Everyday Trauma: Remapping the Brain's Response to Stress, Anxiety, and Painful Memories for a Better Life

by Tracey Shors PhD

Overview

A neuroscientist explores how trauma impacts the brain, especially for women—and how we can learn to heal ourselves

Everyone experiences trauma. Whether a specific harrowing event or a series of stressful moments that culminate over time, trauma can echo and etch itself into our brain as we remember it again and again throughout our lives.

In Everyday Trauma, neuroscientist Dr. Tracey Shors examines trauma with a focus on its pervasive nature—how it can happen at any time, through big or small events, and how it often reappears in the form of encoded memory. Her research reveals that when we are reminded of our trauma, reliving that tragic moment copies yet another memory of it in our brain, making it that much more difficult to forget. Dr. Shors also explores the neuroscience behind why women in particular are more vulnerable to stress and traumatic events, setting them up to be three times more likely than men to suffer PTSD.

With potential long-term consequences such as addiction, anxiety, depression, and PTSD, trauma can have a lasting impact on both the brain and body. Dr. Shors illuminates the effective tools that can reduce the repetitive thoughts that reinforce our traumas, including cognitive-based therapies and trauma-informed care such as her own groundbreaking program, a combination of mental and physical training called MAP Training.

By understanding how our brain responds to trauma and practicing proven techniques that can train our brains and help us let go of our tragic memories—whatever they may be—we are better equipped to leave our traumatic pasts behind and live in a brighter present.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250247018
Publisher:	Flatiron Books
Publication date:	09/05/2023
Pages:	208
Sales rank:	198,934
Product dimensions:	5.70(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Tracey Shors, Ph.D., is a distinguished professor in behavioral and systems neuroscience and a member of the Center for Collaborative Neuroscience at Rutgers University. She is also vice chair and director of graduate studies in the department of psychology. Dr. Shors has published more than 140 scientific articles, including reports in Nature, Nature Neuroscience, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, and Science, and her work has been featured in Scientific American, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and on NPR and CNN. She has been at Rutgers University for more than twenty years.

Table of Contents

Prologue 1

Part I The Stories of Our Lives

1 Life's Traumas-Both Large and Small 9

2 How Stress and Trauma Change Our Lives 23

3 The Two Forms of Everyday Trauma 35

Part II From Thoughts to Memories to Feelings

4 Ruminations: Thoughts That Get Stuck in Our Brains 51

5 The Brain Is Always Learning 65

6 Women and Their Changing Brains 82

7 Everyday Neurons for Everyday Life 95

Part III Preparing Our Brains for Everyday Trauma

8 Therapies for Stress and Trauma 111

9 MAP Train My Brain: A "Mental and Physical" Training Program 127

10 Why We Should Train Our Brains 145

11 Living with Traumas: Past, Present, and Future 156

Acknowledgments 165

Notes 169

Index 187

Editorial Reviews

10/18/2021

“With a bit of effort and insight” it’s possible to train one’s brain to overcome trauma, according to neuroscientist Shors in her intriguing if somewhat out-of-touch debut. She writes that “our brains are designed to create stories... and often the stories we repeat are of our everyday traumas,” and by bolstering the brain’s ability to cope with those traumas, people—and women in particular—will find more well-being. To that end, she presents her “brain fitness program,” a combination of meditation and exercise to help the brain cope “with problems that are already present but also... those that are yet to come.” The program consists of a 12-item questionnaire, 30 minutes of meditation (20 minutes sitting and 10 minutes walking), followed by 30 minutes of aerobic exercise—the combination, she writes, is key. Shors’s research is impressive, and she effectively explains the complicated relationship between trauma and memory. But while she claims her method is intended to be usable by people “regardless of income or gender or race or age,” her instructions don’t take into account one’s specific abilities, needs, or amounts of free time, making the argument feel thin. It’s a fine introduction to the workings of trauma, though the program isn’t applicable to all. (Dec.)

Publishers Weekly

"Shors’s research is impressive, and she effectively explains the complicated relationship between trauma and memory... a fine introduction to the workings of trauma."
—Publishers Weekly

“In Everyday Trauma, Dr. Shors maps a path for recovery based on her deep knowledge of neuroscience and courageous compassion. This meditative ‘fit for life’ path of brain repair and restoration can enrich every moment, anywhere, anytime.”
—Roberta Diaz Brinton, Regents professor of pharmacology and neurology, University of Arizona

“Everyday Trauma is an engaging book that informs the reader about the brain and bodily processes underlying emotional trauma, as well as effective treatments for the consequences of trauma. Tracey Shors, a highly recognized neuroscientist, presents the scientific evidence clearly and crisply and buttresses the findings with fascinating personal stories. Anyone interested in understanding emotional trauma should have this book.”
—James L. McGaugh, author of Memory and Emotions

"An accessible, exciting and valuable description of a complex and important issue in mental health: the effects of trauma/stress on depression and anxiety –particularly in women—as mediated by ruminative thought patterns. It draws from many diverse areas of research and presents a beautifully developed analysis suggesting the value of specific mental and physical (MAP) activities to increase resilience to trauma: Fascinating from a research perspective; potentially important in all of our lives!"
—Caroline Blanchard, Emeritus Professor, University of Hawaii

From the Publisher