10 Best Books for Healing Trauma in 2025: Therapist Recommended
Takeaway: Trauma healing is hard, and wading through endless self-help books that promise to "fix" you isn't making it any easier. As a trauma-informed therapist who's seen what actually works, I'm cutting through the noise to bring you the best books for trauma healing in 2025—whether you're dealing with childhood trauma, sexual trauma, religious trauma, or just trying to figure out why you feel stuck. These therapist-recommended reads won't bullshit you with toxic positivity; they'll meet you where you're at and give you real tools and insight.
For years, M told herself that she put the past behind her. She had a job that she liked, a partner who loved her, and a therapist approved morning-routine. But her body didn't seem to get the memo. She couldn't rest even when she was exhausted. When intimacy deepened, she felt herself drift somewhere far away. She told me that sex felt like watching her own life from a distance.
This is how trauma lingers. Trauma is not a memory we can just "get over." Trauma survivors are living with challenges in how they feel, think, and connect. Healing trauma requires more than willpower. It requires learning, compassion, and real tools that help the nervous system trust safely again.
I'm Chelsea Newton, a Clinical Social Worker and sex therapist based in Denver, CO. I have spent the last decade+ helping people heal from psychological trauma, domestic abuse, inherited family trauma, physical violence, racialized trauma, and more. I have a deep understanding of how to treat trauma so that you can experience relief.
That's why I've rounded up the best books for healing trauma in this no bullshit post. I'll cover the best books on trauma for anyone seeking better mental health. You can find relief from past trauma. It will take time and a fuck ton of compassion for yourself, but it is absolutely possible. Here are my favorite books for healing trauma, just for you.
How I selected these books on trauma healing
The criteria I used for recommending the best books about trauma are simple:
I've read the book.
The book was recommended to me by another therapist (that I trust with my life).
When it comes to the best books on trauma, I'm picky. Any recommendation I provide to a client needs to be helpful, but most importantly cannot be harmful. That's why my night stand is constantly stacked with books on trauma and mental health (and a usually a memoir or two).
Trauma informed care is the foundation of everything I do as a sex therapist. I have personally vetted and read the best books on trauma included in this post. Recovery is possible. Let's get into it!
My top trauma book recommendations
I'm breaking them down into helpful categories so that you can get exactly what you need. Whether you are looking to understand trauma, build self regulation skills, or improve trusting relationships you can easily find the book that best fits your needs.
Each book offers something different, depending on where you are in your process of recovery. Take a moment to consider what you need and go from there.
Books on the science behind trauma
Let’s start with the science.
These books help make sense of what’s happening in your brain and body after traumatic events. They translate complex neuroscience into something more easy to understand. These reads will help you understand why you respond they way you do and how healing trauma actually works on a biological level.
1. The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk
Let's just get this one out of the way. I have a lot of beef with this book, but in specific instances, I still recommend it.
The Body Keeps the Score shares so many (too many!) detailed case studies. Van der Kolk's work may resonate with war veterans or their loved ones who want to better understand complex PTSD. This book is both comprehensive and overwhelming. It's undeniably foundational in the trauma field, but it's also dense, academic, and so freaking heavy.
If you are going to read The Body Keeps the Score, I beg you to take it slow. Start with the table of contents and skip to the sections that resonate with you or that you want to learn more about. I really don't recommend reading anything by Bessel van der Kolk cover to cover. The Body Keeps the Score is more like a reference book than a cozy, curl-up-on-the-couch read.
Best For: Detailed case studies about trauma survivors. Brain body connection stuff. The impacts of political terror on humans.
Key Takeaways: Trauma lives in the body. Recovery from trauma or abuse requires body-based approaches alongside talk therapy.
Rating: ⭐️⭐️
What Sets it Apart: Everyone knows it and references it. It's the trauma book, for better or worse.
2. What Happened to You? by Bruce Perry and Oprah Winfrey
I recommend this one for people who want to understand trauma without getting lost in academic jargon. The conversation between Dr. Bruce Perry and Oprah Winfrey is less about pathology and more about perspective. The simple reframe of "what's wrong with you?" to "what happened to you?" is life-changing for my therapy clients.
Best For: Readers who want a clear, compassionate intro to trauma without clinical jargon.
Key Takeaways: Early experiences shape our nervous system and stress responses. Adverse childhood experiences have a profound impact on us. Intergenerational trauma is real and Bruce Perry explains the how.
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
What Sets it Apart: It's conversational, gentle, and validating. It makes complex neuroscience easy to understand.
Books on emotional regulation & coping skills
Trauma treatment has to include the body because trauma is stored in the body. These books on trauma will help you reconnect with your body, regulate your nervous system, and build a felt sense of safety.
3. Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle by Emily Nagoski & Amelia Nagoski
This is an essential guide of practical strategies for anyone who feels overwhelmed, exhausted, or stuck in survival mode. The Nagoski sisters combine humor, scientific information, and empathy to explain how stress literally gets “trapped” in the body—and how to complete the stress response cycle so you can actually feel relief.
Best For: Anyone with a nervous system.
Key Takeaways: Trauma recovery is possible and there are so many evidence-based tools that can help you regulate.
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
What Sets it Apart: Anyone with mental health (everyone) can benefit from this book. If you want to experience what it feels like when the body releases trauma, this book has powerful tools to help you.
4. Atlas of the Heart by Brene Brown
While this is not explicitly a trauma book, it's a good one. Atlas of the Heart is a trauma informed thesaurus of emotions that just makes sense! Brene defines feeling words, breaking them down into something we can all understand. Tired of your therapist asking you, "but what do you think is behind the anger?" Yeah. WTF does that even mean? Well, Brene makes it make sense.
Being able to name emotions accurately and with nuance is essential to regulation and resilience
Best For: Increasing self awareness and building a nuanced emotional vocabulary.
Key Takeaways: You gotta name it to tame it. Cheesy, I know, but if you can name what you are feeling it really makes healing trauma that much easier.
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
What Sets it Apart: It's the prettiest book written about feelings. The cover is beautiful and the entire book is full of gorgeous photography & useful cartoons. It makes a great gift or coffee table book.
Books on body-based trauma healing
If you want to experience relief from trauma, you've gotta get the body involved. These reads will help you do just that.
5. Come As You Are by Emily Nagoski
This is, hands down, my top recommended book as a sex therapist. I cannot count the number of times I have encouraged (begged) my clients to read this book. It is trauma informed, insanely accurate, and normalizes what so many trauma survivors experience with sex.
You do not have to have complex PTSD or a history of sexual abuse in order to benefit from this book. I believe that everybody should read this book, at least once.
Best For: Understanding that you are normal! Understanding the sexual behavior is complex and context dependent! There is hope for your sex life! Resilience is real!
Key Takeaways: You are normal. Your body is normal. Your pain is real. Your brain can change. Mental health matters. Abuse is never ok. Violence is never ok. Sex is supposed to feel good!
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
What Sets it Apart: It is so down to earth. Nagoski uses real examples from real people and makes all the weirdness around sex feel....well, not so weird at all. If you want the proper sex education you never got, you have to read this book.
6. My Grandmother’s Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies by Resmaa Menakem
Best For: Understanding racialized trauma and inherited family trauma.
Key Takeaways: Racism is a form of intergenerational trauma. White-body supremacy harms everyone. Healing must happen in our bodies, communities, and institutions.
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
What Sets it Apart: It reframes racial justice as healing justice, a process that happens in our bodies. It focuses on community level-practices for collective healing, not intellectual debates about race. It says, out loud, what so many of my clients are experiencing.
Memoirs & personal stories
I love a memoir. What is more healing than seeing parts of your own experience within someone else's?! Memoirs and personal stories about trauma help us understand that we are not alone. These are two of my all time favorites.
7. Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body by Roxane Gay
Roxane Gay is a queer icon (in case you don't already know). In this memoir, she is raw and vulnerable. She explores how trauma shaped her relationship with her body, food, and safety. This is one of the best books on trauma and an essential read on embodiment and survival.
Best For: Anyone seeking a radical permission slip to share their story.
Key Takeaways: Our culture's obsession with controlling women's bodies is its own form of violence.
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
What Sets it Apart: It talks about fatness and food. Challenges with body image, food, and eating disorders are not talked about enough as long term effects of trauma. Gay doesn't shy away from any of it.
8. I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy
The best books on trauma can be darkly funny. Jenette shares her brutally honest experience of childhood trauma and abuse.
Best For: Survivors of childhood trauma whose parents were the perpetrators.
Key Takeaways: You get to heal from trauma on your own terms. Feelings about parents are complex and valid.
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
What Sets it Apart: It's funny. Books on healing childhood trauma are typically pretty serious (understandably so), but this one made me laugh out loud. If you have a complicated relationship with your parents because of what happened when you were a kid, you might like this one.
Trauma workbooks
These go-at-your-own-pace workbooks can be a good place to gain awareness. If you're not exactly sure what you are looking for in trauma treatment, starting with a specific workbook related to what you want to address (i.e. sexual trauma, eating disorder) can help point you in the direction of a specialist.
9. The Sexual Healing Journey by Wendy Maltz
Best For: Survivors of sexual abuse and/or domestic abuse.
Key Takeaways: Healing sexual intimacy is not only possible, but can become a source of empowerment and joy.
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
What Sets it Apart: It's partner inclusive, but survivor led. It recognizes that partners can play a supportive role, but that survivors always lead the pace.
10. The Intuitive Eating Workbook by Evelyn Tribole & Elyse Resch
Best For: Interrogating your weird food shit (no shade).
Key Takeaways: Self trust > self control. Emotions often drive eating and that's NORMAL!
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
What Sets it Apart: It won't shame you for having weird food shit. Tribole and Resch are the godmothers of ED recovery and they really get it. They understand that body positivity (or neutrality) are not a trend.
How to integrate trauma books into your healing journey
Reading about trauma is both helpful and intense. It can validate your experience, give you new language, and offer practical tools. It can also stir up memories and emotions that feel overwhelming. Healing through reading works best when you follow these therapist approved tips:
Read at the pace of your body, not your brain. You can always pause and go back.
Keep soothing tools nearby. Think weighted blankets, tea, or your favorite Squishmallow. Let your body know it's safe while you learn.
Use journaling, therapy, or a call to your bestie (with their consent) to talk about what resonates. What feels new? What feels like too much right now?
Turn insights into small practices. Choose one takeaway from the book and practice it in everyday life. Integration happens in small, repeated steps of safety and self-trust.
Remember that you don't have to do this alone. If something you read feels like too much, reach out for support. Therapist trained in trauma, somatic healing, or EMDR therapy can help.
Final thoughts
Each of the books I have recommended offer a different doorway into healing. Some are more focused on the science of trauma, others on the body, or our relationships with food and identity. What unites them all is a simple truth: healing happens when we learn to listen, really listen, to our bodies again.
In my own practice, I have seen how this type of learning can become transformative. I think of my client, A, who came to me with a gorgeous understanding about her triggers and patterns, but still felt "stuck in survival mode." Together, we slowed down. We spent time focused on feeling (not thinking!). Through our work together, she started to have moments of ease where panic once lived. She was able to start trusting her body again.
If you find yourself drawn to this work but don't really know where to begin, you don't have to do it alone. As a trauma trained therapist specializing in LGBTQ+ adults and survivors of sexual trauma, I help people reconnect with their bodies and rebuild intimacy.
When you're ready, therapy can become the next chapter of your healing story. In therapy, you won't just read about transformation, you will experience it from the inside out.
