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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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Trauma and Memory

By: Peter A. Levine Ph.D., Bessel A. van der Kolk - introduction M.D.
Narrated by: Rick Adamson
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About this listen

 Designed for psychotherapists and their clients, Peter Levine's latest best-seller continues his groundbreaking exploration of the central role of the body in processing—and healing—trauma.

With foreword by Bessel van der Kolk, author of The Body Keeps the Score

In Trauma and Memory, bestselling 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. Mental Health Personal Development Post-Traumatic Stress Disorders Psychology Psychology & Mental Health Health Human Brain Thought-Provoking Trauma Memory
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This book is a huge gift and contribution to our understanding of memory and trauma. I learned so much from reading it. How anyone could say Somatic Experiencing is not scientifically based I do not know.

Fantastic book I learned so much

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i found this book to be the most significant of Peter's . it brings together all the aspects: science, practice, theory and examples.
it is a must read for anyone involved in trauma

his most important

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It’s an incredible book, highly practical for even non practitioners. Highly recommend if you struggle with any emotional issues

Incredible book

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Brilliant book that I look forward to re-listening to it again and again! so much information that I want to process it and listen again. Thank you

Informative and interesting!

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Good balance of practical information & the science behind it. The case studies were especially helpful. The narrator was also excellent!

Excellent

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