Trauma Is a Thief - by Neal King (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

Trauma Is a Thief is a memoir(ish) work whose author - a California-based, American, cisgender, White, gay-male psychologist, professor, and former college president - uses his own lived experiences of trauma in a very disturbed family (including sexual and physical abuse, abandonment, and multiple family addictions) to elucidate the developmental and lifelong impact of trauma.

In a deeply personal work, Neal offers his childhood as an illustrative case study as he invites the reader - applying his professional expertise as author, researcher, and clinician - inside his disturbed family and traumatic early life - and the years since as he has struggled in the aftermath toward healing and wholeness.

Review Quotes

A real rags-to-riches tale of the human spirit. The odyssey from abused child to emotionally isolated global vagabond, and finally to fulfilled, loving marriage partner, is nothing short of inspiring. It gives all of us wounded the hope and the impetus to keep striving for wholeness. And I'm still shaking my head at the wonder of this human being's ability to not only survive, but thrive and become an international leader in education. Remarkable. Truly incredible. To those of us who ask God (or whatever higher power you acknowledge) why we were given loving hearts only to have them broken, do not give up-read Trauma Is a Thief and meet the new day with optimism. You too can pull yourself out of the emotional muck and transform your life. Dr. King is living proof. -Ann Collins, Book Reviewer