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One day, I’ll release a memoir and it’ll essentially be a tell-all.
But if you’ve been in Nigeria at any point in the past five years, you already know the kind of trauma we’ve all suffered, whether collective or personal. It’s been brutal.
I used to get some really nasty flashbacks, and it’s honestly insane how we’re expected to carry all that weight and go about our day like nothing of consequence has happened.
Understanding trauma is such an important part of the healing journey, and that’s exactly why I wrote this post.
I read The Body Keeps the Score earlier this year, and it literally sent me on a journey to find the best books about trauma.
People always say knowledge is power and it really is.
When you understand how your body and mind work together to protect you, you can figure out the best way to start healing.
Check out these books if you’re curious about how personal and collective trauma affects your mental and physical health.
What Happened to You? by Bruce Perry & Oprah Winfrey
This book gently reminds us that instead of asking What’s wrong with me?, we should be asking What happened to me?
Oprah and Dr. Bruce Perry walk us through personal stories and science to show how early life experiences shape how we think, act, and feel today.
Sometimes, we feel like our reactions don’t make sense, and we’re too hard on ourselves.
But what if those feelings and responses are simply our brain’s way of trying to keep us safe? This book makes that idea feel real and comforting.
Healing starts with understanding and this book is a warm, compassionate guide that helps us do just that.
I think it’s especially beautiful because it teaches us to be kinder to ourselves.
It Didn’t Start With You by Mark Wolynn
What if the pain you feel isn’t just yours?
This book explores the idea that trauma can be passed down through generations, even when no one talks about it.
Mark Wolynn explains that anxiety, fears, and emotional struggles might actually have roots in your family’s past – things your parents or grandparents went through.
It’s eye-opening, honestly.
You start to understand that you’re not broken or weak; you’re carrying a story that maybe no one else could speak.
The book is also full of helpful tools to help you figure out your own emotional patterns.
I love how it gives hope that we can break the cycle, rewrite our story, and stop carrying pain that was never truly ours to begin with.
Healing Trauma by Peter Levine
Peter Levine’s book is a gentle guide through the fog of trauma.
He looks at how animals deal with danger and explains that humans, too, have natural ways to heal, but we often get stuck.
The best part of this book is how it focuses on the body.
It made me realize that trauma isn’t just in our heads; it lives in our muscles, our chest, our breath.
The exercises in this book are simple but powerful and they will help you feel safe in your body again.
If you’ve ever felt like you’re always on edge, this book can help you find calm in a very grounded, peaceful way.
I really believe healing starts when we listen to what our body has been trying to tell us.
The Transformation by James S. Gordon, MD
Dr. Gordon has spent decades helping people all over the world heal from horrible trauma, and in this book, he brings together everything he’s learned.
It’s filled with simple tools – breathing, movement, journaling – that can help bring relief even when everything feels overwhelming.
I especially loved how the book gives real stories from people who found peace after war, abuse, or illness.
It made me feel like healing isn’t just possible – it’s probable when we have the right support.
If you’ve ever felt broken, this book wraps around you like a hug and gently nudges you in the right direction.
No Bad Parts by Richard Schwartz, PhD
We all have different voices in our heads – the one that worries, the one that’s angry, the one that just wants to hide.
This book teaches that those voices, or parts, aren’t bad – they’re trying to help in the only way they know how.
Dr. Schwartz explains how our mind is like a family with many parts, and each one deserves kindness.
I found this book so freeing.
Instead of fighting with myself, I started getting curious about those parts of me I didn’t understand.
It’s a book that says you’re not broken – you’re beautifully complex, and healing happens when we learn to love every piece of ourselves.
My Grandmother’s Hands by Resmaa Menakem
This book is deeply healing in a way that feels personal and collective.
Resmaa Menakem shows how trauma – especially the trauma caused by racism – lives in our bodies.
He invites us to listen to our own nervous systems and to understand that healing isn’t just about thinking differently.
He reiterates multiple times and in multiple ways how t’s about feeling differently, and he offers body practices that help us release deep pain.
What touched me most is how this book says that healing will change you and the world around you.
It’s gentle, strong, and full of truth.
If you’ve ever carried pain you couldn’t quite name, this book helps your body find its own words.
Trauma and Recovery by Judith L. Herman
Judith Herman’s book is one of those classics that still feels so important today.
She explains trauma in a way that helps everything click – why we freeze, why we forget, why we feel disconnected.
And she connects personal trauma to larger social issues.
Abuse, war, and oppression aren’t just individual problems, because they affect entire communities.
But Herman doesn’t just talk about the damage – she shows us the path to recovery, too.
I felt comforted knowing that healing is about surviving, and also about finding justice, safety, and connection again.
This book is powerful, deep, and necessary.
What My Bones Know by Stephanie Foo
This memoir is raw, honest, and so full of heart.
Stephanie Foo shares her own story of living with complex PTSD, the kind that comes from years of repeated trauma.
And I love how she was not trying to sound perfect, she’s just being real.
She explores what healing really means when the trauma is so deep it lives in your bones.
I loved how she talked to experts, tried different therapies, and even went back to her roots to understand where her pain came from.
This book taught me that healing doesn’t mean forgetting. It means learning to carry your story with kindness.
Healing Collective Trauma by Thomas Hübl
Some pain feels bigger than just us – like it lives in the air around us, passed through generations.
This book talks about collective trauma – the kind that affects whole communities, even countries.
Thomas Hübl writes about how we can gently work through this pain together.
He combines science with spiritual wisdom, which I found so calming and hopeful.
There are guided exercises, reflections, and lots of real-life examples.
Reading this helped me see how my own healing is connected to the healing of those around me.
And that’s a powerful thought – that by doing our own work, we’re helping others too.
The Deepest Well by Dr. Nadine Burke Harris
Honestly, this book opened my eyes to just how much childhood stress can affect our health as adults.
Dr. Burke Harris shares the story of a little boy who wasn’t growing and how that led her to discover the link between early trauma and illness later in life.
What makes this book so special is how easy it is to understand, even though it’s based on serious science.
She’s a doctor, but she writes like a friend who truly cares.
It made me realize that emotional trauma is physical, too.
And with love, awareness, and care, we can start healing both the body and the heart.
I don’t know which books you’ve selected, but please go ahead and share them.
And make sure to check out more resources online for mental health awareness – therapy is probably what’s going to save us.
