In an Unspoken Voice: How the Body Releases Trauma and Restores Goodness Paperback – September 28, 2010

Before I get into this amazing Peter Levine book, "In An Unspoken Voice," let me state a little disclaimer:My personal interest in trauma therapies is puzzling because first off, I'm not a psychotherapist--just an Energy Therapist and hypnotist who knows how powerful the sub-conscious mind programming is in active and reactive human behaviors; but again, I can't treat clients the way a psychotherapist can for those trauma disorders mentioned in Levine's book.Secondly, I've had some trauma in my life, but not to the extent of being paralyzed by it or extremely affected with remnants of the past the way many of Levine's client's had been; so my interest in this subject is evidently for better understanding the experience-processing mechanism of our mind, and for passing along a "good book" recommendation to those who ARE practicing therapists and CAN treat someone with PTSD, or something equally debilitating.I think I personally understand Levine's book better from having read the bi-lateral stimulation books prior (check out my review list for EMDR, Tapping, Hypnosis, etc), so it made perfect sense to me that Levine's approach would be successful--especially in unlocking the frozen energies trapped in the body and stuck in the limbic processing mind, because when you are talking about trapped and stagnant energies, you are talking MY language--THAT I do understand. I understand how energy works, which is why Levine's book is so important--HE ALSO UNDERSTANDS how energy works--and that's what makes his techniques so powerful. He finds a way to allow the client to release the trapped energies and physically "work them out" of their solidified state.In the title I mentioned what I think is the most important point of the entire book: When the body experiences a severe trauma situation, the adrenals shoot the go-juice into the bloodstream to fight or flee. But if NEITHER choice is available--as it often is for vets caught under fire, or for children trapped in inescapable family/abuse situations, the body reacts to protect them with the other two choices: freeze in place from shock paralyzing the muscles, or fold unconscious like a wet rag to the floor--by fainting or anxiety-induced debilitation or oxygen deprivation.Those last two choices have the most lingering after-effects on PTSD clients and childhood abuse situations; and for those, what Levine suggests is extremely effective in helping to free that trapped energy that has been preventing the client from moving forward with his or her life. Just “talking it out” in therapy doesn’t do the trick because this trapped energy is stuck at a deeper mind level.Hypnosis and NLP might help clients in some instances, but what Levine suggests is to allow the client to take back their own power, literally, and to do it PHYSICALLY, as the body had originally intended that the situation be handled—by either "fighting or fleeing"—to allow the body to unwind naturally by making the physical motions of doing so (modified of course in the therapist’s office), so those stuck "freeze or fold" energies can be successfully released.Long story short: It’s a very good book (and therapy) that I believe should be considered by “talk” therapists if they really want to help a client move forward with life.

"In an Unspoken Voice" is very good, and I would recommend it to both those who struggle to overcome past trauma and to therapists. I say this from the voice of experience. A few years back, I was diagnosed with PTSD--much to my surprise. I knew I had suffered trauma (there was never any doubt about that), but I never saw myself as suffering with an ongoing problem other than the sadness of memories that I mostly didn't like to think about. A whole lot of puzzle pieces that I didn't even see as pieces of a puzzle started to fall into place--"Oh, that's why I..."One thing that I didn't quite understand or even fully realize I had was a preoccupation with water imagery in my creative work, particularly hair under water and how beautiful it is. I did understand my body as having some sort of memory. If triggered, I tremble vigorously, noticably, especially if I'm in water and in perceived danger of not having my head above water, as well as my feet firmly planted on something solid. I have also had days, dating back to childhood, when I cry and cry for inexplicable reasons. It is as if my body remembers something that I do not fully comprehend.Recently I learned that this is a phenomena among trauma victims called somatic memory. I looked it up and came across "In An Unspoken Voice", by Peter Levine. I bought it and read it, and I can say that the book has helped me to understand what makes me tick. For example, I've always had a gift for seeing beauty everywhere. Now I realize that this was probably a childhood coping mechanism. I learned from Peter Levine in "In An Unspoken Voice" that you cannot focus on fear at the same time that you focus on some other sensation. Living in a climate of fear as a child, I realize now that that's why I see so much beauty everywhere. I must have focused on the beautiful to protect myself from the terror. My mother's hair under water, for example, as she rescued me (she described the event to me many years later), when my father tossed my toddler body overboard, into the depths of a lake, because he was annoyed by me.I also now realize that my occasional sense of being outside myself, of watching myself, is disassociation. Crazy not to have realized this before, but true. I now see how this coping mechanism, disassociation, may have led to me becoming passive at times when people hurt me or want to hurt me, because I become the watcher, not the victim. Knowing this can only empower me. Likewise, I've also realized that my inclination to love everyone and to accept people into my life in spite of red flags probably comes from having survived by muting myself and my reactions to the violence I saw and experienced as I grew up. Because only by staying calm and squelching all judgments of the perpetrator, my loved ones, would I be safe. In short, my understanding of myself grew.I sincerely hope that "In An Unspoken Voice" can do this for you. Read it all the way through or in bits and pieces as I did, but read it thoughtfully. It may help you to understand what makes trauma survivors--you or your patients--tick. To know thyself is to empower thyself.

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.