The Joy Reset: Six Ways Trauma Steals Happiness and How to Win It Back

From the "Brené Brown of trauma" comes a groundbreaking, actionable guide to healing trauma through a reframing and adaptation of Positive Psychology.

Joy can feel complicated, especially to someone who is struggling. Against the very real darkness that life offers up, a chorus of "but do you have a gratitude journal?" or "have you tried yoga?" can feel isolating and dismissive. And yet, the research on resilience, joy, gratitude, hope, and post-traumatic growth proves unequivocally that these emotions are healing. When it comes to deploying that research and adapting it into actionable tools for people with a history of trauma, psychology falls desperately short. To bridge this gap, Dr. MaryCatherine McDonald has reframed these concepts and created new interventions for anyone who struggles to feel at home with joy.

In The Joy Reset, Dr. McDonald helps readers identify barriers that prevent them from accessing joy--hypervigilance, emotional numbing, fear of loss, conditioning, guilt, and shame--and then redefines positive emotions as those tenacious, gritty, often tiny experiences that appear within the darkest moments and form the very foundation of psychological resilience. Rooted in the neurobiology that explains how and why trauma and suffering can impede our path to hope and joy, Dr. McDonald shares exercises that make joy and gratitude both bite-sized and accessible, inviting readers to welcome these emotions back in.

By emphasizing the very real ways that joy and hope show up even in our toughest moments, The Joy Reset empowers readers to find the light in the dark--no matter what.

Author: Marycatherine McDonald
Publisher: Balance
Published: 05/13/2025
Pages: 256
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.50lbs
Size: 8.20h x 5.40w x 0.80d
ISBN: 9780306836268

About the Author
MaryCatherine McDonald is a research professor and life coach who specializes in the psychology and philosophy of trauma. Her work focuses on thinking critically about how we understand, define, and heal from traumatic experiences. She has published several research articles and book chapters, as well as three books on trauma. In addition to her academic work, Dr. McDonald coaches individuals and corporations and creates trauma-based curriculum for non-profit organizations and schools.