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The End of Trauma: How the New Science of Resilience Is Changing How We Think About PTSD
A top expert on human trauma argues that we vastly overestimate how common PTSD is and fail to recognize how resilient people really are
After 9/11, mental health professionals flocked to New York to handle what everyone assumed would be a flood of trauma cases. Oddly, the flood never came.
In The End of Trauma, pioneering psychologist George A. Bonanno argues that we failed to predict the psychological response to 9/11 because most of what we understand about trauma is wrong. For starters, it’s not nearly as common as we think. In fact, people are overwhelmingly resilient to adversity. What we often interpret as PTSD are signs of a natural process of learning how to deal with a specific situation. We can cope far more effectively if we understand how this process works. Drawing on four decades of research, Bonanno explains what makes us resilient, why we sometimes aren’t, and how we can better handle traumatic stress.
Hopeful and humane, The End of Trauma overturns everything we thought we knew about how people respond to hardship.
After 9/11, mental health professionals flocked to New York to handle what everyone assumed would be a flood of trauma cases. Oddly, the flood never came.
In The End of Trauma, pioneering psychologist George A. Bonanno argues that we failed to predict the psychological response to 9/11 because most of what we understand about trauma is wrong. For starters, it’s not nearly as common as we think. In fact, people are overwhelmingly resilient to adversity. What we often interpret as PTSD are signs of a natural process of learning how to deal with a specific situation. We can cope far more effectively if we understand how this process works. Drawing on four decades of research, Bonanno explains what makes us resilient, why we sometimes aren’t, and how we can better handle traumatic stress.
Hopeful and humane, The End of Trauma overturns everything we thought we knew about how people respond to hardship.
336 pages, Hardcover
Published September 7, 2021
115 people are currently reading
2042 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 72 reviews
January 30, 2022
I sort of see this book as the counterpoint to “The Body Keeps the Score,” in that it makes the argument that most people are able to overcome the effects of traumatic experiences rather quickly, while “The Body Keeps the Score” focuses on the indelibility of trauma in the body. The truth probably lies somewhere in the middle, as both authors have decades of experience and countless studies supporting their respective arguments. I thought Bonnano gave short shrift to the impact of stigma on coping with trauma, although he mentions it briefly. 9/11 survivors experienced something horrific, but were largely exalted and seen as heroes. Survivors of date rape, on the other hand, are often blamed for the violence they experienced. It’s not hard to surmise that people who experience trauma that is largely hidden, shamed, and stigmatized will have a different trajectory than people who can speak freely about what happened to them without blame. Many of Bonnano’s anecdotes are in the latter category—victims of accidents or terrorist attacks—rather than the much more common experience of interpersonal violence.
June 30, 2023
I wanted to like it, but as a non-man with autism and cptsd, it told me absolutely nothing new.
I was struck by how much all the characters/case study people were supported by their families, and especially by the women around them. Sexual abuse survivors don't get this privilege, regardless of how "resilient" and "flexible" their attitude might be.
It's gross and pathetic as a psychologist to then tell survivors that they can learn resilience, it needs to be acknowledged that society is broken and asks way too much of vulnerable people. Support is imperative and at the moment, for many people, it just doesn't exist.
I was struck by how much all the characters/case study people were supported by their families, and especially by the women around them. Sexual abuse survivors don't get this privilege, regardless of how "resilient" and "flexible" their attitude might be.
It's gross and pathetic as a psychologist to then tell survivors that they can learn resilience, it needs to be acknowledged that society is broken and asks way too much of vulnerable people. Support is imperative and at the moment, for many people, it just doesn't exist.
July 12, 2021
Remarkable Examination of Trauma And Its Permanence. This is a truly eye opening book about the remarkable resilience of many, perhaps most, people - and how the science of trauma often gets the permanence of trauma wrong. Bonanno has spent his career researching these topics, and this is a solid look at his best findings to date. Told using some long-term case studies as a bit of a narrative structure (and certainly a recurrent theme), this book does a great job of showing how intensely personal trauma and resilience are, yet also using facts and studies to back up the case studies and show larger findings and trends. The bibliography here comes in at about 23% of the total text, which is within normal range - and would likely have been a bit more, without the focus on the case studies. Of note, the case studies are from an accidental spine injury - from a traffic accident - and from survivors of the 9/11 attacks, which helps to show the wide range of trauma. Though also of note, sexual traumas are not examined directly. While Bonanno makes the case for general applicability to all traumas for his findings of resilience and the factors that lead to it, one wonders whether more directly studying various types of traumas using Bonanno's framework would truly show true general applicability? Still, that question would be an intriguing premise for a follow up book - but this book itself does in fact make a strong case for its premise and adds quite a bit to the overall discussion of trauma, PTSD, and resilience. Very much recommended.
January 16, 2022
Prompted to read it after listening to a podcast where one of my former psychology professors mentioned that much has changed in the field of emotion regulation in the past decade. George Bonanno was one of the 2 authors mentioned as being relevant in the field currently. Personally I find the current framework useful when thinking about coping with stressors, as it moved away from a dychotomy of good and bad strategies (although,in all honesty, except for the pop psychology books, no serious clinical psychologist adhered to such a simplified view) to a more nuanced framework that describes the resilient pathway most people traverse after a traumatic experience. Optimism, the willingness to view the situation as a challenge and the conviction in one's ability to cope with the situation synergetically form the flexibility mindset that supports the application of the flexibility sequence: (1) what are the current demands of the situation? - context sensitivity; (2) which strategies from my repertoire can I use to help me face it? (coping in action); (3) How am I doing now? Any better? (Feedback monitoring). For all of us who could no longer hear how bad suppression and distraction are in regulating whatever emotion (oftentimes in spite of our own experiences) - your rage finds an answer in this book :)). However, although the author stresses the distinction from the current approaches about resilience (which often list trait-like characteristica of resilient people) to a flexible approach, the way he describes the case studies sometimes unfortunately reinforces the extraordinary-ness of their coping experience, inadvertently feeding a bit into the resilience-as-a-trait trap. Also, it is a book that describes the current understanding of trauma as available to us from research on 9/11 survivors, medical traumas, combat veterans etc and should not be approached as a "how to cope with x" book, as it simply won't offer too much insight into how exactly to increase the useful flexibility in approaching one's own situation.
May 17, 2024
just ok. the first few chapters of the book give an interesting history of PTSD and trauma, but I wish there was more space dedicated to contemporary discourses about trauma, esp in the literary / pop culture world. Bonanno vaguely alludes to concerns about the term experiencing semantic creep without really addressing why we should be worried about a world in which an increasing number of experiences are categorized as traumatic. The latter two thirds of the book just go into Bonanno's personal theory of resilience and what he calls the flexibility mindset, which involves optimism, confidence in coping, and viewing obstacles as a challenge, as well as the flexibility sequence, which is context sensitivity, repertoire, and feedback monitoring, along with a set of personal anecdotes to buttress his point. This stuff was fairly intuitive but I suppose it was nice to hear that there is no one way to heal from trauma, and it requires employing different strategies at different times.
Clean and concise prose, if dry and somewhat uninspired.
Clean and concise prose, if dry and somewhat uninspired.
December 10, 2024
I'd give it a higher rating if he had looked at the trait of high sensitivity (Elaine Aron) and ACE (Kaiser study) scores.
Ok, so most people are resilient? Most people learn emotional regulation, flexibility and other resilience skills in a good enough childhood.
People with high sensitivity likely need more robust coping skills. And people with high ACE scores are probably lacking or have maladaptive coping skills.
Don't bother reading this book unless you just want to read real life trauma stories for fun. For resilience building, something like the Emotionally Intelligent Child by John Gottman to learn any skills you missed growing up would be more helpful.
The Body Keeps the Score was intended for practitioners and can be very triggering, so I don't recommend that to most.
Other books I'd actually recommend for trauma recovery or understanding:
How to Unf*uck Your Brain
Killing The Wittigo
How to Stop Losing Your Sh*t With Your Kids
Ok, so most people are resilient? Most people learn emotional regulation, flexibility and other resilience skills in a good enough childhood.
People with high sensitivity likely need more robust coping skills. And people with high ACE scores are probably lacking or have maladaptive coping skills.
Don't bother reading this book unless you just want to read real life trauma stories for fun. For resilience building, something like the Emotionally Intelligent Child by John Gottman to learn any skills you missed growing up would be more helpful.
The Body Keeps the Score was intended for practitioners and can be very triggering, so I don't recommend that to most.
Other books I'd actually recommend for trauma recovery or understanding:
How to Unf*uck Your Brain
Killing The Wittigo
How to Stop Losing Your Sh*t With Your Kids
November 27, 2021
The book is well written and its content is helpful, but it takes too long to say what it has to say. This could easily have been condensed into an article. Four stars if this was half as long.
December 1, 2024
Meh, had to read for school. Some parts were interesting and if you like how to handle trauma then this is for you but personally didn’t tickle my fancy
January 7, 2022
I saw this book in the library when I was picking up other books. I was intrigued with the subtitle: “How The New Science Of Resilience Is Changing How We Think Of PTSD.” I have been diagnosed with PTSD so I was curious. I learned a lot.
I understood most of what Bonanno was saying although sections focusing on brain chemistry and biology tripped me up some. His anecdotes and stories revolving the people he followed were very clear and positive. He used them effectively to explain what resilience is and how that mindset can help one get through a traumatic event.
There are components to resilience and apparently no one trait or mindset provides to answer what exactly it is. I don’t feel competent enough to go into detail here, but I definitely recommend this book to anyone interested in trauma, how it affects us, and how to deal with it – especially those diagnosed with PTSD.
I found the book enlightening and very encouraging.
I understood most of what Bonanno was saying although sections focusing on brain chemistry and biology tripped me up some. His anecdotes and stories revolving the people he followed were very clear and positive. He used them effectively to explain what resilience is and how that mindset can help one get through a traumatic event.
There are components to resilience and apparently no one trait or mindset provides to answer what exactly it is. I don’t feel competent enough to go into detail here, but I definitely recommend this book to anyone interested in trauma, how it affects us, and how to deal with it – especially those diagnosed with PTSD.
I found the book enlightening and very encouraging.
June 17, 2021
I am SUCH a fan of this book! It is a much needed antidote to the current cultural moment, in which we are often encouraged to believe that the difficult things that happen to us have to harm or traumatize us for life. THE END OF TRAUMA provides specific and research-backed arguments that we are far more resilient that this grim outlook suggests, and that although we don’t entirely understand why or how some people are more resilient than others, the amount of “bouncing back” we see across the scope of human history should give us hope and encourage us to study this more. This is a super encouraging book for anyone who has experienced significant challenges but does not want to be defined by them.
I received a copy of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
I received a copy of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
December 14, 2021
In my opinion, a poorly chosen main title for a book introducing some fascinating research on trauma, and the hope-inspiring predominance of human’s resilience in facing it.
October 22, 2021
Some interesting postulations about resilience and trauma. I found it pretty hardcore when the author kept calling out doctors who kept ignoring research. Definitely interesting examination of the history of the study of trauma and just the history of trauma itself. Not to mention the fact that trauma wasn't in our vernacular nor eluded to until the (insert time because I'm forgetful). Even if the language was different the fact that there is no history of symptoms fascinates me. is the evolution of our mindset losing resiliency or are we instead harping on the loss rather than the true resiliency of humans.
December 1, 2024
Source: MELcat print
I’ve been thinking about trauma a lot lately… and how I’m in the work of helping people who have experienced trauma create a new way of being. This book was recommended. It was excellent and certainly thought provoking as I think about how I can better work with my own stresses and traumatic events, and how I can support people who have experienced traumatic events, and perhaps also might have PTSD.
“Traumatic Stress is a natural response to a highly challenging event” (257).
This leads the author to outline the Flexibility Sequence: context sensitivity, repertoire, feedback monitoring. The task is to be able to read the context, pick one of the options that we know about to address the challenge (and build our repertoire if we need to), and then check in with ourselves and figure out if it’s working.
I also had a lot of conversation about resilience at the beginning of the pandemic. Who has it? How did they get it? Lots of clergy didn’t have it and the church suffered. What should we have done in training and preparation for those leaders? This book has a LOT of great suggestions about a direction to – AND it’s not what I had considered before. Concentrate on the flexibility sequence which is much more tangible and measurable than resilience. (Though – it’s still a little amorphous…)
Keep reading if you want all of my detailed notes and quotes.
Chapter 1 - Lots of talk about where did PTSD come from. What happened to expand the definition – and how that’s unhelpful. “If everything is PTSD then nothing is…” (summary statement)
54 – “we only get into the realm of PTSD when the traumatic stress doesn’t go away”
62 – chart “Symptom Distribution Following Potential Traumas”
It made me wonder if that’s why we don’t do anything about mass shootings. I think that resilience is good, but if there are people getting harmed, shouldn’t we do something to respond?
72 – discussion about optimism and confidence in supporting resilience
97 – an insane list of resilience traits – he goes on for a long time.
Chapter 5 – mindset for flexibility
Compared to “growth mindset” – but different. And flexibility and resilience for distinct (121).
Flexibility Sequence
- Interrelated beliefs: optimism about the future, confidence in our ability to cope, and a willingness to think about a thread as a challenge. (123)
- Not innate – can be enhanced (124)
- Roll of “hardiness” – and how it go misconstrued. “intermediate step, a collect of beliefs that ‘proves the courage and motivation to do the hard work of turning stressful circumstances from potential disasters into growth opportunities.’ This set of beliefs creates a ‘pathway that can eventually lead to resilience” (125)
- Flexibility mindset doesn’t make us resilient, but does pave the way for resilience by motivating us and engaging us with the stressor” (125)
- Optimism, confidence in coping, challenge orientation (127)
Chapter 6 – Synergy (between his work and Paul Kennedy – spina cord injury expert)
- Challenge orientation – opposite: threat orientation (145)
- Shift to the challenge – take active stance, think about stressor as a challenge to be met (146)
Chapter 7
170 – Flexibility Sequence: context sensitivity, repertoire, feedback monitoring.
There we go – step by step to get build flexibility.
There are some ways that context sensitivity can be decreased – depression was listed, but I also wonder about the overwhelm and different learning abilities.
198 – HERE IT IS!
Why flexibility is more teachable than resilience. He does note that building flexibility doesn’t necessarily lead to more resilience, but there’s a better chance.
Chapter 9 – talking to ourselves
USE THESE TECHNIQUES
Best Possible Self (232)
“Imagine yourself in a future in which everything has turned out as good as possible.”
- Goals, skills, desires they want in the future
- “if / then implementation” (233)
o “If the situational cue is present, then one implements the strategy” – make a plan before the situation. Anticipate how to respond to a stressful situation before the situation comes.
Goal directed self talk (236)
- Gives the opportunity to stop, step back and assess the situation
- Walk oneself through the plan
- Make a plan based on the assessment and tools in the repertoire
I’ve been thinking about trauma a lot lately… and how I’m in the work of helping people who have experienced trauma create a new way of being. This book was recommended. It was excellent and certainly thought provoking as I think about how I can better work with my own stresses and traumatic events, and how I can support people who have experienced traumatic events, and perhaps also might have PTSD.
“Traumatic Stress is a natural response to a highly challenging event” (257).
This leads the author to outline the Flexibility Sequence: context sensitivity, repertoire, feedback monitoring. The task is to be able to read the context, pick one of the options that we know about to address the challenge (and build our repertoire if we need to), and then check in with ourselves and figure out if it’s working.
I also had a lot of conversation about resilience at the beginning of the pandemic. Who has it? How did they get it? Lots of clergy didn’t have it and the church suffered. What should we have done in training and preparation for those leaders? This book has a LOT of great suggestions about a direction to – AND it’s not what I had considered before. Concentrate on the flexibility sequence which is much more tangible and measurable than resilience. (Though – it’s still a little amorphous…)
Keep reading if you want all of my detailed notes and quotes.
Chapter 1 - Lots of talk about where did PTSD come from. What happened to expand the definition – and how that’s unhelpful. “If everything is PTSD then nothing is…” (summary statement)
54 – “we only get into the realm of PTSD when the traumatic stress doesn’t go away”
62 – chart “Symptom Distribution Following Potential Traumas”
It made me wonder if that’s why we don’t do anything about mass shootings. I think that resilience is good, but if there are people getting harmed, shouldn’t we do something to respond?
72 – discussion about optimism and confidence in supporting resilience
97 – an insane list of resilience traits – he goes on for a long time.
Chapter 5 – mindset for flexibility
Compared to “growth mindset” – but different. And flexibility and resilience for distinct (121).
Flexibility Sequence
- Interrelated beliefs: optimism about the future, confidence in our ability to cope, and a willingness to think about a thread as a challenge. (123)
- Not innate – can be enhanced (124)
- Roll of “hardiness” – and how it go misconstrued. “intermediate step, a collect of beliefs that ‘proves the courage and motivation to do the hard work of turning stressful circumstances from potential disasters into growth opportunities.’ This set of beliefs creates a ‘pathway that can eventually lead to resilience” (125)
- Flexibility mindset doesn’t make us resilient, but does pave the way for resilience by motivating us and engaging us with the stressor” (125)
- Optimism, confidence in coping, challenge orientation (127)
Chapter 6 – Synergy (between his work and Paul Kennedy – spina cord injury expert)
- Challenge orientation – opposite: threat orientation (145)
- Shift to the challenge – take active stance, think about stressor as a challenge to be met (146)
Chapter 7
170 – Flexibility Sequence: context sensitivity, repertoire, feedback monitoring.
There we go – step by step to get build flexibility.
There are some ways that context sensitivity can be decreased – depression was listed, but I also wonder about the overwhelm and different learning abilities.
198 – HERE IT IS!
Why flexibility is more teachable than resilience. He does note that building flexibility doesn’t necessarily lead to more resilience, but there’s a better chance.
Chapter 9 – talking to ourselves
USE THESE TECHNIQUES
Best Possible Self (232)
“Imagine yourself in a future in which everything has turned out as good as possible.”
- Goals, skills, desires they want in the future
- “if / then implementation” (233)
o “If the situational cue is present, then one implements the strategy” – make a plan before the situation. Anticipate how to respond to a stressful situation before the situation comes.
Goal directed self talk (236)
- Gives the opportunity to stop, step back and assess the situation
- Walk oneself through the plan
- Make a plan based on the assessment and tools in the repertoire
September 15, 2025
Psychology is everywhere nowadays—on the radio, TikTok, and Instagram. But how much of it is actually solid and proven? Trauma takes the spotlight on social media, with folks casually throwing around phrases like "I'm so traumatized" "Got trauma from xxx" or the classic "I've got PTSD."
It's a double-edged sword. Loving the focus on mental health, but it stings seeing some people misinterpreting psych terms. "Trauma" needs a gentle touch in the psych world. Bonanno prefers "potentially traumatic events" over just calling them "traumatic events." Traumatic events aren't always inherently "traumatic"; it's a label we made up. Sadly, nowadays, the criteria for qualifying a traumatic event can sometimes be so ambiguous that anything unpleasant could be labeled as "traumatic." And, more importantly, not everyone who goes through a potentially traumatic event comes out traumatized. Bonanno's not saying certain experiences aren't valid; just having a few PTSD-like symptoms doesn't automatically mean you've got it—it's just a natural reaction.
This book spills the beans on how resilient humans are in the face of tough times. Not groundbreaking, but resilience isn't some inborn talent; it's picked up through different ways of learning and habits. Can burying your emotions ever be okay after a rough patch? Turns out, it might not be all bad. Another main idea in the book is about flexibility—having a flexibility mindset and following a flexible sequence. Both are backed by research, helping people bounce back after a potentially traumatic event.
Bonanno adds stories from his students, colleagues, and historical figures throughout the book to show how people react to trauma. I see that "The Body Keeps the Score" is the mental health go-to in bookstores, but I'd lean towards Bonanno's book. Not just because I'm (proudly ^_^) his student, but some of van der Kolk's points are inaccurate if not false. So, if you're diving into "The Body Keeps the Score," might as well consider "The End of Trauma".
Closing with a quote from a patient in the book, "It's all part of learning to live with it." Let's not blow trauma out of proportion—face it, deal with it, and see the end of it.
It's a double-edged sword. Loving the focus on mental health, but it stings seeing some people misinterpreting psych terms. "Trauma" needs a gentle touch in the psych world. Bonanno prefers "potentially traumatic events" over just calling them "traumatic events." Traumatic events aren't always inherently "traumatic"; it's a label we made up. Sadly, nowadays, the criteria for qualifying a traumatic event can sometimes be so ambiguous that anything unpleasant could be labeled as "traumatic." And, more importantly, not everyone who goes through a potentially traumatic event comes out traumatized. Bonanno's not saying certain experiences aren't valid; just having a few PTSD-like symptoms doesn't automatically mean you've got it—it's just a natural reaction.
This book spills the beans on how resilient humans are in the face of tough times. Not groundbreaking, but resilience isn't some inborn talent; it's picked up through different ways of learning and habits. Can burying your emotions ever be okay after a rough patch? Turns out, it might not be all bad. Another main idea in the book is about flexibility—having a flexibility mindset and following a flexible sequence. Both are backed by research, helping people bounce back after a potentially traumatic event.
Bonanno adds stories from his students, colleagues, and historical figures throughout the book to show how people react to trauma. I see that "The Body Keeps the Score" is the mental health go-to in bookstores, but I'd lean towards Bonanno's book. Not just because I'm (proudly ^_^) his student, but some of van der Kolk's points are inaccurate if not false. So, if you're diving into "The Body Keeps the Score," might as well consider "The End of Trauma".
Closing with a quote from a patient in the book, "It's all part of learning to live with it." Let's not blow trauma out of proportion—face it, deal with it, and see the end of it.
July 23, 2021
The central idea of this book is that not everyone who’s exposed to traumatic events has long-term mental health effects. On average, two-thirds of those who suffer traumas show resilience. Bonanno’s experience working in the mental healthcare sector in New York City in the aftermath 9/11 impressed this truth upon him. The anticipated mental health tsunami never came; most people recovered and moved on with their lives.
It is hard to predict who that one-third is who will suffer long-term mental trauma. While there are some traits that correlate more to resilience and others to a proclivity to be traumatized, the fact that humans are complex and there are many confounding variables makes it immensely difficult to anticipate the impact of a trauma.
Given this difficulty, it’s beneficial to figure out how one can increase any victim’s resilience, and that’s the task the book engages. Bonanno discusses an optimal mindset for resilience that he calls the “flexibility mindset,” and he details a corresponding sequence (i.e. the “flexibility sequence”) that he suggests is the best known approach to reducing the adverse effects of trauma. As the key word, “flexible,” suggests, this approach requires adaptability. It’s not a one-size fits all approach, but rather hinges upon determining what coping strategies a person has access to, and then evaluating the degree to which they are working.
If found this book to be full of food-for-thought. I thought there could have been more elaboration of the dangers and limitations of distraction as a coping mechanism. To be fair, there is a discussion of this as he presents another therapist’s experience with, and thoughts upon, the “flexibility” approach, but that’s a bit late in the book. That said, I learned a great deal in reading this book, and thought it offered some excellent insights.
It is hard to predict who that one-third is who will suffer long-term mental trauma. While there are some traits that correlate more to resilience and others to a proclivity to be traumatized, the fact that humans are complex and there are many confounding variables makes it immensely difficult to anticipate the impact of a trauma.
Given this difficulty, it’s beneficial to figure out how one can increase any victim’s resilience, and that’s the task the book engages. Bonanno discusses an optimal mindset for resilience that he calls the “flexibility mindset,” and he details a corresponding sequence (i.e. the “flexibility sequence”) that he suggests is the best known approach to reducing the adverse effects of trauma. As the key word, “flexible,” suggests, this approach requires adaptability. It’s not a one-size fits all approach, but rather hinges upon determining what coping strategies a person has access to, and then evaluating the degree to which they are working.
If found this book to be full of food-for-thought. I thought there could have been more elaboration of the dangers and limitations of distraction as a coping mechanism. To be fair, there is a discussion of this as he presents another therapist’s experience with, and thoughts upon, the “flexibility” approach, but that’s a bit late in the book. That said, I learned a great deal in reading this book, and thought it offered some excellent insights.
February 16, 2022
This book basically say that only one quarter of people who experience trauma develop PTSD, which is not a figure that I found shocking, really. It says thinking positively and being optimistic actually has a neurological impact - that it activates the amygdala, an area associated with evaluating the emotional impact of traumatic events, and that it works with the rostral arterior cingulate cortex to coax the brain into recognizing rewards. That was interesting.
It also says we can evaluate trauma through evaluating context (what is happening?), repertoire (what do I have in my arsenal to deal with it?) and feedback monitoring (is it working?).
It wasn't victim blaming, exactly, but it did say that PTSD is over diagnosed. So, it was interesting to read that argument, and a variation of the other book I'm reading, "Traumatized: Identify, Understand, and Cope with PTSD and Emotional Stress," which takes a softer approach than the "pull up your bootstraps" vibe of this one.
It also says we can evaluate trauma through evaluating context (what is happening?), repertoire (what do I have in my arsenal to deal with it?) and feedback monitoring (is it working?).
It wasn't victim blaming, exactly, but it did say that PTSD is over diagnosed. So, it was interesting to read that argument, and a variation of the other book I'm reading, "Traumatized: Identify, Understand, and Cope with PTSD and Emotional Stress," which takes a softer approach than the "pull up your bootstraps" vibe of this one.
November 5, 2021
Being familiar with (and a great admirer of) George's long and impressive research career, I anticipated being impressed by the insights and thoughtfulness of this book. I was not disappointed.
I was not prepared for how excellent the writing is though - often the preciseness demanded by good social science work against fluency and creativity. Not so here. The narrative details are shockingly good. Quite fitting with the book's thesis, Bonanno vividly paints portraits of trauma while deftly side-stepping some of the sensationalism that I find mar so many books on trauma.
The chapter of three interwoven first-person narratives of 9-11 in particular is an award-deserving piece of writing.
I was not prepared for how excellent the writing is though - often the preciseness demanded by good social science work against fluency and creativity. Not so here. The narrative details are shockingly good. Quite fitting with the book's thesis, Bonanno vividly paints portraits of trauma while deftly side-stepping some of the sensationalism that I find mar so many books on trauma.
The chapter of three interwoven first-person narratives of 9-11 in particular is an award-deserving piece of writing.
October 21, 2024
George Bonanno is a professor of clinical psychology at Columbia University. He has spent much of his career studying responses to trauma and its aftermath. This book is a summation of some of that research and includes several case studies of individuals who dealt with a traumatic event.
I have been reading a lot of books on this sort of thing over the last year and am trying to understand a little better, not only some of the things that are going on in the mind of someone with PTSD or complex PTSD, but also strategies which could help them. I think this book was helpful, although it could also be easily misunderstood.
The book begins with a bit of a history lesson, discussing the origin of the word trauma and the evolution of our understanding of the idea of PTSD. I think it would be fair to say that he believes that we have loosened how bad something has to be for it be called trauma and in so doing, we have over diagnosed PTSD. A really bad test or a mean professor may cause someone to experience anxiety, but whether it rises to the level of PTSD is an open question. Bonanno thinks these individuals should receive treatment, but that they probably don't have true PTSD.
(Bonanno doesn't say here, but I've heard him on podcasts say that he thinks DSM criteria for mental health diagnoses are social constructs to get insurance to pay for treatment. He believes that good mental health professionals know what they are dealing with, even without long lists of criteria and that the diagnostic criteria for PTSD is confusing enough to make it not terribly helpful.)
From there, Bonanno moves to talking about resilience and regulatory flexibility. Apparently, when you look at survivors of a traumatic event -- some type of accident, 9/11, or the loss of a spouse -- around 2/3 of them will bounce back (even if they feel rough for a while afterward) and return to normal, while 1/3 will experience ongoing difficulty with PTSD symptoms for years afterward. The point is not to blame the 1/3 who have long term struggles, but rather to attempt to analyze what the beneficial practices that the resilient individuals had who were able to weather these traumatic life events.
Along the way, Bonanno tells a variety of case reports -- a man who was run over by a truck and ended having a pretty difficult road to recovery, a girl who was thrown from a horse and sustained a spinal cord injury, and several people who were in the World Trade Center buildings on 9/11.
Bonanno likes the term "regulatory flexibility" rather than resilience. He does think people differ in terms of their resilience, but he thinks that that is a more innate feature of who they are and there would be more benefit attempting to help people become more flexible emotionally.
A few things he mentions along the way:
-- Psychologists overestimate the prevalence of poor responses to trauma because they deal with the 1/3 of patients who aren't able to deal with the trauma in their lives. Studies are necessary to show what percent of trauma survivors are able to return to normal after they experience trauma. After 9/11 FEMA dedicated millions of dollars to provide therapy to New Yorkers to help them recover from the trauma of the World Trade Center destruction. News reports during COVID claimed that the US would experience a level of PTSD like never before. Neither one of these dire scenarios came to pass because people are more resilient than we give them credit for.
-- Much of psychology is not based on studies. Kubler-Ross's stages of grief are not scientifically validated. Many people do experience some or all of these stages, but many don't really and are able to move forward fairly quickly. It probably isn't a big deal, but if it makes someone feel as though they are abnormal because they aren't following a "normal trajectory" then the model is problematic. This is true for many different diagnoses and therapies.
-- The resilience paradox is the fact that researchers have great difficulty predicting ahead of time who will be able to weather trauma and who will shut down in response to it. We can see the things that those people do that help them survive, but that is only with retrospection.
-- Emotional flexibility is about using different techniques to deal with trauma and adjusting them when they are working or aren't working. Many techniques, like reframing, may help in some scenarios but not in others. People who do the best are willing to use a mixture of techniques and even, occasionally "coping ugly" in order to move forward from trauma. There is no one technique that is perfect for every scenario and it is good if you have a repertoire of many things you can use after experiencing serious trauma.
I will say that I found the book interesting and had a useful way of framing the subject. I don't think that Bonanno is trying to say that PTSD and Complex PTSD don't exist -- he says multiple times that they do and that they are challenging to deal with. What he is saying is that even with severe trauma, most people are able to survive and cope. Studying their experiences and coping mechanisms may be beneficial for people who are struggling.
Overall, I found the book an interesting read, as much because of the stories I found within it as from the information that was shared by the author.
I have been reading a lot of books on this sort of thing over the last year and am trying to understand a little better, not only some of the things that are going on in the mind of someone with PTSD or complex PTSD, but also strategies which could help them. I think this book was helpful, although it could also be easily misunderstood.
The book begins with a bit of a history lesson, discussing the origin of the word trauma and the evolution of our understanding of the idea of PTSD. I think it would be fair to say that he believes that we have loosened how bad something has to be for it be called trauma and in so doing, we have over diagnosed PTSD. A really bad test or a mean professor may cause someone to experience anxiety, but whether it rises to the level of PTSD is an open question. Bonanno thinks these individuals should receive treatment, but that they probably don't have true PTSD.
(Bonanno doesn't say here, but I've heard him on podcasts say that he thinks DSM criteria for mental health diagnoses are social constructs to get insurance to pay for treatment. He believes that good mental health professionals know what they are dealing with, even without long lists of criteria and that the diagnostic criteria for PTSD is confusing enough to make it not terribly helpful.)
From there, Bonanno moves to talking about resilience and regulatory flexibility. Apparently, when you look at survivors of a traumatic event -- some type of accident, 9/11, or the loss of a spouse -- around 2/3 of them will bounce back (even if they feel rough for a while afterward) and return to normal, while 1/3 will experience ongoing difficulty with PTSD symptoms for years afterward. The point is not to blame the 1/3 who have long term struggles, but rather to attempt to analyze what the beneficial practices that the resilient individuals had who were able to weather these traumatic life events.
Along the way, Bonanno tells a variety of case reports -- a man who was run over by a truck and ended having a pretty difficult road to recovery, a girl who was thrown from a horse and sustained a spinal cord injury, and several people who were in the World Trade Center buildings on 9/11.
Bonanno likes the term "regulatory flexibility" rather than resilience. He does think people differ in terms of their resilience, but he thinks that that is a more innate feature of who they are and there would be more benefit attempting to help people become more flexible emotionally.
A few things he mentions along the way:
-- Psychologists overestimate the prevalence of poor responses to trauma because they deal with the 1/3 of patients who aren't able to deal with the trauma in their lives. Studies are necessary to show what percent of trauma survivors are able to return to normal after they experience trauma. After 9/11 FEMA dedicated millions of dollars to provide therapy to New Yorkers to help them recover from the trauma of the World Trade Center destruction. News reports during COVID claimed that the US would experience a level of PTSD like never before. Neither one of these dire scenarios came to pass because people are more resilient than we give them credit for.
-- Much of psychology is not based on studies. Kubler-Ross's stages of grief are not scientifically validated. Many people do experience some or all of these stages, but many don't really and are able to move forward fairly quickly. It probably isn't a big deal, but if it makes someone feel as though they are abnormal because they aren't following a "normal trajectory" then the model is problematic. This is true for many different diagnoses and therapies.
-- The resilience paradox is the fact that researchers have great difficulty predicting ahead of time who will be able to weather trauma and who will shut down in response to it. We can see the things that those people do that help them survive, but that is only with retrospection.
-- Emotional flexibility is about using different techniques to deal with trauma and adjusting them when they are working or aren't working. Many techniques, like reframing, may help in some scenarios but not in others. People who do the best are willing to use a mixture of techniques and even, occasionally "coping ugly" in order to move forward from trauma. There is no one technique that is perfect for every scenario and it is good if you have a repertoire of many things you can use after experiencing serious trauma.
I will say that I found the book interesting and had a useful way of framing the subject. I don't think that Bonanno is trying to say that PTSD and Complex PTSD don't exist -- he says multiple times that they do and that they are challenging to deal with. What he is saying is that even with severe trauma, most people are able to survive and cope. Studying their experiences and coping mechanisms may be beneficial for people who are struggling.
Overall, I found the book an interesting read, as much because of the stories I found within it as from the information that was shared by the author.
May 11, 2024
Enjoyed this book and its central thesis. Goes against the current trend of congregation around trauma, which has made PTSD and trauma seem more of a common occurrence among humans. This book argues that humans are more resilient than we think!! And that we are made to get better!! Of course, I think this book is also an simplification and doesn’t necessarily dive into nuance, e.g. I wonder how race, gender, sexuality would play into things + lumping trauma together versus different types of incidents may mean very different results. Most examples were about getting over physical traumas. But I think the central thesis still stands, and I liked the breakdown of the flexible mindset and the flexible sequence as easy concepts to keep in mind when dealing with stress or potentially traumatic incidents in one’s lives.
Key points:
- no event is inherently traumatic - but can be potentially traumatic. Most people exposed to potentially traumatic events are able to continue on with their normal lives relatively quickly without suffering any long term difficulties —> i.e. most people are resilient
- Trauma severity might be related to trauma outcome but it’s not the full story. Also depends on how a person subjectively perceives the threat. That’s why accurate threat perception is necessary for healthy adaptation. Also, too much focus on threat at the wrong time can be harmful and can lead to people more likely to face traumatic stress.
- Coping and emotion regulation strategies are not inherently good nor bad. Each strategy has its costs and benefits. All that matters is that it works. Even if sometimes it means you have to “cope ugly”, i.e. use strategies people might think are conventionally unhealthy.
- Flexibility is the process we use to adapt ourselves to traumatic stress do that we can find our way to resilience. It does not just happen (not a passive process)
- What we need to adapt to is a flexibility mindset, which is a conviction that we will be able to adapt ourselves to the challenge at hand, that we will do whatever is needed to move forward. At the core of the mindset are 3 interrelated beliefs: optimism about the future, confidence in our ability to cope, and a willingness to think about a threat as a challenge (challenge orientation).
- Optimism - motivates us to work for a positive future.
- Challenge orientation - shifting from simply telling ourselves how bad it is going to be to focusing on what we need to do to get past it. Gets us to think about what we need to do.
- Confidence in coping - helps us do what we need to do to get over the challenge.
- Flexibility sequence (how we become flexible) - consists of context sensitivity, repertoire, and feedback monitoring.
- Context sensitivity - decoding the situational context to determine what is happening to use and what we need to do.
- Repertoire - working out not only what we need to do, but what we are able to do, depending on what tools we have at our disposal in our repertoire. Aka our coping mechanisms.
- Feedback monitoring - iterating our strategies so they help us cope. This is very much a conscious decision.
- The use of (goal directed) self talk as a way to enhance the dynamic interaction of both the flexibility mindset and the flexibility sequence.
Key points:
- no event is inherently traumatic - but can be potentially traumatic. Most people exposed to potentially traumatic events are able to continue on with their normal lives relatively quickly without suffering any long term difficulties —> i.e. most people are resilient
- Trauma severity might be related to trauma outcome but it’s not the full story. Also depends on how a person subjectively perceives the threat. That’s why accurate threat perception is necessary for healthy adaptation. Also, too much focus on threat at the wrong time can be harmful and can lead to people more likely to face traumatic stress.
- Coping and emotion regulation strategies are not inherently good nor bad. Each strategy has its costs and benefits. All that matters is that it works. Even if sometimes it means you have to “cope ugly”, i.e. use strategies people might think are conventionally unhealthy.
- Flexibility is the process we use to adapt ourselves to traumatic stress do that we can find our way to resilience. It does not just happen (not a passive process)
- What we need to adapt to is a flexibility mindset, which is a conviction that we will be able to adapt ourselves to the challenge at hand, that we will do whatever is needed to move forward. At the core of the mindset are 3 interrelated beliefs: optimism about the future, confidence in our ability to cope, and a willingness to think about a threat as a challenge (challenge orientation).
- Optimism - motivates us to work for a positive future.
- Challenge orientation - shifting from simply telling ourselves how bad it is going to be to focusing on what we need to do to get past it. Gets us to think about what we need to do.
- Confidence in coping - helps us do what we need to do to get over the challenge.
- Flexibility sequence (how we become flexible) - consists of context sensitivity, repertoire, and feedback monitoring.
- Context sensitivity - decoding the situational context to determine what is happening to use and what we need to do.
- Repertoire - working out not only what we need to do, but what we are able to do, depending on what tools we have at our disposal in our repertoire. Aka our coping mechanisms.
- Feedback monitoring - iterating our strategies so they help us cope. This is very much a conscious decision.
- The use of (goal directed) self talk as a way to enhance the dynamic interaction of both the flexibility mindset and the flexibility sequence.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 17, 2022
This book wasn't quite what I thought it would be, based on a podcast I listened to with the author.
I appreciated his counter-intuitive messaging that many people who experience trauma recover fine. I feel like we're in an age where everything gets the "trauma" label and this book had some good even-handed addressing of that topic. There's a way in which I think the main ideas of both camps are true. As this book states, about 2/3rds of people who experience traumatic events get better quickly. But the remaining 1/3rd is still a lot of people!
Then the book proceeded to be a self-help "how to" manual of developing resilience. It's a topic I've been interested, but mostly it left me rather demoralized. He says it's things we can learn, but he often talks about the exception in the studies being those who are depressed. It turns out I have life-long severe depression. When he says we can develop "optimism" as a trait it's honestly laughable to me. Like, beyond even making me feel bad, just utterly unattainable. The best I can hope for, when I do a ton of CBT work and exercises, it to temper my pessimism a little to be not quite so dramatic.
It felt like a lot of the steps were like that. Either common sense (try something, if it doesn't work, try something else) or generic and devoid of meaning enough to where I'm not quite sure what they mean. Or just something that would be nice to do but without concrete steps on how to do them. How do I develop optimism? For someone with a lot of self-loathing how do I develop confidence in my ability to cope?
Perhaps some of my pessimism is also because he seemed to be relying on work that some of my favorite authors have somewhat debunked. Jesse Singal's The Quick Fix did a good job showing issues with the implicit association test and with the grit approach. With the latter mainly the issue being it's not clear just learning about it is enough to change one's perspective. I felt like that with a lot of this book. His protestations aside, it felt like either I have the traits that lead to flexibility or I don't. And it's pretty clear from my life experiences that I don't.
But I'll still try to develop some of the tactics. I've been in the midst of ongoing chronic challenges and perhaps my mood is colored by that as well. But I think some resources that do a better job of meeting me where I am, such as David Burn's books, might bear more fruit.
I appreciated his counter-intuitive messaging that many people who experience trauma recover fine. I feel like we're in an age where everything gets the "trauma" label and this book had some good even-handed addressing of that topic. There's a way in which I think the main ideas of both camps are true. As this book states, about 2/3rds of people who experience traumatic events get better quickly. But the remaining 1/3rd is still a lot of people!
Then the book proceeded to be a self-help "how to" manual of developing resilience. It's a topic I've been interested, but mostly it left me rather demoralized. He says it's things we can learn, but he often talks about the exception in the studies being those who are depressed. It turns out I have life-long severe depression. When he says we can develop "optimism" as a trait it's honestly laughable to me. Like, beyond even making me feel bad, just utterly unattainable. The best I can hope for, when I do a ton of CBT work and exercises, it to temper my pessimism a little to be not quite so dramatic.
It felt like a lot of the steps were like that. Either common sense (try something, if it doesn't work, try something else) or generic and devoid of meaning enough to where I'm not quite sure what they mean. Or just something that would be nice to do but without concrete steps on how to do them. How do I develop optimism? For someone with a lot of self-loathing how do I develop confidence in my ability to cope?
Perhaps some of my pessimism is also because he seemed to be relying on work that some of my favorite authors have somewhat debunked. Jesse Singal's The Quick Fix did a good job showing issues with the implicit association test and with the grit approach. With the latter mainly the issue being it's not clear just learning about it is enough to change one's perspective. I felt like that with a lot of this book. His protestations aside, it felt like either I have the traits that lead to flexibility or I don't. And it's pretty clear from my life experiences that I don't.
But I'll still try to develop some of the tactics. I've been in the midst of ongoing chronic challenges and perhaps my mood is colored by that as well. But I think some resources that do a better job of meeting me where I am, such as David Burn's books, might bear more fruit.
May 24, 2025
An interesting read and welcome challenge to the idea that trauma is necessarily a permanent, debilitating affliction. Bonanno argues that even in instances of horrendous personal and collective tragedy—be it war, terrorism, or crippling injury—the tendency is for most people to be resilient and not suffer long term psychological ill effects. The reasons, he suggests, has much less to do with the severity of the triggering event than it does the mindset of the person confronted with the event.
Anyone who has worked in a field with the remotest relation to psychology or behavioral health will likely be familiar with Bessel Van der Kolk’s concept and book,” The Body Keeps the Score” by which trauma is thought to be unconsciously stored in the mind and body in an observable, detectable way.
Bonanno’s book implicitly rejects this framework without mentioning it directly. The human mind is remarkably adaptive and even without the aid of a coherent psychological theory of the case, all sorts of people are successful in navigating and overcoming traumatic events if they possess or develop similar traits: confidence in one’s ability, optimism, a flexible mindset, and a conception of their adversity as a challenge to be overcome.
In a sense, he argues for something like the classic Stoicism of Seneca whom he quotes favorably. Perception—if not dictating reality altogether—certainly dictates one’s immediate and long term psychological response. Events and circumstances are rarely inherently good or evil, but take on those qualities based on how one consciously or unconsciously decides to interpret them. “Nothing good or bad but thinking makes it so” as Hamlet would say.
It is an empowering concept though it seems like a missed opportunity not to have invoked Epictetus, whose own crippling disability fueled his austere devotion to and teaching of Stoicism.
Anyone who has worked in a field with the remotest relation to psychology or behavioral health will likely be familiar with Bessel Van der Kolk’s concept and book,” The Body Keeps the Score” by which trauma is thought to be unconsciously stored in the mind and body in an observable, detectable way.
Bonanno’s book implicitly rejects this framework without mentioning it directly. The human mind is remarkably adaptive and even without the aid of a coherent psychological theory of the case, all sorts of people are successful in navigating and overcoming traumatic events if they possess or develop similar traits: confidence in one’s ability, optimism, a flexible mindset, and a conception of their adversity as a challenge to be overcome.
In a sense, he argues for something like the classic Stoicism of Seneca whom he quotes favorably. Perception—if not dictating reality altogether—certainly dictates one’s immediate and long term psychological response. Events and circumstances are rarely inherently good or evil, but take on those qualities based on how one consciously or unconsciously decides to interpret them. “Nothing good or bad but thinking makes it so” as Hamlet would say.
It is an empowering concept though it seems like a missed opportunity not to have invoked Epictetus, whose own crippling disability fueled his austere devotion to and teaching of Stoicism.
July 31, 2022
The current narrative in our culture is that a traumatic experience = PTSD, that some lingering struggle after something bad = the serious mental health disorder PTSD. Working at a mental health therapist I regularly see this narrative both in the over diagnosis of PTSD and the practice of self-diagnosing PTSD based on an incomplete understanding of what that truly means.
"...Most people confronted with a potentially traumatic event do not experience trauma reactions. They are resilient. In other words, for most people, traumatic stress dissipates as they find ways to flexibly adapt to the challenges an event poses."
In this book we learn about the history of PTSD the diagnosis and the shifting understanding of trauma and how people respond to potentially traumatic events. We learn about blind spots in our thinking (an example is therapists only seeing people suffering after trauma because those who are flexibly adapting aren't going to therapy), and we learn about three decades worth of research on resiliency.
The author uses detailed case studies to bring the research to life and guide the reader through the theories he has established. It's a helpful book to bring balance to what feels like a trauma/PTSD obsessed climate.
I do wish more examples were given of traumas often hidden or shamed such as rape or childhood abuse, as most of the examples were physical traumas like accidents or public traumas like 9/11 survivors. He does have one case study of a physical assault where the survivor felt a great deal of shame, but a few more would have rounded out the case studies.
"...Most people confronted with a potentially traumatic event do not experience trauma reactions. They are resilient. In other words, for most people, traumatic stress dissipates as they find ways to flexibly adapt to the challenges an event poses."
In this book we learn about the history of PTSD the diagnosis and the shifting understanding of trauma and how people respond to potentially traumatic events. We learn about blind spots in our thinking (an example is therapists only seeing people suffering after trauma because those who are flexibly adapting aren't going to therapy), and we learn about three decades worth of research on resiliency.
The author uses detailed case studies to bring the research to life and guide the reader through the theories he has established. It's a helpful book to bring balance to what feels like a trauma/PTSD obsessed climate.
I do wish more examples were given of traumas often hidden or shamed such as rape or childhood abuse, as most of the examples were physical traumas like accidents or public traumas like 9/11 survivors. He does have one case study of a physical assault where the survivor felt a great deal of shame, but a few more would have rounded out the case studies.
December 13, 2022
The End of Trauma serves as a fantastic introduction to research on trauma. In short, all of us, including children, are much more resilient to trauma to pop culture would lead you to believe.
After 9/11, only around 7.5% of Manhattan residents met criteria for PTSD, if they lived near the World Trade Center, that rate rose to 20%. This means that ~80% of people who experienced an incredibly stressful, negative event did not develop PTSD. And, 6 month later, most PTSD symptoms had resolved.
A similar pattern is found when looking at soldiers with severe combat exposure where 81% showed a resilience trajectory, meaning that their responses to the potentially traumatic events tended to follow a pattern of chronic symptoms, followed by gradual recovery, and then resilience.
The book does an excellent job of accessibly explaining the research and then of showing a real-life application as someone navigates through a potentially traumatic event. He defines a potentially traumatic event as an event that is painful and disturbing and claims (with good evidence) that the best way to process potentially traumatic events is to put on a "flexibility mindset."
A flexibility mindset has three key components:
1. Optimism about the future
2. Confidence in our ability to cope
3. Willingness to think about the threat as a challenge
These components are complementary so their sum is greater than their parts. The rest of the book delves into the nitty gritty in an engaging manner. If you are interested in trauma, check this book out.
After 9/11, only around 7.5% of Manhattan residents met criteria for PTSD, if they lived near the World Trade Center, that rate rose to 20%. This means that ~80% of people who experienced an incredibly stressful, negative event did not develop PTSD. And, 6 month later, most PTSD symptoms had resolved.
A similar pattern is found when looking at soldiers with severe combat exposure where 81% showed a resilience trajectory, meaning that their responses to the potentially traumatic events tended to follow a pattern of chronic symptoms, followed by gradual recovery, and then resilience.
The book does an excellent job of accessibly explaining the research and then of showing a real-life application as someone navigates through a potentially traumatic event. He defines a potentially traumatic event as an event that is painful and disturbing and claims (with good evidence) that the best way to process potentially traumatic events is to put on a "flexibility mindset."
A flexibility mindset has three key components:
1. Optimism about the future
2. Confidence in our ability to cope
3. Willingness to think about the threat as a challenge
These components are complementary so their sum is greater than their parts. The rest of the book delves into the nitty gritty in an engaging manner. If you are interested in trauma, check this book out.
March 29, 2025
Well written and structured, however I don’t like his approach of resilience = opposite of PTSD and overall I don’t feel that he actually demonstrates what he promises in the title, that « resilience is changing how we think of PTSD ». I find that he precisely reinforces the idea that PTSD aren’t resilient when in fact they are, or they wouldn’t be alive anymore.
His writing is not academic meaning it shows no critical thinking. There is no dissecting evidence to offer nuance interpretation or challenge current results. Instead this is a book to showcase his passion about his field of research in resilience. That’s great too but therefore one must exercise caution with what he advances.
My main reproach is that at no point did he mention sexual trauma, even though this is the kind of event most likely to trigger PTSD (see Kessler et al. 2017 research). He only addresses traumas that are not interpersonal in nature which actually have different PTSD risks levels and PTSD protective characteristics.
I also find that, in sharing about the flexibility mindset and approach, he ends up presenting it as THE model of resilience. In fact, at no point did he address what predicting portion does this model has. He is very passionate about his research of course and I just think he has a limited view about PTSD actual experience and that not all sources of it are equal. Ask any survivors of abuse and they’ll tell you getting over the physical abuse was easy, it’s dealing with the emotional abuse the hardest. His book doesn’t even addresses these sources of trauma.
His writing is not academic meaning it shows no critical thinking. There is no dissecting evidence to offer nuance interpretation or challenge current results. Instead this is a book to showcase his passion about his field of research in resilience. That’s great too but therefore one must exercise caution with what he advances.
My main reproach is that at no point did he mention sexual trauma, even though this is the kind of event most likely to trigger PTSD (see Kessler et al. 2017 research). He only addresses traumas that are not interpersonal in nature which actually have different PTSD risks levels and PTSD protective characteristics.
I also find that, in sharing about the flexibility mindset and approach, he ends up presenting it as THE model of resilience. In fact, at no point did he address what predicting portion does this model has. He is very passionate about his research of course and I just think he has a limited view about PTSD actual experience and that not all sources of it are equal. Ask any survivors of abuse and they’ll tell you getting over the physical abuse was easy, it’s dealing with the emotional abuse the hardest. His book doesn’t even addresses these sources of trauma.
October 24, 2021
Psychologist George A. Bonanno offers up a hopeful reimagining of how we think about trauma. Unlike mainstream understandings of trauma which assume that traumatic stress always causes trauma and/or PTSD, Bonnano argues that many of us experience trauma without developing long-lasting stress or PTSD. According to Bonnano, 1/3 of those who suffer trauma show resilience and move through the experience mostly unharmed -- so why aren't we focusing on the study of resilience instead of the study of trauma? My favorite portion of the book was Bonnano's re-telling of the morning of 9/11 and how that experience shaped each person individually, and rather unpredictably. Towards the end of the book, Bonanno lays out some psychological frameworks that anyone can use to navigate trauma or stress. One that I found particularly helpful was the flexibility mindset. This mindset is defined as 1) optimism 2) ability to see negative experiences as an opportunity to solve problems 3) a confidence in your coping skills. So, instead of saying "This is the worst" you might say "Alright, this is challenging and not ideal but this is going to be ok. Let me figure out how I am going to approach this." The book was slightly disjointed at times, but the underlying concepts kept my attention. One gaping hole was no discussion of sexual trauma and PTSD. Overall, a hopeful look at how adaptable and resilient people are in the face of tragedy and stress.
April 29, 2022
This book didn't actually take me 2 months and 8 days to read. A busy time with work prevented me from finishing this sooner.
Nevertheless, despite the date stated and finished being 2+ months apart, The End of Trauma was a fascinating read. I had heard of this book after listening to a January episode of the Honestly podcast hosted by Bari Weiss where she conducted an interview with Dr. Bonanno about today's widespread use of the term "trauma" and this book. The podcast episode sparked my interest in wanting to learn more about the subject of trauma. For example, I wasn't aware that trauma is a relatively newer concept in the field of psychology/psychiatry, the idea of shell shock came about from WWI, and PTSD wasn't in the realm of existence until the Vietnam War. We're a lot more resilient than we think as humans and Dr. Bonanno proves this with the myriad of studies he, his colleagues at Columbia University, and other psychologists/psychiatrists have conducted over the years. The personal stories of individuals' potentially traumatic events were saddening yet inspiring to read about, showing that despite odds being stacked against someone, there is a very high probability (2/3) that someone will overcome from a setback.
I highly recommend this book, especially to those who want to learn more about the field of trauma.
Nevertheless, despite the date stated and finished being 2+ months apart, The End of Trauma was a fascinating read. I had heard of this book after listening to a January episode of the Honestly podcast hosted by Bari Weiss where she conducted an interview with Dr. Bonanno about today's widespread use of the term "trauma" and this book. The podcast episode sparked my interest in wanting to learn more about the subject of trauma. For example, I wasn't aware that trauma is a relatively newer concept in the field of psychology/psychiatry, the idea of shell shock came about from WWI, and PTSD wasn't in the realm of existence until the Vietnam War. We're a lot more resilient than we think as humans and Dr. Bonanno proves this with the myriad of studies he, his colleagues at Columbia University, and other psychologists/psychiatrists have conducted over the years. The personal stories of individuals' potentially traumatic events were saddening yet inspiring to read about, showing that despite odds being stacked against someone, there is a very high probability (2/3) that someone will overcome from a setback.
I highly recommend this book, especially to those who want to learn more about the field of trauma.
February 20, 2025
At one level, this book is exceptionally helpful: a leading psychological researcher takes on the cultural sacred cow of PTSD and trauma, arguing that the pop-level discussion of these topics is flawed and harmful. I found the early chapters arguing against the current cultural tide very helpful and quotable. And there are some good practical suggestions Bonanno gives later, from a genuine desire to help people engage with real suffering: pursue flexibility (because resilience is mysterious), both in mindset and in practice.
But a Christian has to engage this at a deeper level, especially the more profound the suffering. Bonanno, like the whole field of secular psychology(s), merely brackets the questions of ultimate meaning in life and death. Use them if they help you, or discard them if they don't. Which raises a profound theological question: could you "cope" with a life-threatening illness or a massive moral evil done against you, rebound from it, become stronger...and use all of that to hide from saving knowledge of the one true God? Biblically, Job doesn't look "resilient" - but he encounters the real God. Balaam has a "traumatic" encounter with death (three of them, actually), adjusts his expectations and strategies, encounters "the divine"...and was later killed as an enemy of God.
Perhaps, in the face of death and moral evil, "coping" isn't our ultimate goal...
But a Christian has to engage this at a deeper level, especially the more profound the suffering. Bonanno, like the whole field of secular psychology(s), merely brackets the questions of ultimate meaning in life and death. Use them if they help you, or discard them if they don't. Which raises a profound theological question: could you "cope" with a life-threatening illness or a massive moral evil done against you, rebound from it, become stronger...and use all of that to hide from saving knowledge of the one true God? Biblically, Job doesn't look "resilient" - but he encounters the real God. Balaam has a "traumatic" encounter with death (three of them, actually), adjusts his expectations and strategies, encounters "the divine"...and was later killed as an enemy of God.
Perhaps, in the face of death and moral evil, "coping" isn't our ultimate goal...
February 26, 2023
Not really a self-help book, Bonano explains the science that led him to define resilience as a "flexibility mindset" response to trauma, which consists of 3 elements, and is conducted in a 3 part sequence. He uses real life examples of interesting people and scientific studies to illustrate these qualities. Basically, the mindset is optimism (it will be ok), confidence in your ability to cope (i have the skills), and a "challenge approach" (I will do what is necessary). Acted out in a sequence of questions: context sensitivity (what is happening), repertoire (what can I do) and feedback monitoring (is it working). The flexibility mindset allows those with resilience to change and adapt coping strategies as necessary. The majority of people have resilience in the face of trauma even without knowing explicitly. What this book doesn't delve into very much is why some of us don't have it and how we can cultivate it. It's more about the journey towards defining it, and as such some might find it a bit dry. Personally I've got experience reading the driest of psychology science textbooks, so I thought this book was a good mix of interesting stories and science. And at least the well-defined concept of flexibility mindset gives me somewhere more solid to start.
February 23, 2024
Really well considered analysis of the author's and others' research - felt like it really went into some depth considering various factors at play and maybe less biased or cherry picking than some other books feel? BUT as others have said perhaps less relevant to complex or longer term or developmental trauma, which was not really mentioned, or the impact of various resources and privileges - many of the examples were obviously financially well off to pursue further supports, whereas I wonder how various inequities would impact others in similar scenarios - especially with passing mention of the marshmallow test without further discussion around the impact of poverty on the results.
Would have also been interested in a discussion around self-compassionate talk in amongst self-talk more broadly but overall great complementing work to some of the other trauma stuff I've read + reminded me that I do keep meaning to finish the Brain's Way of Healing as a similar subject... I'll get there...
Would have also been interested in a discussion around self-compassionate talk in amongst self-talk more broadly but overall great complementing work to some of the other trauma stuff I've read + reminded me that I do keep meaning to finish the Brain's Way of Healing as a similar subject... I'll get there...
April 5, 2025
Anecdotes went on for far too long. Had to wait until page 238 for a table that pretty much summed up all the important points of his theory:
Optimism, confidence in coping, challenge appraisal, flexibility sequence, content sensitivity, repertoire and feedback monitoring.
Retyping the list also brings up the point that this reads like a jargon filled explanation for concepts that have been addressed in a more accessible manner by other writers. Near the end you get a bit more context about his relationship with the subjects of the stories and it explains the lengthy focus, but doesn’t address the possible bias.
The long list of the qualities of resilient people felt like a set up to debunk it with his own theory of terms that I already included above. The title is a misnomer, perhaps how some people cope with trauma was already taken. This book certainly didn’t end trauma.
Optimism, confidence in coping, challenge appraisal, flexibility sequence, content sensitivity, repertoire and feedback monitoring.
Retyping the list also brings up the point that this reads like a jargon filled explanation for concepts that have been addressed in a more accessible manner by other writers. Near the end you get a bit more context about his relationship with the subjects of the stories and it explains the lengthy focus, but doesn’t address the possible bias.
The long list of the qualities of resilient people felt like a set up to debunk it with his own theory of terms that I already included above. The title is a misnomer, perhaps how some people cope with trauma was already taken. This book certainly didn’t end trauma.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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