Synopses & Reviews
Everywhere and constantly human beings are subject to terrible violencebe it natural or manmade. It has happened in New Orleans, New York, India, Iraq, Rwanda, Bosnia, Cambodia, Ivory Coast. But long after the levees have been reconstructed, after the war criminals have been brought to justice, the question remainscan people heal, and if so, how? Richard Mollica has spent more than thirty years helping victims of trauma. Now he draws from hundreds of interviews, years of research, and his counseling experience to show us a new way of helping people overcome their pain. The key to this? People have an inherent ability to heal themselves. And the lessons we can learn from the survivors of such trials and extreme situations can even teach us how to cope better with everyday life.
Here is a passionate, humanitarian voice of hope in a cruel and violent world, telling us all we can do more than survivewe can find strength and healing no matter what we have experienced.
Review
"We must thank Richard Mollica for this important work-- its wisdom and guidance."
Howard Osofsky, LSU
Review
"We must thank Richard Mollica for this important work-- its wisdom and guidance."
(Howard Osofsky, LSU)
Review
PRAISE FOR
HEALING INVISIBLE WOUNDS "The stories recounted here bear eloquent and often moving testimony to the resilience of human beings in the face of awful traumatic experiences and their remarkable capacity to heal themselves."--The Most Reverend Desmond M. Tutu,
Caring MagazineReview
"This book miraculously extracts a message not of despair but of hope."
Ann Fadiman
Review
"A wealth of intense personal experience to a badly wounded world, ultimately offering a message of encouragement and hope."
Harold Attridge, Dean of Yale Divinity School
Review
"Dr. Mollica shows us that we all have the capacity to heal and lead rich, meaningful lives."
Rosalynn Carter
Review
"Eloquent and often moving testimony to the resilience of human beings and their remarkable capacity to heal themselves."
The Most Reverend Desmond M. Tutu
Review
"[Mollica] speaks from the wisdom of his practice not as a healer as much as a guide. Empowering."
Booklist
Review
"This passionately written book contains many moving stories of recovery from traumatic stress[;] the therapeutic model seems humane and promising."
Library Journal
Review
"In limpid prose, Mollica celebrates 'the capacity of persons to recover. A humanitarian, holistic and culturally sensitive approach to healing."
Publishers Weekly
Review
"In these violent times, this book offers a valuable vision for all of us in coping with tragedy."
Alvin Poussaint, MD
About the Author
RICHARD F. MOLLICA, MD, is a Harvard Medical School professor of psychiatry and director of the Harvard Program in Refugee Trauma at Massachusetts General Hospital . He holds an MAR from Yale Divinity School and is a Fulbright New Century Scholar. The recipient of many honors and awards, including the APA Human Rights Award, he lives in Lincoln, Massachusetts.
Table of Contents
CONTENTS
PROLOGUE
Chapter 1: STRIKING OUT ON A NEW PATHWAY
Chapter 2: THE TRAUMA STORY
Chapter 3: HUMILIATION
Chapter 4: THE POWER OF SELF-HEALING
Chapter 5: STORYTELLING AS A HEALING ART
Chapter 6: GOOD DREAMS AND BAD DREAMS
Chapter 7: SOCIAL INSTRUMENTS OF HEALING
Chapter 8: THE CALL TO HEALTH
Chapter 9: SOCIETY AS HEALER
EPILOGUE
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
ENDNOTES
BIBLIOGRAPHY
INDEX