7 Powerful and Emotional Books On Mental Abuse

This book is helpful in validating experiences of emotional abuse in context of the ways in which individuals who inflict psychological abuse may deceive their victims. This can arise through lies, games, and tactics to gain control. This book is often helpful to patients because it leads to feelings of being seen, heard, and believed, which for many is often lacking and helps with the healing process. Its helps readers come to terms with the fact that the abuse they’ve experienced is not their fault or that they are crazy or imagining it. Another benefit if the book is that it spells out the recovery process in 6 tangible steps (e.g., despair, education, awakening, boundaries, restoration and maintenance). This is a clear and concise manual for individual working on healing from emotional abuse.

Van Der Kolk has created a coherent blueprint for understanding and treating trauma in this book. He explores how trauma impacts the more ancient (reptilian) part of the brain, and how it can ‘communicate’ with this pre-verbal system through the body. This depends on willingness and capacity to feel and experience what is going on inside us, not just think about it. This book describes the combination of a bottom-up (somatic) and a top-down (cognitive) approach.

This is one of my favorite books as a psychologist. Herman writes with love, and encouragement and thoughtfulness. I’ve read it and recommended it many times over. She elegantly traces the history of the idea of trauma to the detection of PTSD in war veterans to the feminist recognition of domestic and sexual violence, and child abuse. She also speaks to the tendency for suffering to not be recognized in certain groups or for individuals with symptoms that are instead patholgized or disregarded. This book is stunningly written, and accessible to readers from all backgrounds.

This is one of those books you love but almost regret reading because of the frightful memory it leaves behind. This is a story of physical abuse, but the mother’s primary aim is to control the child psychologically. The mental pain was so strong that David would not move even when she left him alone. The neglect extended through the family, the neighbors, and the school system. The determination and dedication of this child saved him alive.

The book is in the New York bestseller. It teaches you how to heal through your mental problems. When to say yes, when to say no and how to let go. How do you know who to trust and love? It also preaches why it’s not rude to set boundaries and why you should not feel guilty. It gives a precise 10 law guide to setting and defining your boundaries. Infact the book advocates that the most important boundaries should be set in the family itself.

This book shows you how to identify emotional abuse, and how to see why you do what you do. Then, after the identification of the issues, gives you step-by-step instructions on how to stop you and your partner from abusing each other. It is very actionable, easy to read, and relatable.

I chose this book based on the description and Amazon customer reviews. My girlfriend has since told me that the book has been very insightful and has helped her understand that the abuse, she was subjected to was not her fault. Thanks to this book, she also has practical tools and has developed coping strategies which are helping her heal and move forward.