most "There is life after trauma. My own PTSD taught me that the isolation and aloneness that are part of PTSD can be countered by companionship, community, and supportive love from others. Michele Rosenthal's Your Life After Trauma shows how PTSD, whatever the cause, can be transformed from weakness to strength, and how one can grow strong from the breaks." -- Larry Dossey, MD, author of One Mind "Michele Rosenthal has written a wise, compassionate, and comprehensive book on the profound loss of identity that occurs with posttraumatic stress, and offers a grounded, realistic approach for establishing a new sense of self that acknowledges and integrates the trauma, yet isn't defined by it. Her many case examples clarify her ideas and demonstrate the depth of her understanding, and her self-coaching tips and stress reduction practices reinforce the practical, hands-on value of this impressive book." -- Belleruth Naparstek, author of Invisible Heroes: Survivors of Trauma and How They Heal and creator of the Health Journeys guided imagery audio series "We can all use life coaches to guide us through life's traumatic moments and experiences. Michele Rosenthal has lived the experience and her book Your Life After Trauma is an excellent resource for those trying to heal and find t