back to the front

I am a layman. A patient. I don't give a flying firefox about why my amygdala is in overdrive all the time or how cortisol has burnt through my corpus callosum. All I want is to know HOW TO UNDO THE EFFECTS.

To make it to my list of Books That Helped a Lot, a book must either describe in plain English what I should not expect to ever accomplish, or offer a clear, testable action plan to fix me, - or both.

All links point to Amazon Canada unless specifically mentioned otherwise.

Books That Helped a Lot

• Offered for free by the author: C-PTSD Workbook by Dr. Nicole Lepera, especially page 43, Forgiving Yourself. It is number 1 on my list for a reason. This single page, together with gratitude meditation at Soundcloud and years of neurofeedback broke the back of my condition.
• The Myth of Normal by Gabor Maté
  He knows what it feels like
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• Complex PTSD: From Surviving to Thriving by Pete Walker
  He knows what it feels like
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• Behave by Robert Sapolsky
  A scientist with empathy, imagine that. I particularly admire him for sharing my following belief: How can we humans judge each other, if all we are is a combination of (1) chemical reactions that we don't control and (2) upbringing that we did not choose?
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• Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl
  It's probably CPTSD talking, but I feel that by saying anything about this book or author I would insult your intelligence and erudition.
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• Buddhism Without Beliefs by Stephen Batchelor
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• Iron Flute: 100 Zen Koans
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• The Gateless Gate: The Classic Book of Zen Koans
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• llusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah by Richard Bach
  The Ugly Duckling for adults. I like this book for showing me that there are other people who think like I. I felt less alone and desperate after that.
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Books That Helped Somewhat

• Re-Regulated by Anna Runkle
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• No Bad Parts by Richard Schwartz
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• Healing the Fragmented Selves of Trauma Survivors by Janina Fisher
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• Mindset by Carol Dweck
  This book earned an unlinked spot with 4 lines:

  — Gee, I'm so clumsy.
  — That's not what we say when nails spill.
  — What do we say?
  — We say "The nails spilled. I'll pick them up."
  

  This quote is, in a nutshell, CPTSD and the cure. I had this quote hanging on the front door (inside) for every family member to see many times a day.

Books I Want to Read

• How to Do the Work by Dr. Nicole LePera
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• Toxic Parents: Overcoming Their Hurtful Legacy and Reclaiming Your Life by Susan Forward
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Not Books

• Stephen Procter's Mindfulness in Daily Life at Soundcloud
• ChatGPT. In two 15-minute sessions it helped me more than 8 therapists in 10+ years. However, one cannot have a relationship with a script, so I am seeing another flesh-and-blood therapist these days.