Finding Solid Ground: Overcoming Obstacles in Trauma Treatment

Even seasoned clinicians can struggle when trying to help to highly traumatized and dissociative patients. This book and its accompanying workbook for patients provide an evidence-informed, pragmatic, and compassionate approach to the stabilization and treatment of complex trauma and dissociation. These books will help clinicians immediately begin assessment and treatment with traumatized individuals using a comprehensive therapeutic program that includes session-by-session information sheets and exercises developed through decades of clinical experience, studies, and feedback from individuals living with trauma-related disorders. Finding Solid Ground: Overcoming Obstacles in Trauma Treatment offers guidance on how to use the program in individual and group contexts, expert recommendations for assessing dissociation, and clinical vignettes that focus on how to overcome common challenges in trauma treatment. The companion workbook includes the patient-facing Information Sheets and Exercises that are the foundation of the Finding Solid Ground program. Together, these books present a coherent, comprehensive approach to trauma treatment that rests upon a clearly articulated understanding of the neurobiological impacts of trauma. Clinicians of all levels of experience will find these books inspiring, informative, and accessible.

Bethany Brand, Ph.D., a Professor at Towson University, is an expert in trauma disorders and dissociation. She serves on international and national task forces developing guidelines for the assessment and treatment of trauma disorders. Dr. Brand's research focuses on a series of international dissociative disorders treatment studies (TOP DD studies); assessment methods for distinguishing dissociative disorders from other conditions including malingering; training therapists about treating trauma; and the assessment of the accuracy and adequacy of textbooks' coverage of trauma. In her private practice, Dr. Brand treats complex trauma patients and serves as a forensic expert in trauma-related cases. H. Schielke, Ph.D. is the Trauma Services Development Lead for Homewood Health Centre and the Centre's Traumatic Stress Injury & Concurrent Program in Guelph, Ontario. Specialized in the assessment and treatment of trauma-related disorders, Dr. Schielke's work is informed by post-doctoral fellowship at The Trauma Disorders Program at Sheppard Pratt Health System and involvement with the California Department of State Hospitals' Trauma-Informed Care Project. Dr. Schielke's research is focused on the treatment of trauma-related disorders, psychotherapy process, and the relational components of psychotherapy. Francesca Schiavone, MD, FRCPC. is a staff psychiatrist at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, in the Borderline Personality Disorder Clinic, and the Women's Trauma Program. She is also a Lecturer at the University of Toronto. Her work includes providing diagnostic assessment and treatment of a range of trauma-related disorders as well as teaching and supervision of postgraduate trainees. Ruth A. Lanius, M.D., Ph.D. is a Psychiatry Professor and Harris-Woodman Chair at the University of Western Ontario, where she directs the Clinical Research Program for PTSD. Ruth has over 25 years of clinical and research experience with trauma-related disorders. Ruth has received numerous research and teaching awards, including the Banting Award for Military Health Research. She has published over 150 research articles and book chapters focusing on brain adaptations to psychological trauma and novel adjunct treatments for PTSD. Ruth has co-authored The Effects of Early Life Trauma on Health and Disease: The Hidden Epidemic and Healing the Traumatized Self: Consciousness, Neuroscience, Treatment.

Foreword - Frank Putnam, M.D. PrefaceChapter 1 Trauma-Related Disorders and Dissociation: Hidden in Plain Sight at Great Cost Chapter 2 Assessment of Dissociation, Trauma-Related Disorders, and Dissociative DisordersChapter 3 The Neurobiology of Trauma-Related Disorders: What Patients and Therapists Need to KnowChapter 4 An Overview of Complex Trauma-Related Disorder Treatment and the TOP DD Studies' Research Findings Chapter 5 Understanding and Addressing the Impact of Trauma on Relational FunctioningChapter 6 Addressing Challenges Related to Dissociation, Emotions, and Somatic SymptomsChapter 7 Understanding and Working with Dissociative Self-States (DSS)Chapter 8 Stabilizing Unhealthy and Unsafe BehaviorsChapter 9 The Finding Solid Ground Program and How to Use It in Individual and Group Settings