What Doesn't Kill Us: A Guide to Overcoming Adversity and Moving Forward - Softcover

Joseph, Professor Stephen

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0349400016 ISBN 13: 9780349400013

Publisher: Piatkus Books, 2012

Synopsis

Conventional wisdom holds that trauma scars us for life, wreaking psychological havoc that affects everything from our sleep cycles to our relationships to our very will to live but this popular conception of trauma ignores a startling fact: many people emerge from traumatic experiences stronger, wiser and more fulfilled, despite having endured great emotional pain. For the past 20 years, Joseph has worked with survivors of trauma and sufferers of posttraumatic stress. In this groundbreaking book, he boldly challenges current notions about trauma and its aftermath. His studies have shown that a wide range of traumatic events - from illness, divorce, separation, assault and bereavement to accidents, natural disasters and terrorism - can act as catalysts for positive change strengthening relationships, changing one's perspective and revealing inner strengths. What Doesn't Kill Us reveals how all of us can navigate change and adversity - traumatic or otherwise - to find new meaning, purpose, and direction in life.

About this title

About the Author

Stephen Joseph is a professor of psychology, health and social care at the University of Nottingham, UK, where he is co-director of the Centre for Trauma, Resilience and Growth and an honorary consultant psychologist in psychotherapy. He has published more than two hundred academic papers, seven academic books and is the author of What Doesn't Kill Us (Piatkus). He is often asked to comment in the media on topical events relating to his work.

From the Back Cover

What happens when we're confronted with the worst? Conventional wisdom holds that trauma scars us for life, wreaking psychological havoc that affects everything from our sleep cycles to our relationships to our very will to live. But our popular conception of trauma ignores a startling fact: many people emerge from traumatic experiences stronger, wiser and more fulfilled, despite having endured great emotional pain.

For the past twenty years, Joseph has worked with survivors of trauma and sufferers of posttraumatic stress. In this groundbreaking new book, he boldly challenges current notions about trauma and its aftermath. His studies have shown that a wide range of traumatic events - from illness, divorce, separation, assault and bereavement to accidents, natural disasters and terrorism - rather than necessarily ruining lives can act as catalysts for positive change strengthening relationships, changing one's perspective and revealing inner strengths.

Drawing on the wisdom of ancient philosophers, the insights of evolutionary biologists, and the optimism of positive psychologists, What Doesn't Kill Us reveals how all of us can navigate change and adversity - traumatic or otherwise - to find new meaning, purpose, and direction in life.

"In an area beset by wishful thinking, Stephen Joseph makes the scientific case for how difficult times can lead to personal growth. What Doesn't Kill Us is a well argued and well evidenced challenge to the idea that trauma is necessarily a curse."
Vaughan Bell, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College, London

"Although essential reading for clinicians working with traumatized patients, What Doesn't Kill Us is so accessibly written that it should appeal to anyone interested in the human condition."Richard Bentall, Professor of Clinical Psychology, University of Liverpool

"What Doesn't Kill Us is a book of wisdom-both for those who have undergone great stress as well as for those who love and treat them. It is psychology at its best: honest, hopeful, helpful, and based on sound serious research".
Robert J. Wicks, Professor, Loyola University Maryland, and author of Bounce: Living the Resilient Life

A Piatkus Original
Popular Psychology
978 0 349 40001 3

Author pic: Yes
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Edition details

• Publisher: Piatkus Books
• Publication date: 2012
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0349400016
• ISBN 13: 9780349400013
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 336