Looking Through the Eyes of Trauma and Dissociation: An illustrated guide for EMDR therapists and clients Paperback – February 23, 2009

Any EMDR trained therapist worth their salt can only go so far with a standard EMDR protocol, especially if the the clients you are working with have an extensive history of childhood or adolescent trauma. Dr. Paulsen's book is a must for early trauma survivors and the therapists who treat them. Most EMDR therapists have, at one time or another, had the troubling experience of utilizing standard EMDR which goes no where, or even worse, floods the client and causes them to not want to continue processing. This book helps clients and their therapists, better understand how the trauma from youth is held by different ego states that helped the body cope during such tormenting times. The challenge is that those experiences continue to haunt the body when triggers occur, leaving one to feel as if the old traumas are still happening, even though it is years later. This is the best of both worlds, by combining EMDR and Ego State work, the body, mind and soul have a greater opportunity for healing when other methods have failed. This helps the client process their traumas without becoming overwhelmed or flooded and is much gentler than standard EMDR. Thanks to Dr. Paulsen for developing such a wonderful resource and for providing a way to help people move beyond their traumas and live the lives they were meant to live without being hijacked by someone else's abuse.

This is an extremely helpful book for both me and my client. Sometimes I wish it were more specific in some of the techniques but that is really for another book. My clients and I have greatly benefitted from the cartoon pictures, which more easily reach hard to teach parts. I will use this for years to come.

This is an incredible clinical tool. The pictures are worth a 1,000 words. I highly recommend this for all clinicians. A valuable resource to have in your library. Easy way to get the basics and be able to use the tools.

My psychologist who practices CBT and EMDR used this book to show me an illustration and I was very curious, so I purchased it. It is heavy work, I can read 10-30pgs at a time and am an avid reader. The illustrations are helpful and break up the very serious topic of trauma. I have PTSD and an anxiety disorder, so this book is useful in looking at my brain and body connections and dissociations. I do suggest taking some time to read the author/illustrator’s notes and intro prior to digging in.

This is a wonderful book. Thank you Dr. Paulsen. However, it is only wonderful for therapists who have had EMDR training and experience. Other people will likely be puzzled by it. For me it opened my eyes to ego state therapy. I have not focused on working with clients with major trauma nor dissociative identity disorder. Thus I was a late comer to EMDR after 30 years of practice. Now, after this book I see the value of ego state therapy. What a joy to read a book that doesn't have to be astute, but is simply helpful to the therapist who is ready to expand their effectiveness. Just like EMDR transformed my practice, this will transform it too as I work with client whom we may not have even labeled as having disassociation.If you aren't trained in EMDR do that. Then get this book so you can become a the therapist you wanted to when you went into this field.Russ B, LISW

Very practical book and easy to understand. I use examples from this book with my clients. Great book and I'm so glad it exists

The first part of the book is more (it seems to me) meant for therapist to therapist guide. And I almost gave up bc o didn't feel it was helping me at all.But I am glad I made myself keep reading because it got better and actually helped me so much.

Fantastic book! I just began therapy for DID, and my therapist recommended it for me...it has helped so much! The author did a great job of blending her text and drawings. I would recommend this book for anyone.

Informative. Illustrations helpful for explanations.

Very helpful, well written by a therapist who has fully researched this topic and has a wealth of practical experience. Thank you Sandra.

Great for my practice

Lovely metaphoric cartoons drawed by Sandra do this book easy to understand and to work with. A lot of deep information compressed and iis easy understandable for professionals.

A great book - full of just what a clinician working with this population needs. Dr. Paulsen has designed a organized methodology based on years of clinical experience - giving us what to do when. She also has included numerous case examples and specific responses one could use at each stage of treatment. I keep it close by and use it as an essential guide for preparing for upcoming sessions.