This is a heavy book but well worth struggling with. The author studies the impact that the Twin Towers trauma had on Americans over the years and shows her understanding of trauma and clinical treatment. Throughout the pages of this book Ms Warren provides a guideline for assessment, diagnosis and treatment for patients suffering from the effects of traumatic events. This is an invaluable read for any professionals who deal with trauma therapy. In fact it's a -˜must-read' in my opinion.

Written in the wake of the terrorist atrocities in the USA and, in particular, the bombing of the World Trade Centre in New York in 2001, with its aftermath of ongoing nationwide exposure to threat, From Trauma to Transformation by Muriel Prince Warren tackles the ever-pressing topic of how to understand the phenomenon of trauma and, most importantly, the way in which trauma victims can be successfully treated by psychotherapists and hypnotherapists. 

I am always acutely aware of how important it is for the therapist to understand what is actually happening for the client and Muriel Warren successfully deals with this vital issue by analysing the client's stress response. The author accurately explains the physiology of the fight-flight-freeze syndrome and the way in which this emergency response can be translated into the client's symptoms which then emerge as entrapped fixed beliefs and perpetual life-patterns. Muriel Warren stresses the importance of the role of amygdala in the limbic system, as the initiator of the stress response, and the development of the overwhelm state which dominates the client's perception of helplessness, fear and generalised anxiety. Mostly significantly the author explains the way in which hypnosis can be utilised to pacify the stress activation emanating from the amygdala. The author, moreover, does not neglect to remind the reader that a given traumatic event in the client's life will severely exacerbate any existing anxiety, phobic or obsessive disorders. 

The work is packed with creative strategies and treatment plans for a range of traumatic conditions which manifest in adults, children and family groups. These treatment strategies comprehensively include client-education, role-play, therapeutic games, investigative exploration, belief restructuring, coping strategies, breathing techniques and positive self-talk as well as the highly expedient Trauma Release Technique (TRT) and Neuro Emotional Technique (NET). For the busy practitioner, the book also defines and analyses a series of inspiring treatment methodologies for critical incident stress, acute stress and post-traumatic stress as well as bereavement and compassion fatigue. 

Muriel Warren is working at the sharp-end of trauma therapy with sincerity and dedication and her knowledge and experience is reflected splendidly in From Trauma to Transformation.

The text is comprehensive and covers the diagnosis and treatment of the full spectrum of post-traumatic states. It addresses specific issues in relation to counselling clients who have suffered major trauma and includes detailed case examples together with transcripts of sessions.

The book is an invaluable aid and essential text for both novice and experienced therapists working with trauma victims. It is also accessible enough to be of use to laypersons who have encountered traumatic experience and may need help.

The author shows how NLP techniques can be used in the field of PTSD to achieve therapeutic outcomes, and a range of different 'major disorder' responses to PTSD are considered.

The book is particularly helpful for healthcare practitioners because it considers the direct application of NLP techniques to therapeutic situations.

Problematic issues in relation to treatment and recovery and PTSD are highlighted and dealt with competently.

The author specifically considers the nature of the 'freeze' response to trauma and examines in detail the psychological effect traumatic events can have on an individual, taking the reader step by step through each stage of the process of understanding and recovery.

Perhaps because in South African we are so immersed in trauma and trauma therapy because of our level of violence in society, it is that I found this book somewhat clinical and lacking in certain respects. When I saw the title I was excited, but in my opinion the author failed to carry through the theme of taking trauma through to transformation in any meaningful way. The treatment plans are great but reductionistic-”seldom does a trauma treatment plan run smoothly, but little of those challenges and how to deal with them are present in the book. In my opinion, 'planning' a process of treatment involves the assumption that things will run according to that plan, which, in my experience is seldom the case.

The focus on 9/11 to the exclusion of other types of trauma was problematic for me-”perhaps again because of the variety and complexity of trauma we work with in South Africa. The author failed to expose the reader to some of the debates and learning that arose, in terms of trauma treatment, post 9/11, particularly the issue around the re-traumatizing effect of 're-telling the story' that came from the stories of victims of 9/11 which radically changed or at least questioned, the way we think about trauma counseling.

I was not sure what population this book was intended for. It holds little novelty in terms of the needs of the seasoned trauma practitioner and yet it is not useful for the lay person as the treatment plans need to be administered by a professional. I agree however, that it would be useful in bringing more people to using hypnosis as an effective methodology in trauma recovery.

On a positive note I found the first chapter, in terms of the theoretical underpinnings of trauma treatment, to be interesting, although I think that some of the paradigms could have been treated in more detail. This was where the question of the target population arose in my mind.

In From Trauma to Transformation, Muriel Prince Warren explores the long-term impact of the 9/11 attacks on the collective American psyche. Using case examples from her own private practice, Warren reveals the tragic state of unhealed minds while offering encouraging examples of transformation. Her brilliant use of hypnosis to quiet the amygdala, (the part of the brain that triggers the “fight or flight” response), restores her patients' trust in their own minds. Warren suggests that only through controlling the amygdala, the little trouble-maker in the brain, will peace be restored to a traumatized mind. This book is a life-saving contribution to the field of trauma.