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nmajeau's review
3.5
I’ve read Dr. Levine’s other book and I was really intrigued so I was looking forward to this deep dive. The ideas are phenomenal, and certain chapters were fantastic to read. However, the rest of the book is too much of a textbook with so much jargon that the sentences were challenging, even for my reading ability.
lory_enterenchanted's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
4.0
Fascinating look at somatic trauma therapy, the way we subvert and cut off our own survival instincts, and how we can consciously recover our innate ability to heal.
One point I disagree with is that “we’re just a bunch of animals.” Yes, it’s vital to acknowledge our animal nature as part of us, but equally to perceive how humans are different from wild animals — both in experiencing trauma, and in the ability to become aware of and heal it. This truly makes us a new kingdom and we must take up the task! If we don’t, we will remain stuck in an in between state, neither animal nor fully human.
Another weakness, the book needed better editing and proofreading. There were some repetitive passages and some bad typos. The material deserves more careful treatment.
One point I disagree with is that “we’re just a bunch of animals.” Yes, it’s vital to acknowledge our animal nature as part of us, but equally to perceive how humans are different from wild animals — both in experiencing trauma, and in the ability to become aware of and heal it. This truly makes us a new kingdom and we must take up the task! If we don’t, we will remain stuck in an in between state, neither animal nor fully human.
Another weakness, the book needed better editing and proofreading. There were some repetitive passages and some bad typos. The material deserves more careful treatment.
rhianner's review against another edition
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
3.5
The complilation and synergy of research is fantastic and very helpful to me as a clinician. The last third of the book is a lot of rambling.
cfyfe14's review against another edition
3.0
Levine provides a throughout clinical-evidence approach for the comprehension of trauma. His elaborate clinical and scientific research provides a solid foundation for understanding the physiological symptoms that are correlated with trauma. Certain parts of the book, animal linking, physiological symptoms of trauma, and spiritual significance, i found appealing and enhanced increase of new insights. Other parts, clinical observations, emotional reasoning, i skimmed because i found the content to be too detail and laborious, taking away from the overall meaning of the book.
I, personally, am not a fan on Levine's writing style;finding it boring, dry and very atypical of academia( strong evidence-based knowledge yet lacking the necessity skill set to put into simplistic practitioner comprehension). His narrative , i found to be repetitive and redundant in many parts of the book, illustrating he indulged in a topic before it become assimilated into dominant acculturation. I also found his writing tone to have a strong sense of skepticism, as if he doubted his own work, blocking a solid rapport of authenticity and realism to be established with the reader.
I believe this book is a good read for a class setting, enabling class discussion, instructors insights and assimilation to the relevance of the clinical-medical practice. Unfortunately, i would not recommend this book for those who aren't involved in the practitioner field or for digestive reading. It's really designed as a text book, lacking the pictures, graphs and clever wit.
I, personally, am not a fan on Levine's writing style;finding it boring, dry and very atypical of academia( strong evidence-based knowledge yet lacking the necessity skill set to put into simplistic practitioner comprehension). His narrative , i found to be repetitive and redundant in many parts of the book, illustrating he indulged in a topic before it become assimilated into dominant acculturation. I also found his writing tone to have a strong sense of skepticism, as if he doubted his own work, blocking a solid rapport of authenticity and realism to be established with the reader.
I believe this book is a good read for a class setting, enabling class discussion, instructors insights and assimilation to the relevance of the clinical-medical practice. Unfortunately, i would not recommend this book for those who aren't involved in the practitioner field or for digestive reading. It's really designed as a text book, lacking the pictures, graphs and clever wit.
tiboutoo's review against another edition
2.0
Important information that reinforced so much of my somatic practice. But so boring. Too many examples from the same stories and examples. Way too many Freud references.
TL;DR is "the body keeps score." Shaking and saying "voo" is healing. Fight, flight, freeze (don't forget fawn).
TL;DR is "the body keeps score." Shaking and saying "voo" is healing. Fight, flight, freeze (don't forget fawn).
julian7591's review against another edition
5.0
Very dense but a must read for anyone interested in inner work. Levine's work is based on the idea that the body is physiologically equipped to adequately process immense stress but that we block that natural processing by being over reliant on our intellect. Trauma is not what happens to us but what happens within the body, how the body reacts to protect itself. So therapeutic approaches that neglect the body and focus on top-down processing (CBT, free association, etc.) are inherently incomplete.
The therapist must guide the patient in accessing those sensations within themselves that they have been too afraid to look at. We don't have to mentally re-enact the trauma, simply revisiting the sensations in our body at our own pace can help us establish a sense of safety within our own being and release the stored energy associated with the trauma.
These are the steps of his method:
1. Establish an environment of relative safety, an atmosphere that conveys refuge, hope, and possibility.
2. Support initial exploration and acceptance of sensation. Traumatized individuals are cut off from their primal sensations, instincts, and feelings. In order to become self-regulating and authentically autonomous, traumatized individuals must learn to access, tolerate, and utilize their inner sensations.
3. Establish pendulation and containment. Help the patient create a larger container within themselves that can allow the unpleasant sensations to exist. Remind them of the body's natural rhythm of contraction and expansion; any sensation is time limited and will eventually pass.
4. Use titration to create increasing stability, resilience and organization. Titration is about carefully touching into the smallest "drop" of survival-based arousal, and other difficult sensations, to prevent re-traumatization. This is important because the process of leaving immobility is immensely frightening. The therapist is there to help neutralize those sensations of intense energy and primal emotional states underneath the freeze response (rage, flight, etc.) without unleashing an explosive reaction.
5. Provide a corrective experience by supplanting the passive responses of collapse and helplessness with active, empowered, defensive responses. Specific tension patterns (which can be experienced through internal awareness) suggest particular movements (uncompleted protective mechanisms), which can then be expressed in minute micro-movements. The bodies learn step-by-step that we were not helpless victims, that we survived the ordeals, and that we are intact and still alive.
6. Separate or "uncouple" the conditioned association of fear and helplessness from the (normally time-limited but now maladaptive) biological immobility response. The ability to go into and then come out of the innate immobility response is the key to both avoiding the prolonged debilitating effects of trauma and healing symptoms.
7. Resolve hyperarousal states by gently guiding the "discharge" and redistribution of the vast survival energy mobilized for life-preserving action while freeing that energy to support higher-level brain functioning. This is a release of potential energy. When threatened, our muscles are energized in preparation for action but when that mobilization is not carried out then that potential energy becomes stored as an "unfinished procedure" within the implicit memory of the system. This is what causes tension in your muscles.
8. Engage self-regulation to restore "dynamic equilibrium" and relaxed alertness. This is the feeling of being "home" within oneself. The sense that no matter what you are feeling in any given moment you have a secure base within your organism.
9. Orient to the here and now, contact the environment and reestablish the capacity for social engagement.
The therapist must guide the patient in accessing those sensations within themselves that they have been too afraid to look at. We don't have to mentally re-enact the trauma, simply revisiting the sensations in our body at our own pace can help us establish a sense of safety within our own being and release the stored energy associated with the trauma.
These are the steps of his method:
1. Establish an environment of relative safety, an atmosphere that conveys refuge, hope, and possibility.
2. Support initial exploration and acceptance of sensation. Traumatized individuals are cut off from their primal sensations, instincts, and feelings. In order to become self-regulating and authentically autonomous, traumatized individuals must learn to access, tolerate, and utilize their inner sensations.
3. Establish pendulation and containment. Help the patient create a larger container within themselves that can allow the unpleasant sensations to exist. Remind them of the body's natural rhythm of contraction and expansion; any sensation is time limited and will eventually pass.
4. Use titration to create increasing stability, resilience and organization. Titration is about carefully touching into the smallest "drop" of survival-based arousal, and other difficult sensations, to prevent re-traumatization. This is important because the process of leaving immobility is immensely frightening. The therapist is there to help neutralize those sensations of intense energy and primal emotional states underneath the freeze response (rage, flight, etc.) without unleashing an explosive reaction.
5. Provide a corrective experience by supplanting the passive responses of collapse and helplessness with active, empowered, defensive responses. Specific tension patterns (which can be experienced through internal awareness) suggest particular movements (uncompleted protective mechanisms), which can then be expressed in minute micro-movements. The bodies learn step-by-step that we were not helpless victims, that we survived the ordeals, and that we are intact and still alive.
6. Separate or "uncouple" the conditioned association of fear and helplessness from the (normally time-limited but now maladaptive) biological immobility response. The ability to go into and then come out of the innate immobility response is the key to both avoiding the prolonged debilitating effects of trauma and healing symptoms.
7. Resolve hyperarousal states by gently guiding the "discharge" and redistribution of the vast survival energy mobilized for life-preserving action while freeing that energy to support higher-level brain functioning. This is a release of potential energy. When threatened, our muscles are energized in preparation for action but when that mobilization is not carried out then that potential energy becomes stored as an "unfinished procedure" within the implicit memory of the system. This is what causes tension in your muscles.
8. Engage self-regulation to restore "dynamic equilibrium" and relaxed alertness. This is the feeling of being "home" within oneself. The sense that no matter what you are feeling in any given moment you have a secure base within your organism.
9. Orient to the here and now, contact the environment and reestablish the capacity for social engagement.
hortensia_azul's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
5.0
nicole_reads_everything's review against another edition
5.0
4.5 rounded up
My therapist recommended this book to me after I mentioned an interest in somatic experiencing but that I was a little underwhelmed by [b:The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma|18693771|The Body Keeps the Score Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma|Bessel van der Kolk|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1594559067l/18693771._SY75_.jpg|26542319]. Like that one, this book is quite long, and a bit dense at time, but I connected significantly more to this one. I appreciated that, unlike some of my experiences with TBKS, it didn't feel like I was reading trauma porn, and I actually felt like the focus really was on how the body processes and releases trauma. Really fascinating read and I'd definitely recommend for those interested in the subject!
My therapist recommended this book to me after I mentioned an interest in somatic experiencing but that I was a little underwhelmed by [b:The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma|18693771|The Body Keeps the Score Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma|Bessel van der Kolk|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1594559067l/18693771._SY75_.jpg|26542319]. Like that one, this book is quite long, and a bit dense at time, but I connected significantly more to this one. I appreciated that, unlike some of my experiences with TBKS, it didn't feel like I was reading trauma porn, and I actually felt like the focus really was on how the body processes and releases trauma. Really fascinating read and I'd definitely recommend for those interested in the subject!
raeannht's review against another edition
3.5
Some really useful parts and I enjoyed the case studies. Other parts got pretty repetitive and just less useful clinically.
cmjustice's review against another edition
5.0
Phenomenal insightful exploration; moving descriptons/observations