When Someone You Love Suffers from Posttraumatic Stress

June 15, 2011

Clinical psychologists Zayfert (psychiatry, Dartmouth Medical Sch.) and DeViva (Univ. of Connecticut Sch. of Medicine; Yale Univ. Sch. of Medicine) provide a family-focused book on dealing with post-traumatic stress. They present examples of and advice related to various types of trauma, including sexual assault, serious accidents, natural and human-made disasters, and combat, and provide family members with useful information, support, and pragmatic ideas. The emphasis is on friends and family of trauma survivors, who are indirectly but seriously affected by the trauma. The book explains the effects of trauma on survivors and the people surrounding them, what the latter can do to help themselves and the survivor, how to decide how much to invest to help the victim, and methods of communicating to bring families closer together as they struggle with the aftermath of the traumatic event. The authors explain the positive changes that can occur in trauma survivors and their loved ones. VERDICT Throughout, the authors include real-life stories, and the list of additional resources and references add value to this work, which nicely supplements Cheryl A. Roberts's recent Coping With Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.--Dale Farris, Groves, TX

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