AS GOOD AS THE BEST: Power and Possibility Beyond C-PTSD contains much of use for those afflicted with complex post-traumatic stress disorder. Author D. Novo draws on personal experience of having grown up in a household with narcissistic and abusive parents to deliver a compelling narrative on ways in which to care for oneself in the face of such terrible adversities.
Novo’s approach to the issues is filled with good sense. They advocate attending to one’s internal mindset, cultivating empowering beliefs, and resisting the temptation to desire revenge or payback. They rightly point out that such desires benefit no one, even if the manner in which they justify not indulging in such thoughts (they supposedly have “negative frequencies” in “the invisible network that pulses and vibrates with energies that touch our lives”) flirts more than a little with woo. Similarly, Novo enthusiastically advocates for Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy, though assessments of its effectiveness have produced conflicting results.
One issue with the work is the manner in which it invokes the premise of authenticity. The term, along with the word “authentic,” appears on dozens of occasions in the book’s opening chapters, but over half the book has gone by before discussion of the concepts comes to the fore (in chapter 7). Novo advocates practicing authenticity, which “requires us to act in accordance with the deepest, truest, and most inviolable part of ourselves.” Novo defines this “authentic self” as being synonymous with such ideas as “inner nature,” “true self,” or “spirit.” The terminology here is a little loosey-goosey, but there is an obvious resonance with nineteenth-century Romantic concepts of the authentic. If we endorse this interpretation of Novo’s “authentic self,” we can see their point: It is indeed wise for us to be transparent with ourselves about what we really feel, and disabuse ourselves of convictions held in spite of those feelings the moment we become aware of them. But it might have been better to simply conceive of such ideas in terms of transparency rather than authenticity, which is a term that comes with much semiotic baggage if one does not advance a rigorous definition for it.
Being a complex condition, C-PTSD requires complex methods of treatment. AS GOOD AS THE BEST recognizes this, and in spite of a few missteps, provides sufferers with not only some useful coping strategies but also the comfort of knowing that others have had similar experiences—and gone on to thrive.
Though not perfect, D. Novo's AS GOOD AS THE BEST: Power and Possibility Beyond C-PTSD succeeds in helping C-PTSD sufferers have faith in the possibility of healing and growth.
~ Craig Jones for IndieReader