the most practical book on healing trauma

I have read several books about healing post traumatic stress disorder, and this is by far the most helpful. Other books, such as Judith Herman's excellent Trauma and Recovery, explain what PTSD is and what its symptoms are, and how a therapist can help her client heal, but this book is a self-help book, in the best sense of the word. It enables a person suffering from PTSD to heal herself.

The first part of the book explains how the brain responds to traumatic experiences, and why humans have a hard time shrugging off trauma, unlike wild animals. ( For more on this subject, see Waking the Tiger, by Levine.) It discusses the various responses to a traumatic experience, including freezing, in addition to the better-known fight or flight response. It demonstrates how a history of trauma in communities leads to cycles of war and violence.

The last part of the book is the most valuable part: the chapter on how to do the trauma releasing exercises. These exercises stress the muscles of the lower body, inducing a shaking or tremor that mimics an animal's natural response to trauma. In the final exercise, you lie on the floor and shake, literally, for up to fifteen minutes. Suffice it to say, you feel better afterwards. A lot better.

I found that I sometimes had some sad feelings about the traumatic events in my life after doing these exercises, but the overwhelming fear and rage were gone. And I felt more like being with other people. This parallels Herman's model of the three stages of recovery: safety, then mourning, then reintegration into one's community. The trauma releasing exercises accelerate the first stage, by a great deal.

This is not to say that you don't have to make sure you're safe. You do. Patriarchy is a dangerous system to live in, and it hurts both women and men. Once you are over your trauma, find ways to stay safe, but keep these exercises in your medicine cabinet.

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