Richard C. Schwartz

I don't understand how such a badly written book became such a phenomenon. Granted I am finding actual IFS work useful but I found this book unreadable

There has been a lot of good and needed focus on trauma: what it is, where it might come from, how it displays itself, and if and how it might be healed.

Drs. Richard Schwartz and Thomas Hübl add some contributions to this field in Releasing Our Burdens: A Guide to Healing Individual, Ancestral, and Collective Trauma (galley received as part of early review program).

The authors do spend some time explaining things regarding trauma, but much of the book is designed to encourage show more understanding of how just as individuals are not out their on their own, but are part of family, cultural, etc. systems, so trauma and healing from trauma will not be only managed on an individual level, but also must account for these additional systems at play. And there are the kinds of trauma that can come from these other sources as well. The authors describe various means by which people can address these various sources of trauma and types of trauma and find some levels of healing from what they have experienced or what they maintain in their bodies.

The authors will present their explanations and also offer model therapy conversations/sessions and encouragement regarding best practices in each domain. While the lay person may gain some benefits from the presentations by the authors, the formats and presentations will be more amenable to those in the world of therapy and psychology. show less

I like the book, but this is really an intro to IFS for the lay person so I (ok, I mean my parts) would prefer something more in depth as our first books on IFS were more intense. I don't recommend listening while driving (I listened to the audiobook) because it has so many meditations you can't do safely.

The first chapter of this book was really interesting. The rest was set up more like a workbook. It wasn't really a book that you could go through and learn from. The book encourages people to do their own deep trauma work on their own which seemed a little odd. But overall this did seem accessible.