Trauma and Recovery

The groundbreaking work on trauma

“One of the most important psychiatric works to be published since Freud.”―New York Times

Trauma and Recovery is the foundational text on understanding trauma survivors. By placing individual experience in a political frame, psychiatrist Judith L. Herman argues that psychological trauma is inseparable from its social and political context. Drawing on her own research on incest, as well as a vast literature on combat veterans and victims of political terror, she shows surprising parallels between private horrors like child abuse and public horrors like war.

This edition includes a new epilogue by the author assessing what has—and hasn’t—changed in understanding and treating trauma over the last three decades.

Hailed by the New York Times as “one of the most important psychiatry works to be published since Freud,” Trauma and Recovery is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand how we heal.

• "One of the most important psychiatric works to be published since Freud."
  New York Times
• "A landmark."
  Gloria Steinem
• "A stunning achievement ... a classic for our generation."
  Bessel van der Kolk, M.D., author of The Body Keeps the Score
• "A book of luminous intelligence. You must read it as soon as possible."
  Sophie Freud
• "Astute, accessible, and beautifully documented. Bridging the worlds of war veterans, prisoners of war, battered women, and incest victims, Herman presents a compelling analysis of trauma and the process of healing. A triumph."
  Laura Davis, coauthor of The Courage to Heal
• "Brilliant."
  Boston Globe
• "This book will surely become a landmark work on the social impact of psychological trauma and on its treatments.... A magnificent gift to survivors."
  Women's Review of Books
• "Herman's brilliant insights into the nature of trauma and the process of healing shine through in every page of this rich and compassionate book."
  Lenore Walker, ED.D., Director, Domestic Violence Institute, and author of Terrifying Love
• "Herman links the public traumas of society to those of domestic life in this provocative work of psychiatric theory."
  Publishers Weekly