Complex PTSD: From Surviving to Thriving: A Guide and Map for Recovering from Childhood Trauma Paperback – December 13, 2013

This book was a game-changer for me. I have been diagnosed with PTSD since I turned 18, but it always felt like that diagnosis wasn't enough. It didn't explain everything I was feeling and experiencing. Reading this completely reframed the way I think of my emotions and my experiences. It's helped my learn what I need to address and how to work towards healing. I cannot thank Pete Walker enough for their research and work on this book.

I’ve suffered from severe depression for 7+ years. I heard about this book through Reddit and it was literally life changing. I felt like it completely opened my eyes to why I was struggling so bad and gave me the knowledge to heal. I had been in therapy for a year prior to reading this and now, 5 months after reading the book, I’m in the process of getting off my depression medicine successfully for the first time. I’ve done a lot of other things in addition to reading this book but this book opened the door for me and I recommend it to everyone.

Amazing gift to the world. I highly recommend, especially to anyone born into poverty or rural areas. If you know something is off, but you’re uncomfortable with the idea of a therapist, read this book. It changed my life in the best way.

Stop scrolling and listen up. Do not even purchase another CPTSD book until you have read this one. Trust me, I have spent THOUSANDS, yes, thousands, of dollars on trauma healing resources related to CPTSD and its hellish symptoms but this one is *BY FAR* the best. It's the kind of book where you highlight almost every single sentence on every single page. Here's why:1.) Emergency Preparedness. Unfortunately, the way in which I learned about my CPTSD diagnosis was through a massive emotional flashback. In 2021 I decided to leave a marriage full of the same religious, psychological, emotional, and physical abuse that I was raised in. During this process, old trauma was triggered in a way I had never experienced before. For months I had been living in constant hyperarousal. I felt like a panicky and frantic child. The slightest sounds and movements would throw me into full blown panic attacks. I was insecure, anxious, impulsive, and afraid. I couldn't sleep or eat. I am only 5' and normally weigh 115 lbs and lost 20 lbs in 2 months. I was irritable, couldn't concentrate on my job, and felt constantly on guard. None of this was good considering I own my own six figure business and am a mom to three little kids. I kept digging and researching and everything I found was kind of similar but didn't really describe whatever it was I was experiencing. I had even bought another famous book on CPTSD looking for answers and it held none.But, 6 months later, I found this book. Pete Walker begins the book by saying something along the lines of, "if you are experiencing such-and-such symptoms, skip to page _____," so I did. My mind was blown, tears were falling down my face because I finally had a name to what it was I had been experiencing for 6 entire months now! It was an emotional flashback. Emotional flashback's are interesting because they do not have the visual element that is present in PTSD flashbacks and they can last for a long time. Mine ended up lasting 6 months and the only reason it stopped was because of this book.Sadly, until I read Pete's book, I had no idea what was happening. I just kept telling my friends who were helping me, "this isn't me. This isn't me. Something is wrong." I knew I wasn't myself, I just didn't know why. Now I'm here 8 months later trying to play catch up on all the areas of my life that suffered while I was in my emotional flashback. I wish I had found this book sooner. There is so much power in being able to name what you are experiencing and this book helped me do that.2.) Path to healing. When you first find out you have CPTSD its overwhelming to know where to begin your healing journey. The first book about CPTSD that I bought was a workbook, it was okay, but it was NOTHING compared to this book. Had I found this book sooner, I wouldn't have even bought the other one. Other famous CPTSD authors lay out the the different options for CPTSD healing (CBT, DBT, EMDR, Somatic, Internal Family Systems, Inner Child work, etc.), but Pete takes it a step further and tells you exactly where to start. Which is a massive relief because the last thing you want to do when your CPTSD has been activated is spend hours attempting to research opinions from people who don't even know what it is you're going through. The best part is, if you're distrustful or curious like me, Pete even explains why he puts certain steps before others. .3.) Lists. No one has time to read an entire chapter when their (or someone they love's) nervous system has been thrown into hypo- or hyper-arousal and they need to figure out what triggered them and why. Which is why Pete's easy to remember and easy to find checklists are literal lifesavers.4.) Pete Walker knows his stuff because he is a survivor himself. As a child I was told that I was a punishment from God on my mother. This statement was only the beginning of a deep seeded core belief I had that I was innately, permanently broken. Pete's book and the memories and experiences he describes didn't feel triggering to me but healing. It felt like for the first time in my life I could acknowledge that I was normal. I wasn't broken. Nothing was wrong with me. This book is validating and enlightening. A true salve for the traumatized soul.There are a million other reasons as to why this book is the best of the best, but, I digress. Just trust me and the other 6,000 people leaving reviews here and BUY THIS BOOK NOW!

Wonderful book about how growing up in a dysfunctional or abusive or alcoholic family affects a person in adulthood, with clear examples, and how to go about helping yourself out of the childhood habits and ways of thinking that were absorbed in those families.

I found this book BOTH Extremely Helpful AND I have a deep concern about one particular (and significant) tenet of it.I have C-PTSD and I am working hard to claim my life from the fallout. (I would say "reclaim", but that implies there is something to go back to.) This book poignantly describes my life - in a delightful folksy, sometimes funny way. From that perspective it was validating and comforting to know that I am not unique in this experience.Absoutely the most helpful concept was "Emotional Flashbacks". To name my sometimes debilitating emotional reactions in this way and to say that they are Proof Positive I was abused early in my childhood (before memory became explicit), helped me calm down about (1) the fact of them and (2) the implications of them. Narcissists often emphatically deny their bad behavior - which is confusing, at best.I do, however, have deep concerns about the author's conviction that the resulting Inner Critic must be bullied into submission. The techniques suggested are classic Cognitive Behavioral tools. I have been working with a talented Internal Family Systems ("IFS") trained therapist for almost five years now. From my own direct experience and given my understanding of that psychotherapeutic model, I think this is a hurtful and potentially dangerous way to treat an aspect of my own psyche.Inner Critic(s) are Protective parts of me, that voluntary arose in response to some overwhelming life "event". They arose to protect the vulnerable Wounded Inner Child, to maintain the functionality of the psychic system under dire circumstance. In my experience, when I have witnessed a Protector's story and they have relaxed their defensive posturing (since it is no longer necessary in present-time), I find out they are ALSO a "child", trying to tough it out in a harsh environment. They did the best they could at the time. Their strategy worked back then - I'm still alive. Unfortunately it is harming me now. They are stuck in trauma time and I can help them with that.Bottom line - I refuse to do to my own Inner Child(ren) what my parents did to me! There is a better way.

This book helped me figure out why I do what I do, why I became the person I was and it helped me become a much better person today. If I could I thank Pete personally I would and I recommend this book to anyone who had meh parents.