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Trauma and Memory: Brain and Body in a Search for the Living Past: A Practical Guide for Understanding and Working with Traumatic Memory
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In Trauma and Memory, best-selling author Dr. Peter Levine (creator of the Somatic Experiencing approach) tackles one of the most difficult and controversial questions of PTSD/trauma therapy: Can we trust our memories?
While some argue that traumatic memories are unreliable and not useful, others insist that we absolutely must rely on memory to make sense of past experience. Building on his 45 years of successful treatment of trauma and utilizing case studies from his own practice, Dr. Levine suggests that there are elements of truth in both camps. While acknowledging that memory can be trusted, he argues that the only truly useful memories are those that might initially seem to be the least reliable: memories stored in the body and not necessarily accessible by our conscious mind.
While much work has been done in the field of trauma studies to address "explicit" traumatic memories in the brain (such as intrusive thoughts or flashbacks), much less attention has been paid to how the body itself stores "implicit" memory and how much of what we think of as "memory" actually comes to us through our (often unconsciously accessed) felt sense. By learning how to better understand this complex interplay of past and present, brain and body, we can adjust our relationship to past trauma and move into a more balanced, relaxed state of being. Written for trauma sufferers as well as mental health care practitioners, Trauma and Memory is a groundbreaking look at how memory is constructed and how influential memories are on our present state of being.
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Customer reviews
4.6 out of 5 stars
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Top customer reviews
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3.0 out of 5 stars
I was disappointed by this book
ByKristinon November 30, 2015
Format: Paperback|Verified Purchase
I was disappointed by this book. I was so pleased to see a book on trauma and memory, that I jumped to buy it, but though it starts out well, discussing the different forms of memory (declarative, episodic, emotional, and procedural), it soon narrows down into a consideration of only procedural memory and only a subset of that. Then it discusses his method of Somatic Experiencing and give case studies; it becomes clear that the discussion of memory is mainly to support his discussion of SE. Indeed, everything is centered around SE, not memory, including his criticisms (which sometimes made me cringe) of other therapists and researchers. So if you're looking for an interesting and clearly written account of SE, here it is, but if you're looking for a broad and objective account of traumatic memory, this isn't it.
In case you'd like to look elsewhere, I can recommend the good (but much too short) discussion in The Body Keeps the Score (two chapters), the two interesting books by Lenore Terr (somewhat dated now), and the excellent web site: http://www.jimhopper.com/memory/
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Recommended for all trauma therapists and trauma survivors looking for more understanding of memory
ByBettyon November 1, 2015
Format: Kindle Edition|Verified Purchase
As a survivor of severe trauma I cried my way through the first part of this book, as the way I experience life somehow felt so validated. Peter obviously truly understands the territory and helped me to understand my own reactions and memory challenges better. I would recommend this book to anybody working with trauma survivors and trauma survivors themselves. There is so much misinformation around out there with regard to memory processes, and Peter has written a really clear explanation of the different types of memory and the issues around whether or not they are reliable. This book also has a very clear explanation of how to use the SIBAM model and pendulation to help someone to complete thwarted survival and orienting responses from the past, and even just on a first quick read has better empowered me to be with the sensations in my body. Thank you Peter, for being the pioneer you are and for bringing what you have learnt so clearly into the world through your writings.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent and Readable!
ByJennifer May, Ph.D.on April 27, 2016
Format: Paperback|Verified Purchase
I am a clinical psychologist who read and thoroughly enjoyed (and learned from!) this book. I have read two of Levine's other books in the past (Waking the Tiger and In an Unspoken Voice), and still felt like I learned additional material about trauma and somatic experiencing from this book, Trauma and Memory. Levine writes in an interesting, easy to understand, and readable manner so that you're learning a lot without suffering through mind bending, dry, and textbook-like material. His way of explaining the different levels of memory and how traumatic memories are formed, stored, and healed was extremely clear and made a lot of sense. In fact, it was so clear, that I was able to outline the main concepts and present them to some of my clients and students without any problems. I would definitely recommend this book to others!
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5.0 out of 5 star
she writes in a way that makes it a joy to read and very clear
ByMLWon November 5, 2015
Format: Paperback|Verified Purchase
While the author presents scientific support that includes complicated terminology, he writes in a way that makes it a joy to read and very clear. This book is amazing.
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5.0 out of 5 starsLevine's best and clearest presentation of SE
ByIan Gordon-Lennoxon November 23, 2015
Format: Kindle Edition|Verified Purchase
Trauma and Memory gives the reader a clear view of Levine's naturalistic approach, Somatic Experiencing. It also presents alternative methods and warns of the dangers. His warnings about Big Pharma solutions are particularly relevant today. The best he's written!
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5.0 out of 5 starsA Hero's Journey for Healing -- All Survivors Should Read This
ByCaleb Winebrenneron November 11, 2015
Format: Paperback
What do you do when “talk therapies” don’t work? Could it be because your traumatic experiences are trapped deeper in the mind, in emotional and procedural (body) memory? In this groundbreaking book, Peter Levine, the creator of Somatic Experiencing, applies his 45 years of clinical experience with trauma survivors to the investigation and understanding of traumatic memory. Whether you are a healer or a survivor, this book is incredibly useful.
I was especially drawn to the chapter “The Hero’s Journey.” Using case examples, Levine explains the processes that a survivor must go through, especially the push and pull of integrating traumatic memories into a narrative conception of self. (Having been born prematurely, I was deeply moved by his work with a child who had a medically difficult birth, and showed signs of trauma). The body holds on to our traumas, seeking resolution from those moments when our nervous systems were overloaded and our survival instincts could not respond adequately at the time. Like the heroes and heroines of myth, we must embark on a dark and mysterious journey into the deepest parts of ourselves. Healing, the boon of the journey, is not for the faint of heart.
Throughout, though, Levine emphasizes the inherent drive for survival, even flourishing, inherent in all beings (and he even backs it with neuroscience!). Survivors are not “victims,” nor “failures.” The body may act as if a survivor has failed, trapping him in a feedback loop of trigger and response. But ultimately, we survived. We will triumph. Thus Levine writes about survivors with great warmth and encouragement.
For me, this book explained so much of my own healing journey, and why certain therapies and modalities have not worked. Reading it, I’ve since contacted several practitioners of Levine’s methods -- I’m ready to. The way to healing is not in cognitively understanding a trauma, but in reconsolidating a memory of it such that we access our inherent healing resources, and are released from the pain of the events. Levine writes, “In the critical time period of recall there is an opportunity … to prevent [a memory] from reconsolidating in the original maladaptive form. This is done by introducing the new empowered bodily experiences … Reconsolidation is a profound opportunity to transform traumatic failure into embodied success” (p. 144). The thought alone is empowering.
Your habitual responses don’t have to trap you forever. Your own instincts to survive and thrive are your ticket to release. On your hero’s journey, Peter Levine, and the many practitioners he’s trained, can be your guide. Blessings on the journey.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Great integration of memory fragments
ByAmazon Customeron June 17, 2016
Format: Kindle Edition|Verified Purchase
Excellent way to access all the different memory systems and make sense of early life experiences without indulging them further - or getting re-traumatized. Great sense of integration that came with putting together all the fragments.
