Unbroken: The Trauma Response Is Never Wrong

And Other Things You Need to Know to Take Back Your Life

By: MaryCatherine McDonald PhD

Narrated by: MaryCatherine McDonald PhD

Length: 5 hrs and 32 mins

Publisher's summary

A profound new approach to healing trauma, grounded in a radical reframing of how we understand this nearly universal experience

For centuries, we’ve been taught that being traumatized means we are somehow broken—and that trauma only happens to people who are too fragile or flawed to deal with hardship. But as a researcher, teacher, and survivor, Dr. MaryCatherine McDonald has learned that the only thing broken is our society’s understanding of trauma. “The body’s trauma response is designed to save our lives—and it does,” she says. “It’s not a sign of weakness, but of our function, strength, and amazing resilience.”

With Unbroken: The Trauma Response Is Never Wrong, Dr. McDonald overturns the misconceptions about trauma with the latest evidence from neuroscience and psychology—and shares tested practices and tools to help you work with your body’s coping mechanisms to accelerate healing. Here, you’ll explore:

• What is trauma? The latest science that undoes the stigmas of shame, blame, and humiliation

• Moral injury—having our basic sense of how the world should work overturned

• The truth about triggers—what they really are and how they can guide the healing journey

• Traumatic patterns—new findings to help break free from recurring habits and toxic dynamics

• Why we can always rewrite our inner narratives, no matter how much time has passed

• Finding a “relational home” for trauma—how we can help each other return to wholeness

Dr. McDonald’s case studies reveal the many ways trauma can manifest and persist in our lives, yet there’s one factor every case has in common: the trauma response itself reveals the path to healing. “Our traumatic experiences reveal that we can be bent, dented, or bruised,” she says, “but we cannot be broken.” For anyone who has gone through trauma or wants to help others who are struggling, here is an empowering resource for finding our way home to our bodies, rebuilding our relationships, and returning to full engagement with life.

©2023 MaryCatherine McDonald, PhD (P)2023 Sounds True

Critic reviews

“Equal parts memoir, client stories, and neuroscience, Unbroken: The Trauma Response Is Never Wrong will radically reframe everything you’ve ever thought about trauma and how to heal from it. No more feelings of shame. Just newfound empowerment.”—Mark Epstein, MD, author of Going to Pieces Without Falling Apart and The Zen of Therapy

“We all experience trauma. And it leaves scars for most of us. We can learn to better handle it using Dr. MaryCatherine McDonald’s fresh, positive, and scientifically rigorous approach. Her toolbox full of practical, down-to-earth advice and methods enables us to lift the burdens of shame, guilt, and fear that we all shoulder when we suffer from trauma. Unbroken is essential to showing us how we can become empowered, moving beyond the trauma in our past.”—Allan Hamilton, MD, author of The Scalpel and the Soul and the forthcoming Cerebral Entanglements

“I call MaryCatherine the Brené Brown of trauma. She normalizes trauma and helps us get rid of shame so that we can accept our stories fully and embrace our humanness—something that we need now in the world more than ever.”—John Kim, aka The Angry Therapist

Super helpful

Well written, well told, inspired and life changing. I can’t say enough about this! It is shared as a peer, not a pedantic lecture, with authenticity and the depth and weight that only comes from experience. I think this is my new favorite. I can’t recommend this more. Do read, or listen.

Fantastic, empowering, and freeing

I think everyone should read this book. It changes so many perspectives. Everyone has trauma so I think everyone can relate on some level or another. I think we would have a better world if we could all meet each other with understanding and acceptance in our healing.

Extraordinary

This is the most simple, meaningful, and impactful book on trauma I have ever consumed.

As a 46 year old with PTSD and CPTSD I have read works by, included but not limited to, Pete Walker, Bessel Van Der Kolk, Brené Brown, and so many others. This work stands among them. I believe this is the next generation of understanding trauma and trauma therapy.

Looking for hope, give this one a read!

A Quake Book! Shakes you @ The Core!

I’ve listened to this book twice already so much great content & take aways! Fairly short by audible standards & jam packed with knowledge & exercises that are helpful. Sheds so much light & hope! Well worth the investment of time & our healing processes.

Excellent

Excellent. A needed focus on the strength and survival-oriented nature of the body’s response to trauma. Really helpful..Hopeful.

I finally found a relational home

I loved every part of this book! My favorite is that my trauma response is a sign of strength and not weakness.

An urgently needed book

Dr MC redefines trauma as strength and resilience as she breaks down the neurobiology of it along with personal sorties and client case studies.

The best book on trauma I have read yet

I have read a lot of these books, some are stand outs. This one is now at the top of my list. MC is clear, organized and compassionate in her delivery of material. I would recommend this for anyone who has experienced trauma or who wants a comprehensive understanding of the effects.

Amazing book for understanding trauma!

If you have experienced trauma or if you know someone who has, this is the book to read for insight and understanding.

Great Practices

I must confess I did not have the patients to set through all the stories, but I loved the end-of-chapter exercises.