Journey Through Trauma

A Trail Guide to the 5-Phase Cycle of Healing Repeated Trauma

By: Gretchen L. Schmelzer PhD

Narrated by: Adenrele Ojo

For survivors of PTSD and repeated relational trauma - and the people who love them.

Gretchen Schmelzer watched too many people quit during treatment for trauma recovery. They found it too difficult or too frightening or just decided that for them it was too late. But as a therapist and trauma survivor herself, Dr. Schmelzer wants us to know that it is never too late to heal from trauma, whether it is the suffering caused within an abusive relationship or PTSD resulting from combat. Sometimes what feels like a big setback is actually an unexpected difficult step forward. So she wrote Journey Through Trauma specifically for survivors - to help them understand the terrain of the healing process and stay on the path.

There are three basic principles that every trauma survivor should know: Healing is possible. It requires courage. And it cannot be done alone. Traumas that happen more than once - child abuse, sexual abuse, domestic violence, gang violence, even war - are all relational traumas. They happened inside a relationship and therefore must be healed inside a relationship, whether that relationship is with a therapist or within a group.

Journey Through Trauma gives us a map to help guide us through that healing process, see where the hard parts show up, and persevere in the process of getting well. We learn the five phases that every survivor must negotiate along the way and come to understand that since the cycle of healing is not linear, circling back around to a previous stage does not mean defeat - it actually means progress as well as facing new challenges.

Authoritative and accessible, Journey Through Trauma provides support for survivors and their loved ones through one of the most challenging but necessary processes of healing that anyone can face.

©2018 Gretchen L. Schmelzer (P)2018 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

“This Harvard-trained psychologist has some shrewd observations, including the reminder that 'repeated trauma is about both what did happen and what didn’t happen' (in other words, 'the normal developmental growth that would have taken place during the years that the trauma was occurring.')” (The New York Times)

“With vast personal and professional experience, Gretchen Schmeltzer provides a thoughtful, compassionate trail guide for trauma survivors in recovery. A keen scholar and talented clinician with broad individual and systems 'know-how', she gives us a book unique in helping health workers, survivors and families to understand not only the different types of trauma, but, more importantly, the diversity in experiences and ways of coping. Must reading!” (Barbara F. Okun, PhD, Professor Emeritus, Northeastern University)

“This is a one of the most helpful and hopeful books I have read during my own journey of healing trauma. Gretchen Schmelzer gives us a clear road map and gentle encouragement to stay on path and do the hard, but necessary, work to integrate the past so we can embrace the future.” (Lea Waters, PhD, Psychologist and President of the International Positive Psychology Association and author of The Strength Switch)

I really appreciate this book.

This book was recommended to me by my therapist, it has been very helpful, thanks!

Profound insight

What an amazing book that gives you profound insight into your own healing journey or that of a loved one. I would highly recommend this book for anybody

So good!

Great for those of us committed to the hard work of healing our trauma. Pleasant and engaging narration. 10/10 recommend.

Stunningly accurate portrayal of the journey

I’ve never read anything that compares to this book. Repeated trauma is a different level of trauma. This book explains in stunning metaphors that cut me to the core. Every chapter resonated deeply with me in my own journey and then those that I’ve walked with. Read it it is important.

A healing journey.

Don’t expect to heal your trauma in one day. It is a journey not a sprint.

This book contained a lot of important information. At time it is emotional and at times it states cold hard facts.

By reading this you can learn to properly heal and overcome some parts of your trauma, especially if used in conjunction with a therapist.

An important overview of the healing process

A really great framework to understand what the healing process entails and requires using hiking metaphors that help the listener understand what to expect in their inner journey. Really helpful!

extremely helpful

I highly recommend for anyone on a healing journey from CPTSD. helps know where you are and where you need to go and what the process looks like. Gave me confidence and reassurance that I’m doing what’s needed both on my own and with my therapist.

This book is a must for Trauma Therapists

I’ll be using this book for many years to come. Thank you for your leadership.

Painful Drivel

Have you ever written an essay in school and "fluffed" it up to increase your page count? Describing needless details in as many ways as possible? Reiterating the same thing over and over and over with slightly different verbiage? That's this book. The title is completely misleading. A bunch of useless anecdotes such as her dream of an eagle in a cage, the colors of puzzle pieces, all described in excruciatingly minute detail. The drivel goes on and on offering nothing of substance. If you've read even one other self help/psychology book, you've already gleaned more than this waste of time can offer you.

A Self-Promotion Tool for the Counseling Industry

The main advice of this book to the reader is (surprise!): "Go Find a Good Therapist"

The book pounds over and over the reader is "incapable" of healing themselves, and must enlist the services of someone else. A Therapist seems to be the promoted way.

But the problem is that I've spent 30 going to lots of Therapists, and not a single one used the terms or ideas in this book.
Why should I hire another damn Therapist when I now know more than they do and I could teach them how to do their jobs?