Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (CPTSD) are both conditions developed after witnessing or experiencing a traumatic event. For PTSD, it only takes one major event to trigger it. For CPTSD, it is a series of traumatic events that occurred over time. Currently, 3.6% of U.S. adults have PTSD and about a third of these cases have a severe impairment on the lives of those with the condition.

While PTSD and its lesser known counterpart are mostly known within the veteran community, the truth is that it can be introduced at any point by any sudden disturbing event or a series of unrelenting events that culminate over time. The most vulnerable populations to develop PTSD are women, followed closely by veterans, and once more by African American and Hispanic populations.

It’s also the subject of many essays, stories, and books, but can sometimes be misconstrued by those with a limited understanding of it. Thanks to continuing research and understanding about PTSD and CPTSD, our understanding of both conditions has expanded thanks to both science and art keeping the conversation going in the right direction, including highlighting creators who talk about their experiences.

I’m not a scientist (and you don’t want me to be), so my contribution is to find the books written by authors with PTSD and CPTSD that are bold enough to confront both conditions at their strangest, ugliest, and maybe even the odd times when it can bring understanding and good into our perspective.

I have included some entries that do not confirm whether the author has PTSD or CPTSD, but includes valuable information to the community. Those entries will be noted.

If you have a suggestion, especially if you wrote a book that fits this list, don’t hesitate to reach out. All links to books will be to the publisher, an indie bookstore, or Bookshop.org to mitigate Amazon and other predatory retailers as much as possible, though if a book is only available on Amazon, I will make the link available.

I intend to, like my other “Mental Illness Books Written by Those With Mental Illness” Series (unofficial name), to add more books as I find them, but figured this is a good starting place. (Updated January of 2026).

Poetry

A Family Thing by Ashley Elizabeth

This full-length poetry collection explores the trauma of childhood sexual assault, navigating the pain and resilience it takes to achieve solace and a sense of self. It is available from ELJ Editions.

Preverbal by Carroll Beauvais

Preverbal by Carroll Beauvais follows the loss of two parents and the consequences of that trauma for the rest of the speaker’s life. The manuscript was inspired by both What My Bones Know by Stephanie Woo and The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk (the latter a somewhat controversial figure in the space despite the very popular book.).

The interview exploring the collection can be found here.

And For Too LOng After by Ellie White

Launching the narrative with the discovery of a gray hair, the eldest daughter reflects on her life so far, not expecting to have made it this long in life. The rest of the collection asks a simple question: is it possible to move on after a haunted past? Published by Unsolicited Press (buy from indie publishers, please!). Buy it here.

Fiction

Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut

Literary Hub calls it the “ultimate PTSD novel,” so it had to be included in this list. The novel follows Billy Pilgrim, a man who experiences his life out of logical sequence due to his time serving in World War II as a soldier and chaplain’s assistant. Each chapter explores a part of his life, except it shifts the reader from birth, to death, to midlife, to obscure parts of Billy’s life. Billy also confronts his line of thinking after being abducted by an alien race called the Tralfamadorians, though their legitimacy is left ambiguous between a genuine experience Billy has and a coping mechanism for his PTSD. The Tralfamadorians view time all at once as opposed to a linear sequence of events. Vonnegut himself served in the military during World War II and suffered from PTSD as a result. Purchase the classic novel here.

The yellow birds by kevin Powers

The Yellow Birds by Kevin Powers is considered one of the greats of contemporary war fiction for its realistic portrayal of loss of innocence and the coping that follows. The main character, John Bartle, experiences intense guilt over a fellow fallen solider. The novel follows Bartle’s own struggles with depression, darkness, memories, and more. Fragmented syntax and intense imagery mimic the experiences of post-war PTSD throughout the book. Powers himself is an Iraq war veteran and drew from his own personal experiences after returning home from Iraq. Purchase now from Bookshop.org.

Post-Traumatic by Chantel V. Johnson

Long-listed for the Center for Fiction’s First Novel Prize, Johnson’s debut novel came out in 2022. The main character, Vivian, is a wildly successful lawyer who advocates for mentally ill patients at a NYC psychiatric hospital. Privately, she battles her memories of her childhood and the realities of being both Black and Latinx in America. The novel is described as sharp survivor narrative.

I cannot find confirmation that Johnson herself has CPTSD, but her love of Plath and Woolf and her dedication to the characters makes me want to include this book in this list for its dedication and seemingly accurate depiction of CPTSD. Read her PEN America interview here. Purchase it here.

Nonficiton & Memoir

What My Bones Know by Stephanie Foo

What My Bones Know by Stephanie Foo is a memoir about Foo’s own long process with healing from significant childhood trauma. At thirty, she has it all, including a lucrative job but still has panic attacks and crying fits every morning at her desk. Her life should be perfect, yet the complications of healing complex trauma take time, effort, and grace for yourself. In an effort to understand herself and her condition, she pursued the limited information about CPTSD from psychologists and scientists while also investigating the role of immigrant trauma within a community.

My Grandmother’s Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies by Resmaa Menakem is a deep dive into how systematic racism causes trauma to not only Black Americans, but White and “blue” (police) Americans, too. The argument is that white supremacy deeply harms us all, and the solution to uproot deeply seated trauma is to triumph over the rhetoric and somatic pressure the ideology puts us all through and to release it.

Menakem has not confirmed a diagnosis of PTSD, but he is highly knowledgeable with a deep understanding of the systemic issues that contribute to PTSD and how the body holds it. He studied at Peter Levine’s Somatic Experiencing Trauma Institute and teaches workshop on Cultural Somatics.

Invisible Storm: A Soldier’s Memoir of Politics and PTSD by Jason Kander

Highly praised by figures like Wes Moore (author of The Other Wes Moore), Invisible Storm: A Solider’s Memoir of Politics and PTSD by Jason Kander is a frank look at the impact of PTSD even a decade later. Kander was prepped for a landslide victory in his mayoral campaign in Kansas City, but withdrew after experiencing the fallout of undiagnosed PTSD. The rest of the memoir is a candid look at Kander’s efforts to recover and face the hard decision of walking away for his own health.

Read the PBS interview here and purchase it here.

Looking for More Recommendations?

Or do you have one to tell me? Reach out to my Contact page.