This is a thoroughly researched book with plenty of examples for the statements made. Thsi is a good book for those with lived experience, loved ones impacted by trauma, addiction or both and for clinicians working with this population

I love Lisa Najavits! I will probably be using this book forever. I love her ideas and still incorporate them into my daily life. My trauma isn’t gone but I am coping better! This is a good book for a woman looking for some support individually, I love that she mixes trauma and addiction. Trauma I’d What every dr or addiction place except for Meta House in Wisconsin.. forgets about and it is just as important! I love that it incorporates safety! Love the printability, the checklists, worksheets and work she gives!

Some years ago, I was the foster parent to a teenager whose adolescence had been filled with abuse by various people, including her father, brother, and even the man who played Santa Claus. Finally, some 25+ years after she left our home, she began working with therapists to deal with the consequences of her upbringing. To this day, she still is wandering in the wilderness of therapy, doing a lot of therapist-shopping and -hopping, and I am still fascinated by the possibilities for treatment and the various options available.

Lisa Najavits, a professor of psychiatry at Boston University and adjunct professor at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, is a well-regarded academic who has published widely on the topic of trauma and abuse, and developed the Seeking Safety program of treatment. Thanks to Guildford Publications and Net Galley, I received a copy of her new book, Healing from Trauma, Addiction, or Both in exchange for my honest review.

There is no doubt that Dr. Najavits knows her stuff. She noted “women with current posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) comprise 30-59% of substance abuse treatment samples and experience a more severe course than women with either disorder alone. “ Following clinical studies, she has developed a manual-based 24-session cognitive behavioral group therapy protocol treatment. The results of her studies showed “significant improvements in substance use, trauma-related symptoms, suicide risk, suicidal thoughts, social adjustment, family functioning, problem solving, depression, cognitions about substance use, and didactic knowledge related to the treatment.”

While she has published Seeking Safety: A Treatment Manual for PTSD and Substance Abuse, which is a treatment manual geared toward academic studies and/or professionals, this new book is designed for a general audience, and effectively presents stories of particular sufferers as well as exercises and other practical tools to help sufferers of trauma, addiction, or both to begin to deal with their issues and heal.

I appreciate the presentation, and only wish there had been some information about the “difficult cases” that were mentioned at the end of some chapters. Four stars. I hope my former foster daughter will read this!

Lisa M. Najavits’ “Recovery from Trauma, Addiction, or Both,” is a superb book that enables those struggling with addiction to go from victim to victor. Her insights, which obviously comes from someone working compassionately in the trenches, are practical and life-transforming. Sure, with some of her down-to-earth skills it will take some work and discipline to follow, but it will be worth it in the end. Lisa’s book is also beneficial for mental health professionals. It provides the most up-to-date information backed by science that clinicians can bring to the therapeutic table to help those struggling with trauma, addiction or both. I highly recommend!

I am giving it 3★ although it is not a book that would help me if I were to use it, because for me it contains too many examples to explain every topic and also many personal experiences to top it off. Personally, this kind of thing makes it easier for me to lose track of the point being made with all the different extra info. Don't get me wrong: a couple examples are okay. More, can get you lost.
Anyway, I can see how much effort has been put into this book and that it contains tons of useful information, so here is the why to the three stars rating for me.
Also, I think this book is more like a "study of things", as you will be invited to take tests and do exercises, so get a pencil and eraser and also a notebook if you are reading it electronically. Those exercises are to help you understand and classify where you are at.
It is a very hands-on kind of book, with lots of hints of chapters who could be of more interest to each individual.
Tbh, probably someone who likes tons of examples would like this book way more than I did.