MARY'S BOOKSHELF
Here is a small selection of books from Mary's bookshelf that she enjoys to read, and that are relevant to Lazarus Heart
Mary's top three books about complex PTSD
Post-traumatic stress disorder occurs on a continuum of severity. For instance, I was in a car accident in my late twenties; I was mildly injured, but the experience was terrifying. I didn’t drive a car for five years, and even as a passenger I would scream and clutch the door handle if startled. This was a case of PTSD, but it didn’t affect the rest of my life or alter my personality. Eventually, the anxiety faded on its own, and I can drive a car just fine today.
However, along that continuum a tipping point occurs. There are types and degrees of traumatic experiences which cause a different level of PTSD: the symptoms of hyperarousal, intrusion, and restriction are much more severe, and symptoms occur which only happen at this level and which can affect a person’s ability to perceive reality, control their body, and trust their senses and thoughts.
In the decade after the Vietnam war, PTSD became an important subject as soldiers returned with severe psychological damage related to their experiences. Then psychologists began to notice that other people had the same symptoms. What they all had in common was a history of prolonged, severe, and inescapable trauma. The symptoms they shared, and which differentiated them from “normal” PTSD victims became known as complex PTSD.