Psychology of Trauma

Dr Shanti Farrington is a Chartered Psychologist (BPS) and trained as an integrative counsellor and a registered member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (UK). Shanti works as Principal Academic (Psychology) with Bournemouth University and is Honorary Associate Psychologist, Acquired Brain Injury and Rehabilitation Services, Dorset HealthCare University Foundation Trust. She is the cofounder of Sheetal Astitva – a charity (Pune, India) and The Trauma-Informed Practice Services, a community interest company (CIC) developed to offer low-cost therapy and accessible training for people affected by, or working with, trauma. She has previously worked as a counsellor within sexual trauma organisations.Alison Woodward trained as a United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapy-accredited Psychotherapist and Certified Transactional Analyst (CTA) at The Metanoia Institute, London, and currently works in her private practice and as a senior lecturer at Bournemouth University. She is the cofounder of The Trauma-Informed Practice Services, a CIC developed to offer low-cost therapy and accessible training for people affected by, or working with, trauma. She has previously worked within sexual trauma organisations, jointly leading the provision of clinical therapeutic services.

“In this slim volume, UK psychotherapists and academicians Farrington and Woodward provide a succinct description of trauma based on clinical studies, neuroscience, and social/cultural data. Especially useful is their three-phase structure of trauma-informed psychotherapy, culminating in a “celebration of post-traumatic growth.” They explain vicarious trauma and complex post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), debunk such adverse advice as “everyone has trauma” and “just get over it,” and provide a list of common symptoms along with appropriate exercises for addressing them. The book is replete with case studies, charts, and diagrams, including one that depicts the role of dissociation in PTSD. The chapter on attachment theory leads into a delineation of helpful suggestions for the family and wider community. Unique are the discussions of neurodiversity, sexual diversity, and ethnic diversity. This reviewer's personal favorite was the chapter on the brain’s evolution and how it responds to trauma through fright, fight, freeze, or flop. The only quibbles are the authors' omission of PTSD nightmare therapy and their use of the term “traumatic event” instead of “traumatic experience”; an event may be traumatizing for one person but not for another."--S. Krippner, California Institute of Integral Studies. CHOICE Review February 2025

• Introduction. Chapter 1: What is trauma?. Chapter 2: Neuroscience of trauma. Chapter 3: Attachment and trauma. Chapter 4: The role of neurodiversity, culture, and individual differences in trauma. Chapter 5: …Is it true? Debunking the myths and taboos around trauma. Chapter 6: Metamorphosis: change because of trauma-informed therapy. References. Appendix.