Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    The Trauma Banquet: Eating Pain - Feasting on Life
    The Trauma Banquet: Eating Pain - Feasting on Life
    The Trauma Banquet: Eating Pain - Feasting on Life
    Ebook304 pages4 hours

    The Trauma Banquet: Eating Pain - Feasting on Life

    By Kenneth Pakenham

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    The truth about how to overcome adversity, with a foreword by Professor Steven Hayes, author of The Liberated Mind and originator of acceptance and commitment therapy, The Trauma Banquet gives raw insights into how to build personal resilience in the face of lingering trauma.

    At the heart of this memoir is the liberating and inspirational message: eating pain is empowering. As a professor and educator of clinical psychology with 38 years of treating people, Dr Pakenham has found there is no effective way to remove the pain from past traumas. Their silent echoes last a lifetime and demand their rightful place in life. The only viable remedy is to embrace pain, a process that is both transformative and energising. Each one of us is affected by trauma at some point in our life. Everyone suffers. In this book Dr Pakenham gives real-life examples of how to use your inner pain to invigorate your life.

    Dr Pakenham has worked with thousands of clients, and extensively researched human behaviour and cutting-edge practices in clinical psychology. In this memoir he examines his own painful silent trauma echoes that defy eradication and shows how he uses inner pain to cultivate fulfilment.

    Brutal and relentless domestic violence carved his early childhood. His emerging gender fluidity and sexual diversity mystified and enraged his father and peers. When he was 13, his mother, the centre of his life, committed suicide. From this early intimacy with death, he discovered he could suck life from pain, and this insight became his guiding light.

    Cared for by an older sibling in the midst of a shattered family, he suffered violent beatings at high school that punished his gender and sexual diversity. A deep desire to find meaning in his suffering led him on a roller-coaster of drug addiction, hippie communal living, homelessness and the use of sex for material survival. Close to tasting his own death, he found salvation and re-entered society.

    He took the straight and narrow path through religion, university, marriage, fatherhood and career advancements. The AIDS crisis touched him professionally, a ‘crucifixion’ experience, the death of loved ones from suicide and accidents, and the threat of a degenerative illness skewered him along the way. After he was shattered by divorce, a new path opened that drew him back to his authentic self and gay love.

    The memoir ends with an examination of the two processes Dr Pakenham committed to as a child and which were later validated by science: eating pain and feasting on life. He learned that the very thing he wanted to run from, his pain, was the very thing that invigorated his life. He describes his moment-by-moment use of strategies to enable him to eat his pain, savour life and pursue his passions. These are the same evidenced-based techniques he encourages his clients to practice.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTellwell Talent
    Release dateFeb 11, 2020
    ISBN9781922368188
    The Trauma Banquet: Eating Pain - Feasting on Life
    Author

    Kenneth Pakenham

    I spent my childhood in New Zealand. Unaccompanied by family, I moved to Australia in my late teens. At age 25 I commenced my education in psychology at The University of Queensland. After completing a Bachelor of Arts (Honours in Psychology) in 1979, I began my career as a practicing psychologist. Over the following 12 years while working full-time as a psychologist I completed a Master of Applied Psychology (Clinical) and a PhD. I started my first academic appointment at The University of Queensland in 1992. In addition to my academic role, I maintained my clinical practice and took on significant leadership roles within the profession including Chairing the Registration Committee for the Psychologists Board of Queensland.I am currently a professor of clinical psychology at The University of Queensland. My psychology research and clinical practice span almost 40 years. Inspired by the resilience of people facing severe hardship, I have committed my career to investigating processes that foster personal growth in adversity. Through 160 publications, 7000 citations of my work, 80 conference presentations, invited keynotes, research and teaching awards, $3 million plus of grant funding and invited workshops and masterclasses in North America, Europe and Asia, I have become a leader in promoting a ‘living fully with adversity’ approach to life. My memoir, ‘The Trauma Banquet’, is my first piece of commercial writing. In it, I weave my personal and professional experiences and insights on growth in adversity.

    Related to The Trauma Banquet

    Related ebooks

    Psychology For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Bottoming Out: On Leslie Jamison’s ‘The Recovering’

      Apr 9, 2018

      The first time she told the story of her recovery from alcohol addiction, Leslie Jamison recalls in her memoir The Recovering, an older man in the front row of the meeting where she was speaking started shouting: “This is boring!” Jamison is quick to

      5 min read

    • Article

      REMAINING SILENT The facts

      Mar 1, 2020

      Sometime in 1985, I sit at a table in a college library among tall metal shelves, gray or green, that squeak if you lean against them or slide a heavy book across the horizontal rims, a rinse of dust always in the air. I’ve pulled out a large art boo

      14 min read

    • Article

      Pema Chödrön

      May 19, 2020

      “Rather than being disheantened by the uncertainty of life, what if we accepted it and relaxed into it? What if this what it means to be human and we decided to sit down and enjoy the ride” Pema Chödrön is our favourite wise woman. Beloved Buddhist

      1 min read

    • Article

      Attachment: My Big Mistake

      Mar 23, 2021

      Attachment: My Big Mistake
      2 min read

    • Article

      Recipe for Zen

      Dec 17, 2020

      Recipe for Zen
      4 min read

    • Article

      4 Steps To Happiness

      Jul 10, 2020

      YOU HAVE AROUND 60-80,000 thoughts per day, according to neuroscientific research. Some of the research indicates that as much as 60 and 70 per cent of thought content can be negative in nature. It’s important to understand that most of your thoughts

      3 min read

    • Article

      The Zen Of Jane Hirshfield

      Sep 19, 2023

      The Zen Of Jane Hirshfield
      10 min read

    • Article

      Top Goss!

      Sep 27, 2020

      Top Goss!
      5 min read

    • Article

      The Saving Grace of Mary Oliver

      Jan 22, 2019

      Oliver’s queer identity and search for meaning provided the subtle underpinning for much of her work and we—in search of understanding, comfort, fortitude—often saw ourselves and our questions reflected in it. The post The Saving Grace of Mary Oliver

      4 min read

    • Article

      Moving Through Addiction

      Mar 22, 2020

      Certain behaviors, such as smoking a cigarette, drinking a glass of wine or eating sugary foods, can cause you to feel a pleasurable high that has you going back for more. It’s perfectly normal to want and seek out what gives you pleasure—it’s part o

      6 min read

    • Article

      Woman In The Mirror

      Nov 1, 2017

      Woman In The Mirror
      6 min read

    • Article

      I Had Brain Fog And Put On 5kg

      Mar 5, 2021

      SILKY hair, long slim limbs, washboard stomach, perfect pores, serene smile – all this and then some belong to the goddess of wellness, Gwyneth Paltrow. Even those who love her sometimes have to agree she’s annoyingly perfect and ridiculously success

      4 min read

    • Article

      Kind Of Blue

      Jul 4, 2021

      Kind Of Blue
      10 min read

    • Article

      Living What Matters: Reflections, Prose and 52 Prompts for Self-Inquiry

      May 10, 2020

      — Since books arrive like children, after months of labor, the timing of their arrival is well beyond us. And so, in the midst of this profound, painful, and transformative time, my new book, The Book of Soul: 52 Paths to Living What Matters is arriv

      3 min read

    • Article

      When Meditation Turns Toxic

      Feb 11, 2022

      When Meditation Turns Toxic
      9 min read

    • Article

      Tell No One

      Aug 27, 2019

      Tell No One
      6 min read

    • Article

      How to Build a Happier Brain

      Oct 23, 2013

      How to Build a Happier Brain
      9 min read

    • Article

      Our Web Of Connection

      Feb 22, 2022

      “Independent as a hog on ice.” That’s one of my favorite expressions from my days working in Washington. It’s a rich image. Yes, the hog is independent. He’s all by himself. Because nobody is going to come to the aid of a hog flailing around on ice,

      2 min read

    • Article

      Take A Moment

      Mar 22, 2020

      Take A Moment
      31 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for The Trauma Banquet

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      The Trauma Banquet - Kenneth Pakenham

      cbook_preview_excerpt.html|YHU9{.UH$U:*cAFkH5#ӹ5tK˯:Fc0wI{"J< ܌,OW*Пo|+|ݏ_}~/P7/Taxĥ#/8NrbkK5sn9MCn~.??S͒>T_qp|-~|㻷7o~-ލyKO_yL/>r7vwݗCwpkaN _~^*>u.<ƾ]~꫶-te*eԔ/cfcڋr\%%:|hym3NDM4-bp"ԷbwcE?1bwih ie mKR&|sK >q R,e*k~ⅪjF,!8=`fl0B1˿)UQ5&>TO;,8in2|Sq O ?Ť}tGI/⎱mر*Hozjaa/>Y# yg]<-8 RF<>uPssz`6E!7Jp7OɾKcs5 `X| tu_+RJ0XC2?F?\7˼FtC4%O+RkȺF~5C=nW@^y]q~| V8 ( "&J2(0 E6ލ@EK7M9qrrCM$CDb*?eË~C#Q!:a`3Ƅh8@ְWy\ģ].: %mU04:T,'Hh!ڠOO*ԟX88ĭ-TS:`:DG<052<. sn80[-="8&e "#D2.+q`ϯJdm덋!ZM ܉Ԍj/%s<0.q5M/[;EQD^Nxv^@´1(b" kH`&$;)6l"%Mbj@M"D k if _<5r_^0p©$Hy\)T?RS#F-_n`g{_|c-E #.FMq}, OtXpWԱb:au*ի"gdF^åw0uu?QeH_Su^sZlӚn491 ӔuA(RTR5 ZNe$gW9 P?vISТZ l]LЕҭHa&Y3#0J26)$, ʐ9\GBFyp}!Aby \c3͵wW ;3xj ܔ3.,2 P9З~vp /( o@v"G钩Vi/X t:w@EVT0cߪe@iPaZ>|0 ԠUg4^IR {Qi5h9,YI:}AV:L1-2M_t槷5YkmU)" k-gz K^ZP6$,I8 #''X3}^AK:>_dd0e|G(Dl 2F Â#L,,$P\nIJ1,aq+&-=б;}G8$,J*RMY/5r*lU]+)fg֋fr7SN vI `IU0ѹ+oZl6k U +t^.+'x|̨&s &WBΏ S+Vk-uH:@E!l ܣHud )GEl9oW4*٣#Ʀ1 1Y2V9/HZp2BOiZ1kh0N̔򊑺_zc0~C׼ 9oiNz|4hkuZf2K!H=h "3E&?9[%eË=0ǶOdEJ<` `UZ&`/0`{xi f:uyCG) .djgpk;%=c%j0.{ <.o©, .#; O2\'j!n -e{AˀnW^/=nn{f%KCGԵ &SvEN\|KwZ&YLf΃#Kq(3C|,Ua"NwՇJjJXr Vl:K/ߗB$"-8':=Gê)*~a0f"GݾamaE(܎hEEOZ=c(B]AQ'ډ̌YBJrχ #4&)ײya ]58< JfbhH(.n!pdf \T>fކj-7Qg Yӥx ELdXwy1܆Q!&zv}T)o|=H"sVK{ޱAՖzj^OUx&d}- Z#Q5YrBRmtd̿Su?,<tƉe/es[*N};%`=2±MV3q"F̓ZZt[v|Zfi$.fiS/?VCwǗlw"=^͸[533qd ak)ׄiN ETa$[Äw&bqy*bdepjspth~KuyzⵓUm;D}7:m9 YQKoXj~:z]ܢ@nWSsc..gB IUЁ@h&sWv.F@tg;jU¿Gk6dm Ԁs6B^D-ał>\#')cF.VتeNmd+=o‘X O 7TZ#2P(kBp5dJ\V)#86"G2Pl7'r=|T$9nJPHCz V@{$kYױWo256fjü`QU-=Ja#Qr$)jԅIڌVR<apuyMrjk6ݰ+]w@M=QhlUOW%=FbKQ?FO\xpu`G8q+13+i7@,OMܱtrՆj}DsPd;@/F}oڷ}'Abq̹8;AdGo>~;eB j:vsO&_-3ҷ5a݁kܒCD,ٵSm*ϳNkɈJYМPÆE -έgfu";+(xf ?XC.氋6-Բ$XO}^mjdJnGazƓ_D$ubM٠/aMx]z H~a*w 5 VbH8TD{qۚ'.z+ndGRN%5rtOvCGI__g,+bD1R*$?)4UaYN?'AUu$fb{WȚl#'GCpy\3 5Rw8gT;f,w9f5G,FιRhJnĴ@^UMМD( 6(dؖƂ0]5nqhAFg'2|hQ?fy$hڢDN>k|^*\?j pv>!||ξqȠ}-};P:-+Cuh~:%';pH׵Z5L'nI"Z&# n4h`ʫ>Z^"l#bwvjÓ* qỷ|fpQ]9vrD Rְ8X2\R1vŽ|g,IE5r1+}TU]ۜ9:3~^%XnRŸЌKĕ& k΃fp!@+u%9Rrf'͂=CHkإ<yfei>ܦ<4̥3g{ls-~}TA\t y-fYOc&&ULx%f(9wObһj:7F%/orؖާ Iu kW[ѓ_8ξ)h 4σg1:'!&£ ۸xJqWz}.F ;`!c>| D 2ި}X+Fmd9܍G$ƝgOjҠnQSxPg@%d \qqS@ު=vA$,9~ayhbi<@Yt$aaRn6a@.xd{d[ڕGibQ°v"5jtZÀ]>߉ 04%|"s1AnLj{cumuK09+腝T|JtD#mȬsR'bcD}l}p-$y & 䖍Ik#ʃϱ(栢Si{yR{!}{#xl Cޟ'ta/~U~q'U-EY0?jwS彛C!X황JJ#NZ;$DRrK n9hjcs)haDUft>6[ʅXYs<Ŝc;~r\E^cJ2";ni[˙gq+RÝ,MPI7AC(R a2ݕ7yzgT|!64599X3ޘ A1JyC;)-.Sz-8M+[<!î_܃<\A$b!t;KZ9:dXX;񪀔8er kSW&e}|Y mh.Ct+ՋȸO 9f5G?G6g&*u##Sz_{sZg6g'UmypS3e{Xw h#tl*mƗ"帤>(boZ'3Ow,0xOj{}Лy]mFZ%N ee9s'(c02Yҭ=5QIUrZ3~ kJcKk3X :p{ W.?&^Řs=c+ :'y£d o\_;Xw+෵jg'w`"+z[utXa[jb]U%)ku)^[Uq-Mn_Tc:䅠.=:`QQŷΛg\ݔ7g7<t" #" 'ſLF n%4ȾύyoU^M~R[y-.n9 mf:TjO ^XU4/j=\2o]fte*Sv0ⱴfWq:f"Kj*Df8bsJNL=nwys{&$,s pYJQº<#(q",R:4,+ +iw,밸M/1q7۵<džTYpl3.v_ݢRm}=RY峁|%ɠV8 ?/^gY3S_Gȗ[FFSI]s/Рՙ~3E9_ݏ4~ _M !GΙc#ԍ" LXK?9R`
      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1