Customer Reviews

Holographic Reprocessing: A Cognitive-Experiential Psychotherapy for the Treatment of Trauma

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Dr. Katz's book helps fill in an essential missing piece regarding how people can process traumatic events. The traditionally held theory of maladaptive processing suggests that a trauma memory will be frozen and held separate from the rest of the psyche, and symptoms arise from the trauma memory, which has not been adequately processed, intruding on the person's life. However, Dr. Katz posits that some people do not react this way. Rather, a person can process and integrate the trauma into his everyday life, and his perceptions about the trauma are incorporated into his worldview. This alternative route of maladaptive responding to a trauma should click with anyone who has worked with a number of trauma patients and has wondered how a person can obviously have psychological symptoms that stem from the trauma but do not fit neatly into the DSM PTSD criteria. For example, a women who has been raped may subsequently have relationship difficulties and depression but, contrary to traditional PTSD criteria, fails to experience intrusive thoughts or flashbacks, has an intact trauma narrative full of details, and does not display avoidance behaviors.

More importantly, Dr. Katz does not simply give the reader theory; she thoroughly explains how to treat a person who has processed his trauma in this manner (as the traditional treatments for trauma are not adequate for this type of processing). Every step one would need to go through to implement this therapy is detailed in concise and easy to understand terms. Multiple vignettes help the reader to see how the theory is tied to the techniques and how one should implement them.

In short, I highly recommend this book for any therapist. It's a quick and easy read but contains a wealth of valuable information.

I purchased "Holographic Reprocessing" after seeing the author, Lori Katz, at a conference. I was impressed with her presentation and wanted to learn more. This book has been a good extension of her training, and I recommend it to anyone working with trauma. I'm very excited to apply the ideas in my work as a private practice therapist. What makes the book useful is it's succinct chapters, practical information, and breadth of knowledge. She lays out the research on various methods of treating trauma, explains how her approach fits in with the research, and guides the reader how to apply her work. This seems to be a very useful, grounded approach, and the book is easy to read.

I have been privileged to see the development of Dr. Katz's development of Holographic Reprocessing from her original journal article, through the manuscript and now to the publishing of her book. I have noted in my over 30 years of practice as a clinical social worker that clients seem to do well in therapies where they can understand the concepts of the therapies. In HR, the components of an experiential hologram: the core violation, personal truths, compensation strategies, avoidance coping strategies, and acquired motivation are easily grasped by clients. Clients are able to take these concepts and use their own descriptive language for the mapping of the impact of the trauma and how it plays itself out over and over in relationships. The processing in HR is very gentle, directed by the therapist but uniquely in the control of the client. The impact on self efficacy is outstanding.

Not to be overlooked is the ability to use HR almost seamlessly when the client has resolved ambivalence for addressing the impact of trauma.

This is definitely a therapy approach that all clinicians doing trauma work should add to their group of skills.