CLINICAL TREATMENT OF HIGH-FUNCTIONING TRAUMA IN BLACK WOMEN: AN ATTACHMENT, IDENTITY, AND SOMATIC APPROACH

This book focuses on the clinical treatment of high-functioning trauma in Black women, with attention to how trauma can exist beneath outward success and emotional control.

It examines how early relational experiences shape attachment patterns that continue into adulthood, often showing up as emotional guardedness, self-reliance, difficulty trusting others, and a tendency to overfunction in relationships and work.

The book also explores identity in a cultural context. It looks at how societal expectations, stereotypes around strength, and lived experiences influence how Black women understand themselves and how they manage emotional pain while maintaining external stability.

A major focus is the somatic dimension of healing. It explains how trauma is held in the body through chronic stress responses, tension, fatigue, and emotional disconnection. It also introduces body-based approaches that support regulation, grounding, and restoring internal safety.

Overall, the book brings together attachment theory, identity, and somatic therapy to provide a clinical framework for understanding and treating trauma that is often hidden behind resilience and high functioning behavior.