Trauma & Dissociation Books

Getting Past Your Past: Take Control of Your Life with Self-Help Techniques from EMDR Therapy by Francine Shapiro
This book is an excellent “self-help” resource by the pioneer of EMDR.


Coping with Trauma-Related Dissociation: Skills Training for Patients and Therapists by Suzette Boon, Kathy Steele, & Onno van der Hart
This is an excellent workbook containing coping skills, strategies, and exercises for those with a trauma-related dissociative disorder.


Looking Through the Eyes of Trauma and Dissociation: An illustrated guide for EMDR therapists and clients by Sandra Paulsen
This is another excellent book for clinician and clients alike. It contains over 100 original cartoons to make the treatment of traumatic dissociation integrating the use of ego state therapy and EMDR understandable.


The Haunted Self: Structural Dissociation and the Treatment of Chronic Traumatization (Norton Series on Interpersonal Neurobiology) by Onno van der Hart, Ellert R.S. Nijenhuis, & Kathy Steele
This book, by leaders researchers in the field of trauma and dissociation, describes the theory of structural dissociation. Though a challenging read, it is nonetheless a ground-breaking work describing a model of phase-oriented treatment that focuses on the identification and treatment of dissociation. The focus of their approach is to support patients in learning more effective mental and behavioral actions that will enable them to become more adaptive in life and to resolve their structural dissociation.