Rethinking PTSD

Dr. George Bonanno and the new science of resilience

One of the cool things about opening up Reckoning with Jason Herbert as our second show is the ability to sit down with experts in field across the world to hear about their work and what that means for us. For me, this means moving beyond conversations solely about history and talking to scientists, economists, novelists, mathematicians, and so many more folks.

Seeing his book on the Basic Books catalog, I reached out to Dr. George Bonanno and asked if he’d want to come on the pod and he graciously accepted. George is a really interesting guy doing some amazing work. He’s a professor of clinical psychology and the director of the Loss, Trauma, and Emotion Lab at Teachers College, Columbia University. I thought that he’d be an amazing guest to have on because for those of us nonspecialists, the science of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is known but probably not well understood. And even better, it turns out that George is such a wonderful and gracious guest. Talking to him about his work was one of the easiest and yet intellectually engaging hours I’ve ever spent.

Among the things we spoke about was how he came to be a professor of clinical psychology and what that entails, as well as popular misconceptions of PTSD. For us history lovers, Dr. Bonanno also explains the historical context of trauma and how societal perceptions of PTSD have evolved over time, particularly in relation to veterans returning from war. He also gets into the complexities of the new science of resilience, particularly in the context of PTSD and trauma. We talk about caregivers, and why a flexibility mindset is important to people suffering from PTSD. One of the really cool things George does in his book is also talk about the role of spirituality in recovery, something I was eager to delve into. In the clip below, George talks about the difficulties of diagnosing PTSD.

About our guest:

George Bonanno is a Professor of Clinical Psychology at Columbia University's Teachers College and internationally recognized for his pioneering research on human resilience in the face of loss and potential trauma. He is recognized by the Web of Science as among the top one percent most cited scientists in the world, and has been honored with lifetime achievement awards by the Association for Psychological Science (APS), the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies (ISTSS), and the International Positive Psychology Association (IPPA). In addition to the books, The End of Trauma and The Other Side of Sadness, George has published hundreds of peer-reviewed scientific articles, many appearing in leading journals such as Nature, JAMA, American Psychologist, and the Annual Review of Psychology. He is also an avid painter (when he has time), reads widely, and loves music.

Own his book:

Find The End of Trauma available on Amazon right here

And without further ado, find my conversation with Dr. George Bonanno on Apple Podcasts and Spotify below or wherever you listen to your pods.

I also know we’ve had a bunch of new readers to the substack recently, so you can also find our discussion of Beastie Boys’ License to Ill and the history of rap just below. If you like it, maybe you’ll subscribe.

Alright, it’s Monday and that means we all have things to do. I hope you’ll have a great week.

Jason