Healing Invisible Wounds: Paths to Hope and Recovery in a Violent World

by Richard F. Mollica

Book Overview

In these personal reflections on his thirty years of clinical work with victims of genocide, torture, and abuse in the United States, Cambodia, Bosnia, and other parts of the world, Richard Mollica... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0151010366
• ISBN13: 9780151010363
• Release Date: January 2006
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
• Length: 277 Pages
• Weight: 1.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.4" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

Healing nvisible Wounds

Healing Invisible Wounds: Paths to Hope and Recovery in a Violent World In this dangerous world and in the affairs of Man's inhumanity to man, no one has a better perspective on the damaging effects of war, starvation, torture, natural disasters on the human psyche as does Dr. Mollica. For anyone working in resettling our newest residents, our refugees and immigrants, this is a must read book for understanding and opening channels of communication across cultural and linguistic barriers.

Wonderfully Insightful

I recently re-read this book, and it's amazing message of resilience and self healing, is even more profound the second time through. I can't recommend this book highly enough to be both practioners and lay persons. This work serves not as a therapy manual but as a wake up call to the world to respect the voices of survivors and help them heal themselves. It blends historical information, religious and spiritual practices with medical and psychiatric knowledge to help build a framework for true cross-cultural counseling. My only "complaint" is that I wish it focused more on the how and less on the why. However there is no better introduction than Dr. Mollica's text to understanding the power of self healing in refugees and survivors of mass violence.

More than a book -- a gift!!!

All too rarely, it seems, the public is privileged to receive a book that is neither text nor tome, but rather gift. Richard Mollica's Healing Invisible Wounds is such a gift - a gift of hope for all who inhabit this violent world. One of the most widely accessible books I have read, Healing Invisible Wounds speaks to clinicians, policy makers, survivors and all who wish to live responsibly toward their neighbor in an increasingly global world. Having developed international recognition as a leading researcher/scientist in the field of psychiatry and trauma, Mollica departs from hard, empirical science and turns his attention toward the grace-filled trauma stories of which he has long been the recipient in his work with refugees, torture survivors, and victims of disaster. Such a shift is not easy - evidence-based research exerts an indomitable influence on the practice of healthcare. Yet, with this book, Mollica demonstrates his commitment to individuals - real people struggling with real pain yet capable of real healing. In this book, we do not find statistical evidence to support hypotheses about the mental health sequelae of violence; instead, what we find are stories of people - Somaly, Dr. Nakas and Liz - whose resilience, spirit and grace lead readers to a newfound understanding of "healing." As a religious professional, I cannot recommend this book enough to clergy, congregations and individuals seeking to make an active, faith-based commitment to their communities. Resounding throughout Healing Invisible Wounds is Mollica's dedicated attention to the powerful force of spirituality, empathy and narrative in regards to healing. Were I to attempt to re-energize an adult faith study at my church, this is the book with which I would begin - inspiring, courageous, visionary and hopeful, Mollica's gift to us is one to be read, discussed and shared for years to come.

Courageous and Revolutionary

Dr. Paul Farmer, the subject of "Mountains Beyond Mountains" by Tracy Kidder, describes Healing Invisible Wounds as "a welcome salve in a world of want and pain." I couldn't agree more. If you're exhausted from violence, war, and fear, look it square in the eye, and Mollica will show you the previously invisible resilience of the human mind and heart. The book provides a courageous, inspiring, and radical message of the human capacity for self-healing. Mollica reveals the intricate relationship of humiliation, depression, and violence, providing deep insight both into international headlines and into our own lives. He describes the relationship of personal- and social-healing, illuminating and artfully deconstructing their systemic obstacles and showing a middle way. Defying genre, and far from clinical in style, the book is a philosophical inquiry into the soul of man while providing skills rooted in scientific study for both understanding and recovering from trauma. The book is as applicable to the average person that is witness to ambient violence as to the survivor of extreme violence. I've told everyone I know about it.

Profound and Poetic

Drawing from a rich and powerful history of personal and clinical experience, Dr. Richard Mollica's Healing Invisible Wounds has compiled a moving book about the healing power of the human soul, taking the reader on a fantastic journey through the complex, but often unrecognized resilient attributes of individuals whom have endured horrific pain and tragedy. This book is by no means, however, a "self-help", or even "self-healing" textbook. Rather, this book is radically unique insofar as it cannot truly be boxed in to any particular literary genre. It is at once deeply philosophical, gracefully painting an illustration of healing as a true art form, while simultaneously noting the value of concrete and pragmatic applications of the artistic healing principles covered throughout the book. Through employing a mix of clinical vignettes, personal observations and revelations, and new scientific findings made throughout a lifetime of learning, Dr. Mollica's Healing Invisible Wounds reads much like a crazy, philosophical adventure novel calling, awakening the reader to the hidden, subtle, yet ubiquitous nature of discovery and healing entwined in this mystery we call "the human experience". This book is a profound and poetic new psychology of healing and recovery from not only extreme violence but the tragic events of everyday life. The well-cultivated insights Dr. Mollica shares with the reader should--almost must--be openly embraced, encouraged, and activated in ourselves and our loved ones as often as humanly possible.