Customer Reviews

The Body Remembers: The Psychophysiology of Trauma and Trauma Treatment

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I stumbled onto this book researching PTSD. My husband and I have been to a dozen doctors (literally) who clearly do not know the information in this book; information that I have watched manifest itself beneficially and adversely as explained herein. Modern psychology has gotten lazy in its treatments of the very treatable mental illnesses, and critically needed intervention is shunned as unsubstantiated because the truth behind knowledge,education and an educated support system threatens their "expertise." This book should 'light you on fire' to aggressively pursue intelligent, supportive, proactive physicians and, need be, therapists.

For 30 years, since a young child, I have suffered from a variety of unexplained problems, self-destructive behaviors and senseless actions. Until now, I have never understand what haunts and controls me. But I recently went to counciling and was diagnosed with PTSD so I purchased this book to learn more about it. There are no words to express the relief and overwhelming "connection" I felt when I started reading. I literally had to lay the book down after every paragraph to give myself a moment to absorb the impact of recognition I experienced when reading about myself. I have since been taking the book to my counciling sessions to discuss my revelations - one at a time. This book has saved my sanity - for once, I am beginning to understand the nameless fears and anxieties that have permeated every aspect of my life and robbed me of any real joy. This book lays down a very understandable framework of PSTD, from the development of the disorder to the healing work to move on. And I'm only on Chapter 4! *If you are a victim, take your time when reading this, it can be overwhelming to try to understand everything at once and I suggest a support system to share your discoveries with - best wishes - you CAN recover from this!!

It's *very* good because it's so physiological and common-sensical. As a survivor of nine years of direct and indirect abuse, I say, no book I've read on post-traumatic stress describes it so accurately. Although the symptoms are anxiety-related, it is really a memory problem, not of "repressed" memory (there's no such thing), but of intense psycho/physiological reactions triggered by the feeling that the trauma never ended. Post-traumatic stress means the trauma isn't yet a memory - it's still feels like here and now, instead of there and then. Undoing the trauma means disarming the triggers, so that it becomes no more than a bad memory.

I highly recommend this book for anyone who has ever wondered why traumatic experiences, such as abuse, can have such a devastating impact on a person's mental health and well-being. This book explains HOW trauma affects the brain and the body, and offers insightful treatment recommendations for how to heal from trauma.
This book is a MUST for any therapist who works with traumatized clients!

After more than 20 years treating trauma survivors I all too rarely find a new book from which I really learn something that I can immediately apply to my work. This is such a book. The relationship between the physiological reactions to serious trauma and helpful methods of treatment are detailed in accessible, clear fashion, complete with understandable diagrams and case examples with extensive and relevant transcriptions. Experienced and not-so- experienced clinicians will be delighted to find a minimum of jargon and a humane and well-thought-out attitude throughout.

This book could very well be the best in this field. If you've read or own a dozen others you still need this one. If you've never read a book on trauma this is an excellent place to start. Rothschild tackles the complexity of the psychophysiology of trauma in a manner that makes it a smooth read. I found it a real page turner!

I recently read Babette Rothschild's (2000) new book "The Body Remembers: The Psychophysiology of Trauma and Trauma Treatment" (published by W.W. Norton). In this book Babette does a wonderful job of explaining complex psychobiological processes in easy to understand, digestible bites. This book provides a solid theoretical framework for the close relationship between psychobiology, implicit and explicit memory storage and retrieval, and trauma processing. Babette's book also thoroughly explains the importance of "body memories" in trauma processing and discusses many ways in which to help clients both elicit and integrate dysfunctionally stored cellular memories. By providing a concise, understandable and useful overview of trauma theory, Babette's book serves to help close the learning gap between theory and application. In fact, I have recommended that this book be used as one of the texts for clinical theory classes in the graduate program where I am privileged to teach. I also believe this book would be very helpful to trauma clinicians in general. Accordingly, I will begin recommending this book at all my presentations(and did so for the first time recently). No matter the general theoretical foundation of the clinician (ie: psychoanalytic, CBT, etc.) this book provides valuable information that informs trauma practice. In addition, Babette offers many graphics, charts, case studies, and exercises that could be very helpful in explaining the "trauma response" and trauma therapy to clients, families, students, supervisors, and policy makers. As by now you have no doubt guessed - I highly recommend this book.

Sincerely, Pati Zimmerman, (MSW, Clinical Traumatologist, Ph.D. Student, and adjunct faculty member at Portland State University and Concordia University.)

I purchased this book (along with a few others on the subject) initially because I was interested in the topic.

Not a medical person or psychiatrist of any sort, I just thought it was something that I would enjoy looking into. For those that know how the subconscious works, you'll appreciate the fact that I discovered that I was a victim of PTSD while delving into the subject.

It was as if the universe was trying to tell me something. All I can say is that it opened my eyes and changed my life in ways I never knew possible.

For those interested in fiction dealing with a topic along these lines (and also Dissociative Identity Disorder) I would recommend reading a book called "Bark of the Dogwood" by Jackson McCrae. It's an intricate study of PTSD, child abuse, dysfunction, and a little of everything else, and packs quite a wallop. And it's actually quite funny in places--probably the ONLY book I know of about child abuse that has a bright side.

The Body Remembers covers the psychophysiology of trauma and trauma treatment, providing new insights on physiology and psychological connections between trauma and memory. Scientific theory and clinical practice each are considered as Rothschild presents principles and techniques for understanding stress responses in both daily and long-term trauma situations.

What insight! I also highly recommend reading Peaceful Heart: A Woman's Journey of Healing, by Aimee Jo Martin....a book that is a true testament to the human spirit and takes the reader thru a client's perspective of getting thru PTSD.