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The Unspeakable Mind: Stories of Trauma and Healing from the Frontlines of PTSD Science
From a physician and post-traumatic stress disorder specialist comes a nuanced cartography of PTSD, a widely misunderstood yet crushing condition that afflicts millions of Americans.
The Unspeakable Mind is the definitive guide for a trauma-burdened age. With profound empathy and meticulous research, Shaili Jain, M.D.—a practicing psychiatrist and PTSD specialist at one of America’s top VA hospitals, trauma scientist at the National Center for PTSD, and a Stanford Professor—shines a long-overdue light on the PTSD epidemic affecting today’s fractured world.
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder goes far beyond the horrors of war and is an inescapable part of all our lives. At any given moment, more than six million Americans are suffering with PTSD. Dr. Jain’s groundbreaking work demonstrates the ways this disorder cuts to the heart of life, interfering with one’s capacity to love, create, and work—incapacity brought on by a complex interplay between biology, genetics, and environment. Beyond the struggles of individuals, PTSD has a tangible imprint on our cultures and societies around the world.
Since 9/11 and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, there has been a huge growth in the science of PTSD, a body of evidence that continues to grow exponentially. With this new knowledge have come dramatic advances in the effective treatment of this condition. Jain draws on a decade of her own clinical innovation and research and argues for a paradigm shift in how PTSD should be approached in the new millennium. She highlights the myriads of ways PTSD care is being transformed to make it more accessible, acceptable, and available to sufferers via integrated care models, use of peer support programs, and technology. By identifying those among us who are most vulnerable to developing PTSD, cutting edge medical interventions that hold the promise of preventing the onset of PTSD are becoming more of a reality than ever before.
Combining vividly recounted patient stories, interviews with some of the world’s top trauma scientists, and her professional expertise from working on the frontlines of PTSD, The Unspeakable Mind offers a textured portrait of this invisible illness that is unrivaled in scope and lays bare PTSD's roots, inner workings, and paths to healing. This book is essential reading for understanding how humans can recover from unspeakable trauma. The Unspeakable Mind stands as the definitive guide to PTSD and offers lasting hope to sufferers, their loved ones, and health care providers everywhere.
The Unspeakable Mind is the definitive guide for a trauma-burdened age. With profound empathy and meticulous research, Shaili Jain, M.D.—a practicing psychiatrist and PTSD specialist at one of America’s top VA hospitals, trauma scientist at the National Center for PTSD, and a Stanford Professor—shines a long-overdue light on the PTSD epidemic affecting today’s fractured world.
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder goes far beyond the horrors of war and is an inescapable part of all our lives. At any given moment, more than six million Americans are suffering with PTSD. Dr. Jain’s groundbreaking work demonstrates the ways this disorder cuts to the heart of life, interfering with one’s capacity to love, create, and work—incapacity brought on by a complex interplay between biology, genetics, and environment. Beyond the struggles of individuals, PTSD has a tangible imprint on our cultures and societies around the world.
Since 9/11 and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, there has been a huge growth in the science of PTSD, a body of evidence that continues to grow exponentially. With this new knowledge have come dramatic advances in the effective treatment of this condition. Jain draws on a decade of her own clinical innovation and research and argues for a paradigm shift in how PTSD should be approached in the new millennium. She highlights the myriads of ways PTSD care is being transformed to make it more accessible, acceptable, and available to sufferers via integrated care models, use of peer support programs, and technology. By identifying those among us who are most vulnerable to developing PTSD, cutting edge medical interventions that hold the promise of preventing the onset of PTSD are becoming more of a reality than ever before.
Combining vividly recounted patient stories, interviews with some of the world’s top trauma scientists, and her professional expertise from working on the frontlines of PTSD, The Unspeakable Mind offers a textured portrait of this invisible illness that is unrivaled in scope and lays bare PTSD's roots, inner workings, and paths to healing. This book is essential reading for understanding how humans can recover from unspeakable trauma. The Unspeakable Mind stands as the definitive guide to PTSD and offers lasting hope to sufferers, their loved ones, and health care providers everywhere.
416 pages, Hardcover
First published May 7, 2019
84 people are currently reading
2086 people want to read
About the author
Shaili Jain
6 books30 followersIn 2007, Shaili Jain was a psychiatrist comfortably ensconced in private practice in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. During a spring road trip with her Father, she stumbled upon the truth of what happened to his family during the 1947 Partition of India. Jain’s family legacy was one of tragic loss and terror but it had been buried for decades. Her Father’s testimony would eventually spur her on a new career path committed to advancing the science of psychological trauma and unlocking the secrets of what fosters human resilience in the aftermath of unspeakable traumas.
Today, Dr. Jain serves as a PTSD specialist at one of America’s top VA hospitals, is a trauma scientist at the National Center for PTSD and a Stanford Professor.
In The Unspeakable Mind, she paints a textured portrait of PTSD, drawing on the two decades she has spent caring for survivors of child abuse, rape, intimate partner violence, life-threatening accidents, and war. She interweaves these stories with her own family history of trauma suffered during the 1947 Partition of India, cutting edge neuroscience and conversations with top scientists in the field.
The Unspeakable Mind offers the reader a riveting glimpse into the life of a doctor through the lens of PTSD and journeys far beyond the horrors of war to illuminate why traumatic stress is an inescapable part of all our lives.
Today, Dr. Jain serves as a PTSD specialist at one of America’s top VA hospitals, is a trauma scientist at the National Center for PTSD and a Stanford Professor.
In The Unspeakable Mind, she paints a textured portrait of PTSD, drawing on the two decades she has spent caring for survivors of child abuse, rape, intimate partner violence, life-threatening accidents, and war. She interweaves these stories with her own family history of trauma suffered during the 1947 Partition of India, cutting edge neuroscience and conversations with top scientists in the field.
The Unspeakable Mind offers the reader a riveting glimpse into the life of a doctor through the lens of PTSD and journeys far beyond the horrors of war to illuminate why traumatic stress is an inescapable part of all our lives.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 45 reviews
August 30, 2019
Jain offers knowledge, comparative examples, and a hope for healing to sufferers of PTSD and those interested in the field in general. I find that knowledge is power in overcoming afflictions such as PTSD and is only through understanding our plight that we can truly face it and overcome it.
Whether you have already undergone treatment or need that final kick of motivation to start, this book is relevant to you. Jain writes in easily consumable bite size chapters that stay on topic and help you come to grips with the subject matter. The format is well organized and Jain's writing style is easy and comfortable.
Highly recommended.
Whether you have already undergone treatment or need that final kick of motivation to start, this book is relevant to you. Jain writes in easily consumable bite size chapters that stay on topic and help you come to grips with the subject matter. The format is well organized and Jain's writing style is easy and comfortable.
Highly recommended.
August 13, 2019
The Unspeakable Mind is part memoir, part family history, and part overview of the current understanding of post-traumatic stress disorder. The author, Dr. Shaili Jain, M.D., is an expert on PTSD. Some years ago, her father revealed to her the horrors he’d suffered during the partition of India in 1947. Her father’s history inspired her to understand traumatic stress and how to treat it. That became her life’s work. Her family’s history in India, then England, and now in the United States, is the scaffolding upon which the book is built. It is a fascinating read.
The scientific discussion alone makes the book worth it, especially for those who suffer from PTSD, or who have a loved one who does. The most gripping parts are the stories of Dr. Jain's personal life and those of her clients. The Shaili Jain whom I have been long-time friends with is reflected in the pages of this book. Reading the details of her family history and the challenges she faces as a psychiatrist has only deepened my considerable respect and appreciation for her and her work. I am confident that even if I did not know her, I’d be writing an equally strong review. Let me explain.
After reading The Unspeakable Mind, I realized that getting people to recall and heal from trauma is like attempting archaeology in a minefield: The mission is to uncover buried memories without setting off any mines. Every decision a psychiatrist makes – no matter how small -- can have serious consequences down the line. Dr. Jain takes this fact into account in dealing with her patients. For example, in her session with a traumatized woman named Eun, Dr. Jain had to be sure that Eun’s husband would be supportive of her: “It was vital that my instincts about Jim and his connection to Eun be accurate, because if I was going to encourage Eun to fully disclose the details of her traumatic past, I needed to be sure she would be treated with the care that was long overdue” (p. 175).
Dr. Jain offers an insider’s view into how she conducts a therapy session. To preserve client privacy, each case study is a composite. Nevertheless, you can see Dr. Jain’s clinical technique in action. She keeps the reader informed of her own responses and gut feelings. She draws upon her expertise and intuition in formulating the next move. Seeing through Dr. Jain’s eyes as she helps her patients to move toward wholeness and healing offers a rare and fascinating insight into the doctor-client relationship.
From a fiction writer’s perspective, all stories ought to have a narrative arc: a beginning, a crisis, and a resolution. In The Unspeakable Mind, the stories are not fiction, so they had no resolution, no neatly tied-up ending. They aren’t resolved in the book because they often aren’t resolved in real life. In some cases, Dr. Jain saw a client for only a few sessions, and never heard from him again. She herself didn’t know what happened afterwards. This is the way life is. Dr. Jain has the honesty and humility to regard successful outcomes as consequences of her clients’ own courage and growth, as much as her own skill as a facilitator. There is no magic pill for PTSD. Even so, there are many options, and Dr. Jain covers them. The stories are poignant and haunting, perhaps even more so because in many cases we don’t know how they end.
Admirably, Dr. Jain is sensitive not only toward her patients’ feelings, but also to those of her reader. She avoids the gory details of other people’s past, because she doesn’t want to traumatize the reader. Dr. Jain relates painful events with a great deal of compassion and respect for privacy and individual dignity. Writers of biographies and memoirs would do well to handle sensitive information the way Dr. Jain does.
I highly recommend this book. At the very least, you will come away with an appreciation of Dr. Jain’s gripping family history, as well as her tremendous expertise and competence in a scientific discipline that holds promise to end suffering for millions of people.
The scientific discussion alone makes the book worth it, especially for those who suffer from PTSD, or who have a loved one who does. The most gripping parts are the stories of Dr. Jain's personal life and those of her clients. The Shaili Jain whom I have been long-time friends with is reflected in the pages of this book. Reading the details of her family history and the challenges she faces as a psychiatrist has only deepened my considerable respect and appreciation for her and her work. I am confident that even if I did not know her, I’d be writing an equally strong review. Let me explain.
After reading The Unspeakable Mind, I realized that getting people to recall and heal from trauma is like attempting archaeology in a minefield: The mission is to uncover buried memories without setting off any mines. Every decision a psychiatrist makes – no matter how small -- can have serious consequences down the line. Dr. Jain takes this fact into account in dealing with her patients. For example, in her session with a traumatized woman named Eun, Dr. Jain had to be sure that Eun’s husband would be supportive of her: “It was vital that my instincts about Jim and his connection to Eun be accurate, because if I was going to encourage Eun to fully disclose the details of her traumatic past, I needed to be sure she would be treated with the care that was long overdue” (p. 175).
Dr. Jain offers an insider’s view into how she conducts a therapy session. To preserve client privacy, each case study is a composite. Nevertheless, you can see Dr. Jain’s clinical technique in action. She keeps the reader informed of her own responses and gut feelings. She draws upon her expertise and intuition in formulating the next move. Seeing through Dr. Jain’s eyes as she helps her patients to move toward wholeness and healing offers a rare and fascinating insight into the doctor-client relationship.
From a fiction writer’s perspective, all stories ought to have a narrative arc: a beginning, a crisis, and a resolution. In The Unspeakable Mind, the stories are not fiction, so they had no resolution, no neatly tied-up ending. They aren’t resolved in the book because they often aren’t resolved in real life. In some cases, Dr. Jain saw a client for only a few sessions, and never heard from him again. She herself didn’t know what happened afterwards. This is the way life is. Dr. Jain has the honesty and humility to regard successful outcomes as consequences of her clients’ own courage and growth, as much as her own skill as a facilitator. There is no magic pill for PTSD. Even so, there are many options, and Dr. Jain covers them. The stories are poignant and haunting, perhaps even more so because in many cases we don’t know how they end.
Admirably, Dr. Jain is sensitive not only toward her patients’ feelings, but also to those of her reader. She avoids the gory details of other people’s past, because she doesn’t want to traumatize the reader. Dr. Jain relates painful events with a great deal of compassion and respect for privacy and individual dignity. Writers of biographies and memoirs would do well to handle sensitive information the way Dr. Jain does.
I highly recommend this book. At the very least, you will come away with an appreciation of Dr. Jain’s gripping family history, as well as her tremendous expertise and competence in a scientific discipline that holds promise to end suffering for millions of people.
September 2, 2019
Between the time I picked up this book to read (because of a general interest in trauma) and actually reading it, it was suggested to me that I may have PTSD stemming from IPV. So that's a bias that I'm bringing to this.
I really enjoyed the comprehensiveness that the author brought to the topic. I very seldom felt a sense of, but-what-about...when reading this book. She covers the topic of PTSD with a great deal of breadth and depth, not to mention sensitivity.
I appreciate that she covers a variety of trauma, including IPV, sexual assault, and natural disasters, not just PTSD from combat/military experience. This should help a lot of readers who might struggle to find their experiences in PTSD literature.
I have an interest in the history of India, so her stories about her family history during the Partition were very interesting on their own, not just as examples of trauma.
In terms of how useful the information is in terms of working on managing PTSD, the book offers a lot of possible ways to go about this, none of which spoke to me personally, but all of which are fascinating and good to know about.
Overall, anyone interested in PTSD (and trauma) should read this book. It's incredibly readable and a great starting point on the topic.
I really enjoyed the comprehensiveness that the author brought to the topic. I very seldom felt a sense of, but-what-about...when reading this book. She covers the topic of PTSD with a great deal of breadth and depth, not to mention sensitivity.
I appreciate that she covers a variety of trauma, including IPV, sexual assault, and natural disasters, not just PTSD from combat/military experience. This should help a lot of readers who might struggle to find their experiences in PTSD literature.
I have an interest in the history of India, so her stories about her family history during the Partition were very interesting on their own, not just as examples of trauma.
In terms of how useful the information is in terms of working on managing PTSD, the book offers a lot of possible ways to go about this, none of which spoke to me personally, but all of which are fascinating and good to know about.
Overall, anyone interested in PTSD (and trauma) should read this book. It's incredibly readable and a great starting point on the topic.
March 12, 2021
This provides an overview of PTSD with a dominant psychiatry/medical perspective. Jain covers a wide range of topics under PTSD; too many in fact. No topic is covered in sufficient depth and thus as a clinical book for reference it is far too simplistic. The case studies included were helpful. Although some case studies were left unresolved, that is more indicative of what happens in clinical practice. I thought there was a noticeable bias in how Jain reported research such as, certain medications given more credence than new-age treatments. This book will age very quickly given the rapid advances in this field. This book is perhaps best geared towards medical students seeking to specialise in psychiatry.
June 13, 2024
As someone who is interested in medicine, I cannot stress how well formatted this book is. Dr. Jain gave symptoms about PTSD, and would then follow that up with real life stories of people who suffered with those symptoms. This format allowed to easily read along whilst learning about the different type of symptoms that comes with PTSD
May 9, 2021
Perhaps this would have been better as essays. A large number of topics are covered with some skimmed and some in great detail. Some seems to be memoir. The book skips from micro to macro and back, from personal to dumbed down clinical.
July 17, 2019
This was a well written book, and provided a nice introduction into the basics of PTSD including its history, characteristics, at risk populations, and common treatments. I thought it was interesting how undiagnosed and untreated PTSD can manifest in physical ailments and behavioral problems in children. Unfortunately, as the book notes, those who need help the most are the least likely to reach out for help. I did like the chapters about prevention of PTSD and ways to build resilience into our lives and children’s lives in order to prevent PTSD.
Although this book contained a lot of good information and interesting stories, I felt it was dry and I found myself skimming a lot.
Although this book contained a lot of good information and interesting stories, I felt it was dry and I found myself skimming a lot.
August 29, 2019
Very well written. She addresses theory and offers examples from her practice. I really bought the book because of an NPR interview in which she described her family history with the trauma of the 1947 Partition in Iran. I especially appreciated her discussion of the problem of denial in cultures that don't want to acknowledge human vulnerability to trauma. I think of German post WWI and their classification of post traumatic stress as "hysteria" and of course similar reluctance in American culture.
December 12, 2024
A very comprehensive book about PTSD. I really enjoyed reading all the examples of patients that the author had treated for PTSD and the patients backgrounds and how they had developed their PTSD. Names and other characteristics were changed by author to protect confidentiality. The book is well written and the subject is fascinating.
January 8, 2020
I had high hopes for this book, but they weren’t met. I’m not sure a book on trauma will ever match the caliber or quality of “the body keeps the score,” and this one definitely didn’t. If you are knowledgeable on the topic, this book doesn’t really offer any new insights, perspective, or information - if you are new to the topic, its a good enough overview of ptsd - and I found it rather pessimistic. While I think it’s important to highlight the magnitude of the societal problem, I found that the book overall painted a more dismal than hopeful picture and without the scientific rigor that other books offer. There was a lot of mentions of scientific findings, but no real delving into them.
July 15, 2019
This is a very readable book about an important topic. The chapters are short, and each one starts with a vignette about a client's experience with PTSD, which provided human interest and helped keep the reader's attention. The author also included her own family's experience during the Partition, which added credibility to her perspective on trauma. While the tone was somewhat conventional rather than speculative, I actually appreciated the author's skepticism about "magic bullet" cures. This is a thorough and interesting introduction to the topic of PTSD.
June 6, 2019
I received an uncorrected proof of this book from Goodreads. It is a very in-depth study of PTSD, going into detail over causes, treatments, etc. In spite of the scientific data, it is very readable, very interesting. I recommend it to doctors and lay people.
June 20, 2019
This is a superb book, a comprehensive review of trauma grounded in real life experiences and put in historical context. The reader is left with hope that treatments are available and that recovery is possible.
November 27, 2022
My only complaint is that people with disabilities weren't mentioned.
We had race, gender, socioeconomic status, support network, whether someone was LGBTQ+ and many more. There was, however, no mention of how those with disabilities are affected by PTSD.
We had race, gender, socioeconomic status, support network, whether someone was LGBTQ+ and many more. There was, however, no mention of how those with disabilities are affected by PTSD.
July 14, 2020
I found this a really insightful book. Its written in a clear, thoughtful compassionate voice. Well set out. It's a topic I have a deep interest in and learnt so much, literally flew through it.
January 4, 2021
My favorite PTSD book that I always recommend to trauma survivors. More approachable and less triggering than The Body Keeps the Score.
March 27, 2019
I was given a copy of this book by Harper Collins in exchange for an honest review.
Today's post is on The Unspeakable Mind: Stories of Trauma and Healing from the Frontlines of PTSD Science by Shaili Jain, M.D. It is 400 pages long including notes. The cover is white with the title in black and red. The intended reader is someone who is interesting in PTSD and what is being done to help the people suffering from it. There is no foul language, no sex, and no violence in this book. There Be Spoilers Ahead.
From the back of the book- From a physician and post-traumatic stress disorder specialist comes a nuanced cartography of PTSD, a widely misunderstood yet crushing condition that afflicts millions of Americans.
The Unspeakable Mind is the definitive guide for a trauma-burdened age. With profound empathy and meticulous research, Shaili Jain, M.D.—a practicing psychiatrist and PTSD specialist at one of America’s top VA hospitals, trauma scientist at the National Center for PTSD, and a Stanford Professor—shines a long-overdue light on the PTSD epidemic affecting today’s fractured world.
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder goes far beyond the horrors of war and is an inescapable part of all our lives. At any given moment, more than six million Americans are suffering with PTSD. Dr. Jain’s groundbreaking work demonstrates the ways this disorder cuts to the heart of life, interfering with one’s capacity to love, create, and work—incapacity brought on by a complex interplay between biology, genetics, and environment. Beyond the struggles of individuals, PTSD has a tangible imprint on our cultures and societies around the world.
Since 9/11 and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, there has been a huge growth in the science of PTSD, a body of evidence that continues to grow exponentially. With this new knowledge have come dramatic advances in the effective treatment of this condition. Jain draws on a decade of her own clinical innovation and research and argues for a paradigm shift in how PTSD should be approached in the new millennium. She highlights the myriads of ways PTSD care is being transformed to make it more accessible, acceptable, and available to sufferers via integrated care models, use of peer support programs, and technology. By identifying those among us who are most vulnerable to developing PTSD, cutting edge medical interventions that hold the promise of preventing the onset of PTSD are becoming more of a reality than ever before.
Combining vividly recounted patient stories, interviews with some of the world’s top trauma scientists, and her professional expertise from working on the frontlines of PTSD, The Unspeakable Mind offers a textured portrait of this invisible illness that is unrivaled in scope and lays bare PTSD's roots, inner workings, and paths to healing. This book is essential reading for understanding how humans can recover from unspeakable trauma. The Unspeakable Mind stands as the definitive guide to PTSD and offers lasting hope to sufferers, their loved ones, and health care providers everywhere.
Review- An interesting and engrossing book about PTSD and how it is being treated in the modern day. Jain starts the book with her father's story of survival and how his PTSD has affected her life and choices. She covers all kinds of PTSD from all kinds of traumas from car accidents to war stories. Jain discusses the ways that PTSD has been treated in the past and what is the current treatment opinions are. It is a well written book that is easy to get into and understand without feeling talked down to. I was engaged with this book from beginning to end and I feel that I have learned more about not just PTSD but the culture that we live that contributes to creating more people with this mental illness. Jain brings the reader to real people suffering from this illness and helps give it a face and voice, like our own. If you are curious about PTSD or just learn more about current treatment opinions, then give this book a try.
I give this book a Five out of Five stars.
Today's post is on The Unspeakable Mind: Stories of Trauma and Healing from the Frontlines of PTSD Science by Shaili Jain, M.D. It is 400 pages long including notes. The cover is white with the title in black and red. The intended reader is someone who is interesting in PTSD and what is being done to help the people suffering from it. There is no foul language, no sex, and no violence in this book. There Be Spoilers Ahead.
From the back of the book- From a physician and post-traumatic stress disorder specialist comes a nuanced cartography of PTSD, a widely misunderstood yet crushing condition that afflicts millions of Americans.
The Unspeakable Mind is the definitive guide for a trauma-burdened age. With profound empathy and meticulous research, Shaili Jain, M.D.—a practicing psychiatrist and PTSD specialist at one of America’s top VA hospitals, trauma scientist at the National Center for PTSD, and a Stanford Professor—shines a long-overdue light on the PTSD epidemic affecting today’s fractured world.
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder goes far beyond the horrors of war and is an inescapable part of all our lives. At any given moment, more than six million Americans are suffering with PTSD. Dr. Jain’s groundbreaking work demonstrates the ways this disorder cuts to the heart of life, interfering with one’s capacity to love, create, and work—incapacity brought on by a complex interplay between biology, genetics, and environment. Beyond the struggles of individuals, PTSD has a tangible imprint on our cultures and societies around the world.
Since 9/11 and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, there has been a huge growth in the science of PTSD, a body of evidence that continues to grow exponentially. With this new knowledge have come dramatic advances in the effective treatment of this condition. Jain draws on a decade of her own clinical innovation and research and argues for a paradigm shift in how PTSD should be approached in the new millennium. She highlights the myriads of ways PTSD care is being transformed to make it more accessible, acceptable, and available to sufferers via integrated care models, use of peer support programs, and technology. By identifying those among us who are most vulnerable to developing PTSD, cutting edge medical interventions that hold the promise of preventing the onset of PTSD are becoming more of a reality than ever before.
Combining vividly recounted patient stories, interviews with some of the world’s top trauma scientists, and her professional expertise from working on the frontlines of PTSD, The Unspeakable Mind offers a textured portrait of this invisible illness that is unrivaled in scope and lays bare PTSD's roots, inner workings, and paths to healing. This book is essential reading for understanding how humans can recover from unspeakable trauma. The Unspeakable Mind stands as the definitive guide to PTSD and offers lasting hope to sufferers, their loved ones, and health care providers everywhere.
Review- An interesting and engrossing book about PTSD and how it is being treated in the modern day. Jain starts the book with her father's story of survival and how his PTSD has affected her life and choices. She covers all kinds of PTSD from all kinds of traumas from car accidents to war stories. Jain discusses the ways that PTSD has been treated in the past and what is the current treatment opinions are. It is a well written book that is easy to get into and understand without feeling talked down to. I was engaged with this book from beginning to end and I feel that I have learned more about not just PTSD but the culture that we live that contributes to creating more people with this mental illness. Jain brings the reader to real people suffering from this illness and helps give it a face and voice, like our own. If you are curious about PTSD or just learn more about current treatment opinions, then give this book a try.
I give this book a Five out of Five stars.
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November 7, 2021Publisher's Description: From a physician and post-traumatic stress disorder specialist comes a nuanced cartography of PTSD, a widely misunderstood yet crushing condition that afflicts millions of Americans.
The Unspeakable Mind is the definitive guide for a trauma-burdened age. With profound empathy and meticulous research, Shaili Jain, M.D.-a practicing psychiatrist and PTSD specialist at one of America's top VA hospitals, trauma scientist at the National Center for PTSD, and a Stanford Professor-shines a long-overdue light on the PTSD epidemic affecting today's fractured world.
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder goes far beyond the horrors of war and is an inescapable part of all our lives. At any given moment, more than six million Americans are suffering with PTSD. Dr. Jain's groundbreaking work demonstrates the ways this disorder cuts to the heart of life, interfering with one's capacity to love, create, and work-incapacity brought on by a complex interplay between biology, genetics, and environment. Beyond the struggles of individuals, PTSD has a tangible imprint on our cultures and societies around the world.
Since 9/11 and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, there has been a huge growth in the science of PTSD, a body of evidence that continues to grow exponentially. With this new knowledge have come dramatic advances in the effective treatment of this condition. Jain draws on a decade of her own clinical innovation and research and argues for a paradigm shift in how PTSD should be approached in the new millennium. She highlights the myriads of ways PTSD care is being transformed to make it more accessible, acceptable, and available to sufferers via integrated care models, use of peer support programs, and technology. By identifying those among us who are most vulnerable to developing PTSD, cutting edge medical interventions that hold the promise of preventing the onset of PTSD are becoming more of a reality than ever before.
Combining vividly recounted patient stories, interviews with some of the world's top trauma scientists, and her professional expertise from working on the frontlines of PTSD, The Unspeakable Mind offers a textured portrait of this invisible illness that is unrivaled in scope and lays bare PTSD's roots, inner workings, and paths to healing. This book is essential reading for understanding how humans can recover from unspeakable trauma. The Unspeakable Mind stands as the definitive guide to PTSD and offers lasting hope to sufferers, their loved ones, and health care providers everywhere.
The Unspeakable Mind is the definitive guide for a trauma-burdened age. With profound empathy and meticulous research, Shaili Jain, M.D.-a practicing psychiatrist and PTSD specialist at one of America's top VA hospitals, trauma scientist at the National Center for PTSD, and a Stanford Professor-shines a long-overdue light on the PTSD epidemic affecting today's fractured world.
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder goes far beyond the horrors of war and is an inescapable part of all our lives. At any given moment, more than six million Americans are suffering with PTSD. Dr. Jain's groundbreaking work demonstrates the ways this disorder cuts to the heart of life, interfering with one's capacity to love, create, and work-incapacity brought on by a complex interplay between biology, genetics, and environment. Beyond the struggles of individuals, PTSD has a tangible imprint on our cultures and societies around the world.
Since 9/11 and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, there has been a huge growth in the science of PTSD, a body of evidence that continues to grow exponentially. With this new knowledge have come dramatic advances in the effective treatment of this condition. Jain draws on a decade of her own clinical innovation and research and argues for a paradigm shift in how PTSD should be approached in the new millennium. She highlights the myriads of ways PTSD care is being transformed to make it more accessible, acceptable, and available to sufferers via integrated care models, use of peer support programs, and technology. By identifying those among us who are most vulnerable to developing PTSD, cutting edge medical interventions that hold the promise of preventing the onset of PTSD are becoming more of a reality than ever before.
Combining vividly recounted patient stories, interviews with some of the world's top trauma scientists, and her professional expertise from working on the frontlines of PTSD, The Unspeakable Mind offers a textured portrait of this invisible illness that is unrivaled in scope and lays bare PTSD's roots, inner workings, and paths to healing. This book is essential reading for understanding how humans can recover from unspeakable trauma. The Unspeakable Mind stands as the definitive guide to PTSD and offers lasting hope to sufferers, their loved ones, and health care providers everywhere.
March 20, 2019
I received an uncorrected proof copy of this book from HarperCollins.
This informative work of non-fiction explores the history, nuances, and treatments of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) from a medical professor and practicing psychiatrist who is an expert in the field of PTSD. Through moving case studies and examples from those she has treated as well as her own family history, Jain explores the myriad ways in which PTSD interferes with individual's abilities to love, work, and participate in daily life. Slowly, over the course of the book, Jain unravels the immense impact of PTSD on every level, including the cellular, emotional, psychological, behavioral, cultural, and global scales. More than six million people suffer from PTSD. Risk factors include "being socially disadvantaged, being younger, being a woman, having a prior history of trauma exposure or a history of childhood trauma, having a family history of psychiatric illness, dissociating at the time of the trauma, and having limited post trauma social support" (282).
Composed of brief but gripping and informative chapters, this book provides fascinating insight into the cutting edge research on the understanding and treatment of PTSD. Rather than simply dry medical content, Jain interweaves clinical examples from her patients who include victims of childhood abuse, rape, life-threatening accidents, and war. By recounting their stories and the conversations she had with them, their plight is brought to life and the difficulties they face on a daily basis due to the trauma they endured can fully be appreciated by the reader.
In a world that is unfortunately all too frequently shadowed by harrowing and traumatic events, this is an informative read for anyone wanting to learn more about a condition that is tragically common. Although Jain does an excellent job of laying out the available treatments for PTSD that are currently in practice, it was disheartening to read about the many who either still cannot cope in daily life or who fail to follow through to receive the treatment they need. Yet as she wisely points out, there's no way to reverse or erase what has been done: "The goal of treatment, then, should be to help survivors thrive in their new normal" (221).
This informative work of non-fiction explores the history, nuances, and treatments of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) from a medical professor and practicing psychiatrist who is an expert in the field of PTSD. Through moving case studies and examples from those she has treated as well as her own family history, Jain explores the myriad ways in which PTSD interferes with individual's abilities to love, work, and participate in daily life. Slowly, over the course of the book, Jain unravels the immense impact of PTSD on every level, including the cellular, emotional, psychological, behavioral, cultural, and global scales. More than six million people suffer from PTSD. Risk factors include "being socially disadvantaged, being younger, being a woman, having a prior history of trauma exposure or a history of childhood trauma, having a family history of psychiatric illness, dissociating at the time of the trauma, and having limited post trauma social support" (282).
Composed of brief but gripping and informative chapters, this book provides fascinating insight into the cutting edge research on the understanding and treatment of PTSD. Rather than simply dry medical content, Jain interweaves clinical examples from her patients who include victims of childhood abuse, rape, life-threatening accidents, and war. By recounting their stories and the conversations she had with them, their plight is brought to life and the difficulties they face on a daily basis due to the trauma they endured can fully be appreciated by the reader.
In a world that is unfortunately all too frequently shadowed by harrowing and traumatic events, this is an informative read for anyone wanting to learn more about a condition that is tragically common. Although Jain does an excellent job of laying out the available treatments for PTSD that are currently in practice, it was disheartening to read about the many who either still cannot cope in daily life or who fail to follow through to receive the treatment they need. Yet as she wisely points out, there's no way to reverse or erase what has been done: "The goal of treatment, then, should be to help survivors thrive in their new normal" (221).
October 11, 2019
Good intro to how to recognize trauma, how the symptoms affect those who have it, and all of the treatments out there or getting more research about. Fascinating to understand how there can be physical effects of non-physical trauma or beyond violence-related trauma. It also humanized Jain as an author when she used the situations of her patients to detail how trauma affects real people in so many ways that might not be visible or immediately noticed or could obviously be the cause of why their life is spiraling out of control or is empty of fulfillment/actualization. I liked how Jain tied her own family history into her journey with discovering trauma psychiatry/science. This is the third book I've read this year that mentions the Indian Partition, and it definitely seems to have been one of the most traumatic events in the past century that people still carry the weight of today.
Glad to learn that real people are finding treatment that works; glad there are so many treatments out there; wished the need to invest in treatment R&D would be amply financed by a U.S. health care system that probably hand out budgets asking health care professions to "do less with more."
Oh, and these patients stories are quite a bit sad and frustrating and, luckily, hopeful. I had to punch the air so hard when Geeta's IPV situation was described; the mother-in-law's advice vs. Geeta's parents was something.
Glad to learn that real people are finding treatment that works; glad there are so many treatments out there; wished the need to invest in treatment R&D would be amply financed by a U.S. health care system that probably hand out budgets asking health care professions to "do less with more."
Oh, and these patients stories are quite a bit sad and frustrating and, luckily, hopeful. I had to punch the air so hard when Geeta's IPV situation was described; the mother-in-law's advice vs. Geeta's parents was something.
September 19, 2023
I may want to reread this book again at a later date when I feel as if I am in a better place, physically and mentally. I don't know if that will happen, but one can always hope!
How PTSD interacts with other mental disorders such as insomnia, hypervigilance, dementia, picking at one's skin, distress, anxiety, and I guess I have to admit, against my will, depression did end up continuing to interest me at the final page, though I don't want to get very close to these matters, lest I pick back up on them, hence become depressive enough to make another suicide attempt.
(I have frightened friends by sending them intimidating messages in the past. At the moment I am OK, I just hit my elbow really hard and am in pain over it, but I am not that extremely upset over it.)
Someone else may be able to get more information or otherwise benefit from Shaili Jain's The Unspeakable Mind: Stories of Trauma and Healing from the Frontlines of PTSD Science than me.
This book, index included, is 388 pages long.
As far as psychiatric books go, though, this one was less painful than the other ones I have read so far. Some of what she had to say I had already heard before, but not all of it.
How PTSD interacts with other mental disorders such as insomnia, hypervigilance, dementia, picking at one's skin, distress, anxiety, and I guess I have to admit, against my will, depression did end up continuing to interest me at the final page, though I don't want to get very close to these matters, lest I pick back up on them, hence become depressive enough to make another suicide attempt.
(I have frightened friends by sending them intimidating messages in the past. At the moment I am OK, I just hit my elbow really hard and am in pain over it, but I am not that extremely upset over it.)
Someone else may be able to get more information or otherwise benefit from Shaili Jain's The Unspeakable Mind: Stories of Trauma and Healing from the Frontlines of PTSD Science than me.
This book, index included, is 388 pages long.
As far as psychiatric books go, though, this one was less painful than the other ones I have read so far. Some of what she had to say I had already heard before, but not all of it.
November 25, 2025
This is a really deep and interesting book. This book does a great job of explaining PTSDand exploring the impacts it can have. I found it so fascinating and expansive. I will note, mils trigger warning as it does go into great detail on the causes of PTSD. As someone who has been through trauma recently and suffered a traumatic brain injury, I did find it very difficult to get through certain parts. If you can get past those parts, it is definitely worth the read and learning about this disorder and how it can effect you if you think you may suffer from it. It also discusses treatment options and ways to improve your symptoms. It is a lot, but I found it very interesting and helpful. Important note,
Be sure to read the author's note at the end on how she wrote this book as it helps to alleviate some apprehension about stories she tells.
Overall this is a great book and can highly recommend it
Be sure to read the author's note at the end on how she wrote this book as it helps to alleviate some apprehension about stories she tells.
Overall this is a great book and can highly recommend it
May 13, 2019
Full disclosure that I know the author of this book, but I would wholeheartedly recommend it even if I didn't. Dr. Shaili Jain is a remarkably accomplished writer—her prose is both sophisticated and accessible; she communicates medical information in a way that every reader will understand without in any way talking down to her readers. The stories she tells to illustrate various aspects of PTSD make for gripping reading; this is a really engaging book, and as PTSD is such an important (and often misunderstood) topic, I really hope it will get the wide readership that it deserves.
March 24, 2021
The book is subtitled "Stories of trauma and healing". As a person suffering from severe PTSD, for six years, I had to fast forward (I can only listen to books now) through the trauma stories as they upset me, and there were absolutely no substantial stories of healing. Not that I could relate to as a firefighter. And she takes a rather uninformed run at MDMa, ketamine, benzos, and cannabis as having any kind of role in helping PTSD symptoms. Also she has terrible news on aging and premature death rates for long term PTSD patients that raised my anxiety for weeks.
September 7, 2020
Couldn’t finish. Just read Body Keeps the Score and it was so good, I deliberately took my time reading it because I didn’t want to finish it. I was looking for something similar and was hopeful with this one. It can’t hold a candle in my opinion. I’m spoiled now because I expected the same, but the chapters were short, would start piquing my interest by talking about a client or intriguing case, and then quickly go on to something else in the next page. There was no resolution. Then it would be on to next chapter another subject. I would have preferred the cases to be more drawn out and compared to the subject of the chapter. I was left wanting more.
September 23, 2021
It was fine. Decent. Some mildly interesting cases were presented. But honestly the whole book seemed a bit like a knock-off of The Body Keeps the Score.
And this is probably just my own pet peeve, but I felt like the author went out of her way to write about the body size of her patients. Did we really need to know that the 7-year-old was “chunky”? I don’t know, it just felt disparaging. Like the author has a weight prejudice that shone through.
And this is probably just my own pet peeve, but I felt like the author went out of her way to write about the body size of her patients. Did we really need to know that the 7-year-old was “chunky”? I don’t know, it just felt disparaging. Like the author has a weight prejudice that shone through.
July 31, 2019
This one is obviously a more serious book. I really enjoyed the stories shared, and I connected with a lot of them. I am hoping reading this has made me more aware of things that could be triggers for others. I really appreciate the research that went into this. Recommend if you have an interest in this sort of thing! ;)
December 11, 2019
Not the most readable -- such a wide scope that it was shallower on each topic than I prefer, and it was presented as intro level but wasn't the most accessible writing.
Not a hard read difficulty wise but obviously a hard topic and took me a lot longer to get through than I expected. Not sure if I would recommend-- need to read more PTSD science books to see how it compares
Not a hard read difficulty wise but obviously a hard topic and took me a lot longer to get through than I expected. Not sure if I would recommend-- need to read more PTSD science books to see how it compares
April 2, 2019
This book provides insight into the impact of PTSD on the lives of those affected by this disorder. As a foster parent, I believe many children in the system are misdiagnosed as having ADHD or bipolar disorder when in fact they have PTSD due to trauma. This book presents histories of several different patients with PTSD symptoms, I just wished it focused more on children.
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August 18, 2020I'm leaving this one unrated as I think this was a case of what I was looking for and what was provided just not matching. I also don't even know what I wanted from this book only that it didn't fulfill it.
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