In an Unspoken Voice: How the Body Releases Trauma and Restores Goodness

Excellent writing which brings clarity on conceptualising trauma, and the approach to help with resolving it. I read the older Waking the Tiger book which has similar content.

Peter Levine has so much experience in this field regarding trauma and how you handle it, that you know that it is going to be great insights and also advice how you can handle trauma. So instead of seeing trauma as a disease or something wrong with you, Peter helps you understand that Trauma is actually blocked stress and energy that you can understand and heal. I great read.

I first studied with Peter Levine in 1983 long before his Somatic Experiencing theory had been developed, and then again in 1988 as he was first developing it. After a twenty year stretch in which my life took a diversion I have come back and studied his work again, and have became certified as a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner. During this time Dr. Levine's work has become exquisitely refined and the theory has become teachable. In the early days we would watch him work and could not follow the subtleties but would always be amazed as almost miraculous healings would unfold before our eyes. In his first book, "Waking the Tiger" he was able to articulate his theory of healing trauma in a way that was readable and informative. In this book he has made the work fully approachable. With examples from his own life he shows us how we can go through life-threatening experiences and not only avoid being traumatized but actually come out of such experiences a healthier human being. This is by far his best book to date and I practically demand that all of my clients read it so they can understand many of the symptoms they are experiencing. For, it turns out that trauma is the great imposter. It can look like just about any medical or psychological disorder in the diagnostic books. Many people are not even aware that they are suffering from the hidden effects of trauma until they read this book and understand the mechanisms by which long forgotten traumas have crept back into their lives and even taken them over. In my marriage counseling business I see a lot of couples who are not actually incompatible but whose nervous systems have become stuck in fight or flight as a result of trauma and who therefore end up in an escalating cycle of fighting and resentment. As we work the trauma issues these relationships begin to fall into place and support the partners instead of activating and agitating them. This is the book that puts the jigsaw pieces together and makes the whole mystery begin to make sense.

Edit: the review below was written when I hadn't quite got to the end of this book. I have now finished the book and what I say below still holds true. However, I am also a little underwhelmed by Levine's process. The reason is that I think he has the problem he blames talk therapy of having. He (quite rightly) says that talk therapy will not really get you anywhere. This is true, ON ITS own it won't get you far. But Levine has swung way over to the other side and places the locus of healing within the body and "viscera" only. I find his explanations for me just don't cut it 100%. He skims over the role of conditioning and the amygdala, hippocampus, hypothalamus etc. For him, it seems, it's all the visceral (gut) brain.He is not wrong about the importance of body awareness (i.e. mindfulness) and being able to hold and contain strong feelings. This is vitally important. But his complete dismissal of identifying causes and beliefs that contribute to suffering are detrimental to his overall argument. Exhaustively cataloging every bit of harm from your life is indeed useless, but being mindful of and able to identify and label general beliefs and thinking patterns (like "Oh, I'm thinking I'm worthless again." or "I'm getting sucked into the story of how no one will love me") is, in my opinion, extremely useful for being able to let go of them and live happily in the present (when you remind yourself they're useless relics from the past). The author doesn't place any value on this sort of broad exploration of the past. So in the end, while a lot of what he says is spot on and very useful, I feel that he himself has thrown the baby out with the bathwater (even if unintentionally.)A very good companion book to this one, which balances this purely "visceral" view, is "Bouncing Back" by Linda Graham, which is a book on neuroplasticity which discusses the importance of mindfulness of body AND thoughts.~*~I'm not going to outline the contents of this book because other reviewers have already done a great job of that. I actually think the information and theory of Peter Levine deserves 5 plus stars. I appreciate that he's going against the toxic psychiatric mainstream of labelling trauma as some sort of brain disease/disorder. He sees trauma as an injury that can be healed, no matter how long ago it happened, and that gives anyone with trauma hope.Here's why four starts instead of five:He's got a trade-marked therapy with it's own steps and jargon etc. "So what?" you might say, "there are lots of trade-marked therapies what does that have to do with anything?" Well here's the thing, I can image many people reading this (or any of his other books) and finding relief to have their trauma explained. They feel hope that there is a way out. BUT after this initial joy they are faced with bitter disappointment when they realise they could never have access to this trade-marked therapy because of their location and/or financial situation.So what are those people to do? Will they never have a chance to heal and resolve trauma? Are they to be stuck in their pain forever because there's no Somatic Experience therapist in their town, state, country? This is the problem with trade marked methods. They implicitly suggest that it is THE (only) method to recovery. I know that this is not what Levine intends but isn't this the logical conclusion after reading through his books?I highly recommend this book for anyone with trauma or with unexplained anxiety or depression. You will understand why you feel as you do. However, if you are not fortunate enough to have access to Somatic Experiencing Therapy it's ok. What you need to understand is that Levine's therapy teaches you skills in how to handle and resolve your trauma. These skills can be learned by other methods than his therapy. I say this with the utmost respect for Dr. Levine and his work. If you have a chance to work with his specific programme, then take it!But here's the thing: the core skills (as I understand them) of his therapy are-becoming aware of the physical body-feeling safe in the physical body-knowing (through experience) that all feelings and sensations are temporary-being aware of yourself and knowing how to pace yourself-feeling uncomfortable sensations without being overwhelmed by them-letting go and allowing your body to do what it needs to do (whatever it wanted to do at the time of the traumatic event)Obviously there are some more nuances and details but the above skills are basically the core of it. (I suggest you read the book to get a full explanation.) As anyone who has worked in any education setting knows, there is more than one method to teach any given skill. If you do not have access to a Somatic Experiencing therapist or any therapist at all here are some resources that can teach you the same basic skills:-Mindfulness training. Mindfulness is becoming more and more established and practiced. You may even find a mindfulness centre or mindfulness classes in your city. If this is not an option I recommend the excellent mindfulness programme (book) "Mindfulness: A practical guide to finding peace in a frantic world" by Mark Williams. You can download the meditations for free on the internet. This programme is designed to ground you in your body, become aware of physical and emotional sensations and how they are always changing and how to stay in the present moment. It also teaches you to befriend negative feelings.-Trauma Release Exercises. Only do these after doing mindfulness training. These were developed by David Berceli and are detailed in his book "The Revolutionary Trauma Release Process". These are designed to discharge trapped energy, which is a component of Levine's therapy. (They're also trademarked, but I have no gripes with this because they are designed as self-help. You don't need a specialised therapist to do them.)-Self-compassion. Do this at any time, maybe together with mindfulness. The best book is "Self-Compassion" by Kristin Neff. I think the title is pretty self-explanatory.It is important to note, that if you decide to try any of this you at least have a support person, if not a therapist, with whom you can share things if it gets a little overwhelming or you need to talk about things that come up. I hope these alternatives help people who don't have access to the specific therapy described by Levine. I do not think that the books I suggested are in any way better or superior to Levine's, they are just much more readily accessible and provide the same basic skills if done correctly.