The Unspeakable Mind: Stories of Trauma and Healing from the Frontlines of PTSD Science
“An absorbing and comprehensive account of one of the scourges of our modern age. Anyone suffering from PTSD—or their loved ones—should read this book.” —Sandeep Jauhar, M.D., New York Times–bestselling author of My Father’s Brain

The Unspeakable Mind is the definitive guide for a trauma-burdened age. In these pages, VA psychiatrist, Stanford professor, and prominent trauma scientist Shaili Jain, M.D. shines a long-overdue light on the PTSD epidemic affecting today’s fractured world.

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 cultures and societies around the world.

In the twenty-first century, there has been enormous growth in the science of PTSD, a body of evidence that continues to grow exponentially. With this new knowledge have come dramatic advances in effective treatment. Jain draws on a decade of her own clinical innovation and research to argue for a paradigm shift in how PTSD should be approached, and highlights the ways care is being transformed to make it more accessible, acceptable, and available to sufferers. By identifying those most vulnerable to developing PTSD, cutting-edge medical interventions that hold the promise of preventing its onset 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 experience on the frontlines, The Unspeakable Mind offers a textured portrait of this invisible illness unrivaled in scope, laying bare PTSD’s roots, inner workings, and paths to healing. It is essential reading for understanding how humans can recover from unspeakable trauma and stands as the definitive guide to PTSD, offering new hope to sufferers, their loved ones, and health care providers.

“[A] comprehensive survey of the state of knowledge concerning PTSD. . . . Jain carefully lays out what can be said with confidence about [PTSD] . . . and what is more speculative . . . Given epidemic anxiety and stress disorders, this is a timely book that will greatly interest those who suffer from [PTSD] as well as family members and medical practitioners.” —Kirkus Reviews

“An engrossing read.” —Irvin Yalom, M.D., Emeritus professor of Psychiatry, Stanford University and bestselling author of The Gift of Therapy

“A thoroughly engaging book about the hardest parts of life presented gently, beautifully, insightfully, and with wisdom.” —Edward Hallowell, M.D., New York Times–bestselling coauthor of Driven to Distraction
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The Unspeakable Mind: Stories of Trauma and Healing from the Frontlines of PTSD Science
“An absorbing and comprehensive account of one of the scourges of our modern age. Anyone suffering from PTSD—or their loved ones—should read this book.” —Sandeep Jauhar, M.D., New York Times–bestselling author of My Father’s Brain

The Unspeakable Mind is the definitive guide for a trauma-burdened age. In these pages, VA psychiatrist, Stanford professor, and prominent trauma scientist Shaili Jain, M.D. shines a long-overdue light on the PTSD epidemic affecting today’s fractured world.

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 cultures and societies around the world.

In the twenty-first century, there has been enormous growth in the science of PTSD, a body of evidence that continues to grow exponentially. With this new knowledge have come dramatic advances in effective treatment. Jain draws on a decade of her own clinical innovation and research to argue for a paradigm shift in how PTSD should be approached, and highlights the ways care is being transformed to make it more accessible, acceptable, and available to sufferers. By identifying those most vulnerable to developing PTSD, cutting-edge medical interventions that hold the promise of preventing its onset 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 experience on the frontlines, The Unspeakable Mind offers a textured portrait of this invisible illness unrivaled in scope, laying bare PTSD’s roots, inner workings, and paths to healing. It is essential reading for understanding how humans can recover from unspeakable trauma and stands as the definitive guide to PTSD, offering new hope to sufferers, their loved ones, and health care providers.

“[A] comprehensive survey of the state of knowledge concerning PTSD. . . . Jain carefully lays out what can be said with confidence about [PTSD] . . . and what is more speculative . . . Given epidemic anxiety and stress disorders, this is a timely book that will greatly interest those who suffer from [PTSD] as well as family members and medical practitioners.” —Kirkus Reviews

“An engrossing read.” —Irvin Yalom, M.D., Emeritus professor of Psychiatry, Stanford University and bestselling author of The Gift of Therapy

“A thoroughly engaging book about the hardest parts of life presented gently, beautifully, insightfully, and with wisdom.” —Edward Hallowell, M.D., New York Times–bestselling coauthor of Driven to Distraction
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The Unspeakable Mind: Stories of Trauma and Healing from the Frontlines of PTSD Science

The Unspeakable Mind: Stories of Trauma and Healing from the Frontlines of PTSD Science

by Shaili Jain
The Unspeakable Mind: Stories of Trauma and Healing from the Frontlines of PTSD Science

The Unspeakable Mind: Stories of Trauma and Healing from the Frontlines of PTSD Science

by Shaili Jain

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Overview

“An absorbing and comprehensive account of one of the scourges of our modern age. Anyone suffering from PTSD—or their loved ones—should read this book.” —Sandeep Jauhar, M.D., New York Times–bestselling author of My Father’s Brain

The Unspeakable Mind is the definitive guide for a trauma-burdened age. In these pages, VA psychiatrist, Stanford professor, and prominent trauma scientist Shaili Jain, M.D. shines a long-overdue light on the PTSD epidemic affecting today’s fractured world.

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 cultures and societies around the world.

In the twenty-first century, there has been enormous growth in the science of PTSD, a body of evidence that continues to grow exponentially. With this new knowledge have come dramatic advances in effective treatment. Jain draws on a decade of her own clinical innovation and research to argue for a paradigm shift in how PTSD should be approached, and highlights the ways care is being transformed to make it more accessible, acceptable, and available to sufferers. By identifying those most vulnerable to developing PTSD, cutting-edge medical interventions that hold the promise of preventing its onset 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 experience on the frontlines, The Unspeakable Mind offers a textured portrait of this invisible illness unrivaled in scope, laying bare PTSD’s roots, inner workings, and paths to healing. It is essential reading for understanding how humans can recover from unspeakable trauma and stands as the definitive guide to PTSD, offering new hope to sufferers, their loved ones, and health care providers.

“[A] comprehensive survey of the state of knowledge concerning PTSD. . . . Jain carefully lays out what can be said with confidence about [PTSD] . . . and what is more speculative . . . Given epidemic anxiety and stress disorders, this is a timely book that will greatly interest those who suffer from [PTSD] as well as family members and medical practitioners.” —Kirkus Reviews

“An engrossing read.” —Irvin Yalom, M.D., Emeritus professor of Psychiatry, Stanford University and bestselling author of The Gift of Therapy

“A thoroughly engaging book about the hardest parts of life presented gently, beautifully, insightfully, and with wisdom.” —Edward Hallowell, M.D., New York Times–bestselling coauthor of Driven to Distraction

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780062469090
Publisher: HarperCollins
Publication date: 11/21/2023
Sold by: Barnes & Noble
Format: eBook
Pages: 364
File size: 1 MB

About the Author

Shaili Jain, M.D. is a British born American Physician of Indian ancestry.  She is a psychiatrist and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder specialist and currently serves as the Medical Director for Integrated Care at the VA Palo Alto Healthcare System. She is a trauma scientist affiliated with the National Center for PTSD, a consortium which is widely regarded as the world's leading center of excellence on PTSD, and a Clinical Associate Professor affiliated with the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Stanford University School of Medicine. 

Dr. Jain’s work is widely accredited for elucidating the role of paraprofessionals and peers in the treatment of American veterans with PTSD. Her research has been published in some of the most prestigious medical journals, such as the Journal of the American Medical AssociationPsychiatric Services and the Journal of Traumatic Stress, in addition to being featured in national publications such as The New York Times. Her medical essays and commentary have appeared in the New England Journal of MedicinePsychology Today, Kevin MD, STAT, public radio and elsewhere.

Table of Contents

Prologue xiii

Introduction xvii

Part 1 Discovering Traumatic Stress 1

The Road Trip with My Father 3

A Pressing Public Health Concern 10

A Brief History of Trauma 16

Old Wine in a New Bottle? From Shell Shock to Battered Women to PTSD 21

Rocky Roads: Overdiagnosis and Underrecognition 25

Part 2 The Brain 33

A Disorder of Memory 35

Nightmares 49

Flashbacks 55

An Unlived Life: The Hidden Cost of Avoidance 58

Denial Land: When Trauma Memories Are Deeply Buried 66

Carrying Sorrows in the Blood: Cortisol, Epigenetics, and Generational Trauma 70

A Wildness in the Bones: Acute Awareness and Shady Moods 76

Dissociation: The Two-Thousand-Yard Stare 83

Part 3 The Body 87

Bodily Wounds 89

A Soldier's Heart: PTSD and Cardiac Disease 96

Russian Roulette: The Perilous Bond Between Traumatic Stress and Addiction 101

Broken Smiles: The Toxicity of Childhood Adversity 110

Senescence: Traumatic Stress in Late Life 120

Part 4 Quality of Life 129

Complex Trauma 131

Intimate Violence: A Secret Pandemic 139

A Danger to Others: Hurt People Hurt Other People 149

Angry Loving: The Stubborn Imprint of Inner-City Poverty 155

The Fairer Sex? Rape, Secondary Injuries, and Postpartum PTSD 163

Shame: The Cinderella Emotion 171

The Science of Suicide Prevention 180

Part 5 Treating Traumatic Stress 187

Talking Cures and Beyond 189

Psych Meds 198

Medication Management 209

The Allure of Magic Bullets 216

Part 6 Our World on Trauma 223

Trauma of the Masses: A Wicked Problem 225

The 1947 Partition 229

War, Disaster, and Terror: Hard-Earned Knowledge and Lessons for the Future 239

An Americanization of Human Suffering? 250

Part 7 A New Era: An Ounce of Prevention 255

Prevention with Precision 257

The Golden Hours 262

Reaching the Hard to Reach: Making PTSD Treatment More Accessible 266

The Power of Social Networks 272

The Science of Resilience 275

Afterword: A Precious Inheritance 285

How This Book Was Written 291

Acknowledgments 295

Notes 301

Glossary 361

Resources 365

Index 371

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