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Trauma's Labyrinth: Reflections of a Wounded Healer
Trauma can feel like a labyrinth, twisting on itself like a maze of despair, without end or exit. This seems particularly true in today’s chaotic world of pandemics, climate change, social conflict, and systemic violence. Increasingly, the conditions of the larger world aggravate, if not cause, the traumas in our individual lives.
However, as Laura K. Kerr explores in this wide-ranging collection of essays, not only can we heal from trauma, but we can use it as an opportunity for growth and transformation, changing ourselves and the world for the better. Drawing from her experiences as researcher, trauma survivor, and psychotherapist, she examines various causes of trauma, details how to understand and treat trauma’s effects, and explores the role society plays in activating traumatic defenses. Despite the weightiness of the topic, Dr. Kerr brings hope for lasting, positive change.
As Dr. Kerr shows, the key lies in removing rigid divides, like those between wounded and healer, self and society. When they are integrated, healing becomes transformative and enduring—not only for ourselves but for the increasingly traumatized world in which we live.
However, as Laura K. Kerr explores in this wide-ranging collection of essays, not only can we heal from trauma, but we can use it as an opportunity for growth and transformation, changing ourselves and the world for the better. Drawing from her experiences as researcher, trauma survivor, and psychotherapist, she examines various causes of trauma, details how to understand and treat trauma’s effects, and explores the role society plays in activating traumatic defenses. Despite the weightiness of the topic, Dr. Kerr brings hope for lasting, positive change.
As Dr. Kerr shows, the key lies in removing rigid divides, like those between wounded and healer, self and society. When they are integrated, healing becomes transformative and enduring—not only for ourselves but for the increasingly traumatized world in which we live.
344 pages, Paperback
Published March 27, 2022
3 people are currently reading
14 people want to read
About the author
Laura K. Kerr
3 booksLaura K. Kerr, PhD is a scholar and former psychotherapist specialized in sensorimotor psychotherapy. Though her primary focus is trauma and its effects, her interests are varied, with degrees in physics, atmospheric and space science, philosophy, counseling psychology, and the philosophy of education and symbolic systems.
Dr. Kerr has published numerous articles, book chapters, encyclopedia entries, a monograph, Dissociation in Late Modern America, and a collection of essays, Trauma’s Labyrinth: Reflections of a Wounded Healer. She is currently at work on her next two books: one on the evolution of spirituality and the other on recovery from sexual trauma.
She lives in San Francisco, CA with her husband. When not writing nonfiction, she gardens, paints, writes poetry, practices yoga, and enjoys nature.
Dr. Kerr has published numerous articles, book chapters, encyclopedia entries, a monograph, Dissociation in Late Modern America, and a collection of essays, Trauma’s Labyrinth: Reflections of a Wounded Healer. She is currently at work on her next two books: one on the evolution of spirituality and the other on recovery from sexual trauma.
She lives in San Francisco, CA with her husband. When not writing nonfiction, she gardens, paints, writes poetry, practices yoga, and enjoys nature.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
August 3, 2022
Trauma's Labyrinth: Reflections of a Wounded Healer is a collection of essays that reveals the effects of trauma and how systems, institutions, and broader society contribute to people's experiences of trauma. Dr. Laura Kerr brings expertise both as a trauma-focused psychotherapist and also as a person who has directly experienced trauma. She organizes the book into four parts: Recovery from Trauma, Society and Trauma, Reforming Mental Health Services, and Leaving the Labyrinth. The book includes essays addressing a variety of contexts where people experience trauma, such as sexual assault and military combat, while offering practical guidance for healing. The sections that incorporated material from Jungian analysts and Carl Jung (including the Red Book) were particularly fascinating. An essay that describes how the DSM is a tool from modernity, and thus antiquated for diagnosing in a post-modern context, was also illuminating.
As a person who has experienced trauma and who works in a helping profession companioning others who have experienced trauma, I found Kerr's book helpful for describing trauma and processes for healing in ways not addressed in other trauma-focused books. Professionals working with people who survived trauma or anyone interested in this subject will benefit from reading this book.
Thank you LK Kerr Books and NetGalley for providing the advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review.
As a person who has experienced trauma and who works in a helping profession companioning others who have experienced trauma, I found Kerr's book helpful for describing trauma and processes for healing in ways not addressed in other trauma-focused books. Professionals working with people who survived trauma or anyone interested in this subject will benefit from reading this book.
Thank you LK Kerr Books and NetGalley for providing the advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review.
June 30, 2022
Laura Kerr is a former psychotherapist who specializes in sensorimotor psychotherapy. She is a woman who has experienced trauma in her life. Her degrees, professional work, and life experiences led to a conviction to write “Trauma’s Labyrinth.”
“Trauma’s Labyrinth” is a collection of essays that bring to light the personal effects of trauma and how the larger world can aggravate the healing process. Kerr organizes this book into four parts entitled Recovery from Trauma, Society and Trauma, Reforming Mental Health Services, and Leaving the Labyrinth. While she created divides, the entire book is focused on how individuals and America have trauma and pointing out the hope that is still available for healing to begin.
I am not an expert in psychology, and my level of experience with trauma is low. Even so, I found certain essays to be very informative. One example is her essay on Intergenerational Transmission of Recovery, which focused on how we tell the story of trauma can lead to healing for generations who have carried a traumatic experience with them.
I was also intrigued by her essays on mental health services in section three. My son is autistic, so her discussion of the DSM 5 was of particular interest to me. My favorite quote is “Nevertheless, the DSM is largely unreliable because it attends to a new era’s problems with an old era’s ideology.” In Kerr’s last essay, she discusses dismantling alters. The idea that we can accept the trauma that we have experienced, but we don’t have to let it define our healing process and hinder us from becoming the person we want to be, is exciting.
My takeaway from “Trauma’s Labyrinth” is that trauma is an ever-present part of America’s history and its people. Our experiences may all be different, but they do not have to alter the hopes and dreams we have. It just may alter the path of getting there.
Overall, “Trauma’s Labyrinth” is an essential collection of essays on trauma for anyone interested in the psychological aspect of it, though may not be a book easily consumed by the everyday reader. The language is advanced, and I accompanied my reading with a dictionary and a few Google searches
“Trauma’s Labyrinth” is a collection of essays that bring to light the personal effects of trauma and how the larger world can aggravate the healing process. Kerr organizes this book into four parts entitled Recovery from Trauma, Society and Trauma, Reforming Mental Health Services, and Leaving the Labyrinth. While she created divides, the entire book is focused on how individuals and America have trauma and pointing out the hope that is still available for healing to begin.
I am not an expert in psychology, and my level of experience with trauma is low. Even so, I found certain essays to be very informative. One example is her essay on Intergenerational Transmission of Recovery, which focused on how we tell the story of trauma can lead to healing for generations who have carried a traumatic experience with them.
I was also intrigued by her essays on mental health services in section three. My son is autistic, so her discussion of the DSM 5 was of particular interest to me. My favorite quote is “Nevertheless, the DSM is largely unreliable because it attends to a new era’s problems with an old era’s ideology.” In Kerr’s last essay, she discusses dismantling alters. The idea that we can accept the trauma that we have experienced, but we don’t have to let it define our healing process and hinder us from becoming the person we want to be, is exciting.
My takeaway from “Trauma’s Labyrinth” is that trauma is an ever-present part of America’s history and its people. Our experiences may all be different, but they do not have to alter the hopes and dreams we have. It just may alter the path of getting there.
Overall, “Trauma’s Labyrinth” is an essential collection of essays on trauma for anyone interested in the psychological aspect of it, though may not be a book easily consumed by the everyday reader. The language is advanced, and I accompanied my reading with a dictionary and a few Google searches
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews