Trauma Model Therapy: A Treatment Approach for Trauma Dissociation and Complex Comorbidity

by Colin A. Ross, Naomi Halpern

Colin A. Ross, M.D. and Naomi Halpern C.Q.S.W. have developed a new treatment manual for treating Trauma, Dissociation and Complex Comorbidity. The manual builds on a previous book, The Trauma Model by expanding on the ideas and providing concrete, practical skills on the 'how to' of therapy. Trauma Model Therapy is written primarily for therapists, but can also be read by the general public. The book provides hands-on techniques, strategies and interventions in two ways: through description and discussion and through transcripts of therapy conservations. The research, clinical interventions and ideas presented are a combination of the authors' experience, original ideas and a composite of the work of many prominent researchers, and clinicians in the field.

Genres: Psychology, Mental Health, Nonfiction

306 pages, Perfect Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

Reviews

[Sandra]

I really enjoy reading this book. I started off on chapter 9 in section 3. Chapter 9 starts off with General Principles of the Trauma Model and then goes into chapter 10-22 from Mood disorders (10), Schizophrenia (11), Anxiety Disorders (12), all the way down the list and yes, Borderline Personality Disorder is found in chapter 21.

I am anti-psychiatry and while Dr. Colin a Ross is NOT anti-psychiatry and has offers nice balance between nature AND nurture. . .and I like his take on how the trauma model can explain comorbidity in mental illness. . . he explains how real biology works within the realm of mental illness.

My next book to read is by Peter R. Breggin called Toxic Psychiatry. He is a little more anti-psychiatry.

[Mary]

Excellent resource for helping clients with Dissociative Disorders. Dr. Ross's concept of the victim-rescuer-perpetrator is particularly helpful. I love the scripts--wish my sessions sounded that good. I highly recommend this for therapists working with victims of trauma.

[William]

There is some very original thinking going on here. Ross is plowing new ground in the areas of disassociation,co-morbidity, and trauma.

[Rob Cox]

The Trauma Model is a rigorous, methodical, and clarifying work that challenges reductionist approaches to psychiatric diagnosis by placing trauma particularly early and chronic trauma at the center of understanding dissociation and complex mental health presentations. Colin A. Ross, M.D., writes with clinical precision while remaining grounded in real-world therapeutic application.

Rather than presenting trauma as one factor among many, Ross advances a coherent, internally consistent framework that explains dissociative symptoms, identity fragmentation, and affect dysregulation as adaptive responses to overwhelming experience. The strength of the book lies in its insistence on explanatory depth. Diagnoses are not treated as static labels, but as descriptive outcomes of developmental injury.

What distinguishes The Trauma Model is its accessibility without oversimplification. Ross bridges research, clinical observation, and therapeutic logic in a way that makes complex concepts understandable to clinicians, students, and informed general readers alike. The book does not sensationalize trauma, nor does it collapse into abstraction. Instead, it offers a disciplined lens through which symptoms gain meaning, coherence, and clinical direction.

This is a foundational text for anyone seeking to understand trauma-informed care beyond buzzwords a work that continues to influence how dissociation, PTSD, and complex trauma are conceptualized and treated.

[M]

I was looking for trauma treatment and surprised by the DID content. But I feel better prepared for DID- type encounters in the future. Some info can directly apply to a client I’m currently working with. Some of this book/treatment feels dated (2009).

[Savannah Dalgaard]

Læste: Traumer i psykiatrien af Sofie Folke og Cæcilie Buhman (men den er ikke på Goodreads, så bruger denne som erstatning) - 4/5 stjerner.

[Ross Flynn]

Useful model for me as a therapist