Redefining Trauma: Understanding and Coping with a Cortisoaked Brain: Understanding and Coping with a Cortisoaked Brain

by Sarah E. Wright

This accessible guide explores how our brains react to stress and offers a fresh perspective on how we define trauma. Probing how the words we use can influence our understanding of distress, this text focuses on expanding awareness of excess stress and reducing judgment of its potential impact on relationships and day-to-day life.

Helpfully split into three parts, the book introduces the terms cortisprinkled, cortisaturated, and cortisoaked and provides a rationale for why these states of brain occur. The role of culture and society are highlighted, and an in-depth focus on coping and offering support to others is presented. Whether caused by sexual assault, social rejection, abuse, the taboo of sexuality, disadvantaged status, or other difficulties, chapters detail specific coping skills and step-by-step strategies to deal with a variety of stress responses. Advice is offered on reconnecting with sexuality, phrasing difficult questions, and ways to offer validation, with concrete recommendations on incorporating healthier practices into everyday life.

Both metaphor and real-world vignettes are interwoven throughout, making Redefining Trauma an essential and understandable resource for therapists and their clients, parents and support givers, and anyone looking to develop practical, informed methods for dealing with stress and trauma and reclaim life with intention.

224 pages, Paperback

Published May 27, 2020

Reviews

[Stephanie Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

After reading this book my thoughts and beliefs surrounding stress, trauma and how it presents have expanded and changed dramatically. While interacting with others I am better equipped to understand their responses and react with compassion, intention and an understanding I didn’t possess prior to reading. I would recommend this book to anyone who experiences stress and I appreciate how the author provides research to validate the human responses to stress, and gives us words to express these feelings and solutions to cope and heal from our stresses.

This book makes a powerful case for the urgent need to redefine the words and beliefs associated with trauma. Trauma is most often thought of as an all-or-nothing concept however, this is not the reality. One of the goals of this book is to explain the cumulative effects of stress and cortisol as a human function thus allowing for better understanding not only of ourselves but others. To do this the author introduces us to a new set of terms: Cortisprinkled, Cortisaturated and Cortisoaked.

Cortisprinkled refers to a brain working as it does on a daily basis - being sprinkled with sufficient cortisol for adequate functioning and motivation.
Cortisaturated alludes to a brain saturated with cortisol resulting in the activation of more protective responses maintaining some degree of daily operations.
Cortisoaked speaks to a brain so soaked with cortisol that it does not function as it does on a routine basis.

Embracing and understanding these new terms allows better understanding of our brain, it’s intended function and therefore giving us the ability to be more intentional with our responses and our ability to learn and heal. The colorful and powerful metaphors used in this book help make it relatable to those of us who are not in the mental health field.

[Danielle Paris · Rating 5 out of 5]

On my path dealing with past Trauma this book came at a pivotal time. Its very easy to read. Breaks down very scientific terms and processes into simple terms that anyone can understand and identify with. I love the reflection questions at the end of the chapters.