What if everything we've been told about trauma is keeping us trapped in unnecessary suffering? In a culture where kindergartners casually discuss their "trauma" and every life challenge gets pathologized, acclaimed therapist Antonieta Contreras offers a revolutionary perspective: most of what we call trauma is actually our brilliant minds adapting and healing—exactly as they should.

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Picture this: a few decades ago, I was explaining trauma to doctors who'd never heard the term. Today, kindergarteners discuss their "trauma" as casually as their favorite cartoons. But in all this trauma talk, we've missed something crucial—the actual science of how emotions work.

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How Deep is the Wound? emerges from my decades as a therapist, my award-winning academic work, and 2,000+ questions I've answered online reaching over 40 million people. But this isn't just another trauma book—it's the first comprehensive guide to emotional construction for general audiences.

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Here's what's revolutionary: I reveal how emotions operate as a predictable system we can learn to influence, just like other bodily systems. Through dozens of applications, exercises, and practices, readers discover how to recalibrate their emotional responses rather than being at their mercy.

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Most importantly, the book teaches a crucial distinction we've lost: the difference between wounds that come from emotional pain—which can actually strengthen us when properly processed—and wounds that come from survival responses, which require entirely different healing approaches.

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We're drowning in a culture that pathologize normal adaptation while missing the sophisticated science that could actually help. This book offers what people are hungry for: not labels that keep them trapped, but understanding that sets them free. It's not about dismissing pain—it's about knowing exactly what kind of wound you're dealing with so healing becomes possible.

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The missing piece isn't more therapy—it's understanding how your emotional system actually works. Deep Wounds gives readers that missing manual, complete with practical tools they can use immediately. It's about reclaiming your birthright to wholeness by understanding the remarkable system you already possess.