Invisible Heroes: Survivors of Trauma and How They Heal

As a therapist who works with many trauma survivors, I believe this book should be required reading for every clinician. Survivors will be able to feel validated in their suffering, understand why talking alone has not helped, and access clear ways to move past their symptoms.

I am an unreal, real survivor, and I am very grateful for Naparstek`s book. I have suffered many prolonged and intense traumas. By the time I was eighteen years old, I had endured war, several killer illnesses, starvation, intense floggings, homelessness, school failure and slavery. (Slavery in the literal meaning of this word.) These experiences created many "ghosts" in my soul. Because I have never had any counseling, it took me a long time to even find them. For years I did not even know that they existed. I mainly bought "Invisible Heroes," because its title is similar to my own memoir "Heroes from the Attic," and also because this book would enlighten me about my own traumas and triumphs. And it has done so beyond my greatest expectations. I have read it, and I will continue to study it. I will do so, mainly because it has confirmed that many of my "ghosts" are not really such. They are actual physical (electro-chemical) conditions in my brain and nervous systems. This book has also confirmed that I am very lucky and very blessed. My traumas have given me many of the special gifts, which are described in Belleruth's Chapter 16, "Surprise Blessings: Gifts in the Rubble." Now I can prove that my discernments, which "normal" people don't have, are real, and that they might consider what I will have to say. Such, as for example, "the air in this building is polluted and in the log-run will make you sick." Years in advance I have predicted that such and such persons will get cancer. And sadly they did. Thank you, dear author, your book will make my life a lot easier.

By the time I was about 5 chapters into Invisible Heroes, I had begun to strongly recommend it to friends, students and clients. I'm certain that, where both physical and emotional healing are concerned, this is one of the most important and valuable books written in the last 20 years. And I'm confident that value holds whether the reader is a trauma survivor, a psychotherapist, a medical practitioner or an interested member of the general public. Belleruth Naparstek writes with compassion about Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Equally important, she explains SIMPLY and EASILY what the latest medical diagnostics reveal about how our bodies' own biochemical and psychophysical responses can lock in PTSD in ways that just talk therapy or just drug intervention can't sufficiently overcome. Most importantly, Naparstek offers very specific information about how, and why, guided imagery can be a functional, healing intervention to support the hard work of OVERCOMING PTSD. And she provides a series of guided imagery scripts, developed through extensive work with private clients, 9/11 survivors and VA Hospital trauma groups, among others. The scripts can be used on their own, or in concert with counseling and medical intervention. This book is GOLD! It provides a functional path through hell into healing. If I could afford to, I'd send copies to the 100 people I care about most. And to every VA Hospital, domestic violence center, homeless shelter and free clinic in America. And I'd be grateful to be able to do it.

Reading "Invisible Heroes" has absolutely changed my life. I am a survivor of childhood incest and physical abuse and this book understands me, my symptoms, and my life post-trauma. This is the first time I have felt really understood. That within itself was enough. Yet, this book can explain my symptoms and what is going on in my brain when things like when flashbacks are happening. It is wonderful to have clinical research to back up my experiences and to explain things to my academic/intellectual friends in a way they will take more seriously. And, to top all this off . . . this book brought hope to my life. Not only do I feel understood, and validated through the reading of this book, but I truly feel there is hope for healing. This is a new thing for me. No one in my almost 20 years of therapy (of all sorts) has suggested I could do more than manage the PTSD symptoms. In this book not only did I find hope for healing, but Belleruth gives "how-to's" for healing. I am so excited about the PTSD pack of guided imagery CD's. I couldn't afford them all, so I began with "Healthful sleep". Sleep is a particular problem for me and it seems to me that if I can get good sleep that would go a long way on the path to healing. I've used the CD for a week now and I'm sleeping really well. I've been able to decrease my dose of Ambien already and am optimistic about getting off this med altogether. More than anything else, thank you for your work, for your understanding of the PTSD phenomenon and for the hope you offer trauma survivors.

This book summarizes succinctly for me the best of the new therapies and puts the older therapies into contemporary context, in an easy to read, sensitive manner, including rivetting personal accounts of overcoming huge odds. It oriented me in the NEW (what a relief) psychiatry/psychology which is not all talk or all drugs. Some of these methods operate quickly. Hope! Are inexpensive, for those of us with poor, at best, insurance. Hope! Informed me about drugs and doctors for good decision making. Empower! Whether you are pro or anti psychiatry, you will immediately have methods at your disposal that will help you understand how you and others may work, on your own or with help, through extreme difficulties or trauma and regain optimism! I have used Belleruth Naparstek's guided imagery tapes since 1994 but it was this book which put the process into perspective so I could understand and further heal. Without intending to be, this book is also an easy introduction into the most promising new brain research - Robert Ornstein etc., which explains how we think/feel via our physiology. This is not difficult to understand science this is applied science and applied to you. In these challenging times,personal and global, this understanding is essential.