The End of Trauma

How the New Science of Resilience Is Changing How We Think About PTSD

By: George A. Bonanno

Narrated by: Sean Patrick Hopkins

A top expert on human trauma argues that we vastly overestimate how common PTSD is and fail to recognize how resilient people really are

After 9/11, mental health professionals flocked to New York to handle what everyone assumed would be a flood of trauma cases. Oddly, the flood never came.

In The End of Trauma, pioneering psychologist George A. Bonanno argues that we failed to predict the psychological response to 9/11 because most of what we understand about trauma is wrong. For starters, it’s not nearly as common as we think. In fact, people are overwhelmingly resilient to adversity. What we often interpret as PTSD are signs of a natural process of learning how to deal with a specific situation. We can cope far more effectively if we understand how this process works. Drawing on four decades of research, Bonanno explains what makes us resilient, why we sometimes aren’t, and how we can better handle traumatic stress.

Hopeful and humane, The End of Trauma overturns everything we thought we knew about how people respond to hardship.

Critic reviews

"An important course-correction to what is now received wisdom about trauma and how to treat it.”—Wall Street Journal

"A fresh perspective… Bonanno adeptly succeeds in capturing the profound lived experience of trauma and in balancing these accounts with cutting edge findings from psychology and neuroscience."—Science

”Bonanno proposes a new way to look at trauma in this hopeful examination… he masterfully conveys his extensive research on 9/11 survivors, and on people who suffered severe spinal cord injuries yet who didn’t experience long-term traumatic effects… Bold and accessible, this offers much to consider.”—Publishers Weekly

“Necessary and important…Bonanno’s research is brilliantly presented through the personal stories of his interview subjects and comes alive through the lenses of personal experience, as people explain their feelings of stress and worry, hope, and optimism in their own words.” —Library Journal

"George Bonanno has done groundbreaking research on the psychology of resilience. In this book, he reveals how people can break free from the aftershocks of traumatic events. I can’t think of a better time for his insights."—Adam Grant, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Think Again

"George Bonanno has hit a home run. With a blend of page-turning stories, illuminating examples, and cutting-edge science, The End of Trauma is guaranteed to change your mind about the sources and prevalence of trauma. Reading this gorgeously-written book will make you appreciate your own mind’s flexibility and how to capitalize on it to become a more resilient person."—Sonja Lyubomirsky, Distinguished Professor of Psychology at the University of California, Riverside and author of The How of Happiness

"Everything you know about trauma -- about how human beings deal with the worst things that can possibly happen to them – is probably wrong. One book can fix that, and this is the one. The world's expert on human resilience has written a powerful, important, and fascinating book that explains how ordinary people take arms against a sea of troubles, and by opposing, end them."—Daniel Gilbert, bestselling author of Stumbling on Happiness

"Bonanno is a master storyteller. The End of Trauma turns common sense on its head with impeccable science and a narrative like a suspense novel. If you or your loved ones have ever faced great adversity, this book is for you."

—Lisa Feldman Barrett, Distinguished Professor of Psychology and author of How Emotions Are Made

A must listen

Such an important book in the conversation about trauma! I cannot recommend it more highly.

Is it possible that we've mal adapted To trama?

Can a flexibility mindset anchored in optimistic vantage lead to better outcomes?
Thank You Dr. Bonanno this work speaks to my moms experience mainly one of constant trama living a largely comfortable middle class life.

Awful

As a person who lived through 9/11 I did not need hours of traumatizing recaps. I will not listen to the whole book. The point I though was about resilience. You have just retraumatized me.