Books by Vivian Broughton

In this book Vivian Broughton brings together all the important theoretical concepts on the topics of trauma, trauma survival and identity developed by Professor Dr Franz Ruppert over the past 30 years, known as Identity Oriented Psychotrauma Therapy (IOPT). It is likely to be of interest to therapists and all professionals who work with people and their life difficulties, as well as anyone interested in understanding themselves better.

Trauma underlies most of people’s life problems, and in particular traumas that happen very early in life. For the newly created child the experience of not being wanted, not being seen, welcomed, loved and valued for who he or she really is, makes for a deeply devastating start to life.

IOPT theory and practice puts these early traumas at the centre of the therapeutic healing endeavour, insisting on truth and reality as the only solution to the underlying pain caused by trauma.

Vivian writes about these painful issues with a clarity and compassion that makes this profound and in-depth analysis an immensely readable and accessible book for everyone - from therapists to clients and anyone interested in living a good life.

Published 2014. Updated and Revised 2014, 2016, 2017.

Affectionately known as 'the Rainbow Book', this book by Vivian Broughton has proved particularly popular. It has been translated into German, Dutch and Russian, with work in progress on a Swedish and Norwegian version.

Vivian devised the book to appeal to anyone interested in understanding themselves better, and taking their trauma seriously. Originally it was intended to be a gift to give to her new clients, but is now regarded as a best-seller in the field of Identity-oriented Psychotrauma Therapy (IoPT), and is often shared between friends as a starting point on this journey to healthy autonomy.

It is short, just 85 pages, and includes cartoon drawings and diagrams that help to address a challenging and charged topic in a manageable and friendly way. It does intend to be a 'handbook', the object of which is to provide helpful information about how to become the authority of one's life rather than a hostage to one's life.

We think of trauma as the big and obvious events, such as major catastrophes like 9/11 or a tsunami. These are important of course, but there are other potential traumas that are rarely talked about. They happened at a time that we do not remember and cannot discuss.

This handbook offers a journey of hope. Trauma can be healed and resolved. You can't do all the work of healing on your own, but this handbook can help you understand yourself better, gives you some basics to help you on your way, and gives you some pointers to finding the appropriate help.

Drawings in this book are by Karen McMillan

This is my second book, and I am quite pleased with it. I tried to write a text book on Franz Ruppert's work at the time (2013), and to put his work within the context of other trauma theory and thinking.

I included a brief history of the study (and avoidance) of trauma from the earliest days in the mid 19th Century up until the present time, and to understand why it took the psychotherapy world so long to see psychological and emotional trauma as completely central to the therapeutic endeavour... in fact many in the therapy world still do not see this.

I explained in some depth Ruppert's work as it was developed to that time, and tried to write in as much detail as I could about the practice of the  'trauma constellation' as it was then called, in the group and private individual session.

Written in 2010 when I was still involved in Family Constellations, this book is primarily about Family Constellations with an emphasis on the private one-to-one session. I do introduce Ruppert's early trauma material into this book, and attempt to make a synthesis of Family Constellations and Ruppert's trauma theory. Ultimately I could not do that, and so I moved on to work exclusively with Ruppert's IoPT theories and practice.

A particular focus of this book is on facilitation style as an important topic that was then seriously under addressed. Perhaps this has changed now!

I no longer follow the Family Constellations content but I am told that FC practitioners find the book useful.