Showing results for "In Memory of Memory" in Post-Traumatic Stress Disorders

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. Dr. Levine suggests that there are elements of truth in both camps.

Trauma is often thought of as severe or extremely harmful experiences, but trauma is actually a reaction to an event, not the event itself. And a seemingly mild or straightforward experience can cause you trauma and affect the rest of your life. Experiences of trauma become the brain’s map for protecting and defending you from future pain, but sometimes you don’t need protecting. Trauma can then poison your mind and reveal itself in both visible and invisible ways.