Book Review: Trauma & Memory
This post may contain affiliate links. Additionally, although I hope mental health information I share will be helpful to you, I am not your therapist and information I share is not a substitute for formal support.
Read my Full Disclaimer here.
I am SO excited to be writing about Trauma and Memory, the book that inspired me to begin my Somatic Experiencing Training. Before I get carried away, let’s talk about this incredible book!
Trauma and Memory was written by Dr. Peter Levine, who founded the trauma healing practice of Somatic Experiencing. While Dr. Levine has written multiple books, including Waking the Tiger and In an Unspoken Voice, this was the book that introduced me to his work and got me excited about a new way to approach trauma.
Dr. Levine has a medical background and much of his research has focused on how animals respond to trauma in the wild to understand why animals do not experience trauma in the way that humans do. He has made some really incredible contributions to the field of trauma related to exploring how animals “discharge” their survival state energy after a traumatic event while humans often store this energy within the body, because it’s not “socially acceptable” to engage in some of these discharge behaviors (things like shaking, twitching, yelling, etc.).
With that short background, Trauma and Memory explores these concepts of how our bodies respond to stressful or life threatening situations and discusses how our body stores memory in different ways. Dr. Levine uses two case studies to explore how trauma is stored in the body through these different kinds of memory and how we can discharge that energy in order to heal and get “unstuck” from the ways that trauma keeps us in the past.
Trauma and Memory makes these topics really approachable and this book is a lot shorter than some of Levine’s other books! I love how concise it is, because I think it makes the information really compelling and allows you to learn a lot about the physiological nature of trauma without getting bogged down in the biology or technical language. This books offers such a great perspective on trauma and I’m so excited to discuss it more with you!
Some Key Concepts
There is such an incredible plethora of knowledge in this short book, but I wanted to cover a couple of the key concepts that comprise the foundation of what Dr. Levine discusses:
Implicit Memory. These memories include the emotional and procedural memories that we often cannot access directly, but are activated by our bodily responses. Dr. Levine identifies that these are primary way trauma is stored within the body and describes how we need to utilize procedural memory (the impulses and sensations that guide the body) to heal trauma.
SIBAM. The ways that we respond to our environment (traumatic or not!) that allow us to notice the components of our implicit memory. Here’s what SIBAM stands for:
S - Sensation (Our bodily responses)
I - Image (Our 5 senses or sensory responses)
B - Behavior (Our actions)
A - Affect (Our emotional responses)
M - Meaning (Our cognitive responses or the labels we assign)
Traumatic Memory. Our trauma is unresolved when we have an “over-coupled” response (any of the SIBAM elements are too closely linked) or an “under-coupled” response (the SIBAM elements are “fragmented” or “dissociated”). If we take the example of having gone through an abusive relationship and now being in a healthy relationship, over-coupled could look like flinching when someone reaches close to you, even if know deep down they aren’t going to hurt you. Under-coupled might be shutting down during an argument because the other person starts to get upset. There’s a clear reason why these responses are happening, but they aren’t helpful to you anymore or might even be harmful.
Renegotiation. The healing process for trauma where we access the sensory and motor elements of trauma by accessing our procedural memories to that we can discharge our survival state energy. This is a huge topic and if you’re wondering how this is one, that’s what somatic experiencing seeks to do!
Pendulation. This is the idea that accessing traumatic memories should be done gradually, so that the individual who is seeking healing does not become overwhelmed. This involves engaging in “contraction” and “expansion” of our SIBAM experiences to create a type of movement in our internal experiences that helps us to get “unstuck” from trauma.
Highlights
Visuals. There are so many charts, diagrams, and other SUPER helpful visuals in this book. Not only do I find visuals helpful on a personal level, but I think that the diagrams in this book really help to simplify some of the more complex topics in the book. There are also pictures for the case studies which just makes it feel more human and real.
Case studies. The case studies were probably my favorite part of this book! The concepts I list above, as well as the others in the book can feel a little bit abstract or I found myself asking the question “okay, so what does this look like in real life?”. That’s where the case studies came in! The two case studies involve an infant and a veteran who go through some somatic experiencing healing and see substantial changes. This really helped me to conceptualize what these concepts look like for people in practice.
Honoring our humanness. Sometimes, when discussing trauma, it’s easy to see our brains or our bodies as an enemy that we are trying to overcome to “get rid” of our responses. I love that Dr. Levine discusses how incredible our brains and bodies are, and that our capacity for trauma is matched (and even outdone) by our capacity for healing.
Hurdles
Generational trauma. There was some really interesting research and a short chapter on intergenerational trauma, however, I was really wanting more! I think that a lot more could have been said here, and I was wanting Dr. Levine to take a stronger political stance. I will say, that what he discussed was really interesting and I also recognize that his working is primarily focused on healing trauma in the present and in our current bodies.
Curiosity peaked. As soon as I read this book, I was wanting to know more! The only topic I didn’t find particularly interesting is “false memory”, just because I don’t have a significant interest in this area, but everything else had me eager to learn more! I think that’s what makes this such a great introduction to Dr. Levine’s research and is a great place to get started for understanding his approach to trauma and somatic experiencing.
Ready to Learn More?
If you’re ready to jump in and read the book, you can find it on Amazon or on Bookshop. It’s also available on Audible, if you’d prefer an audio format. While I know there was some more technical language in this book, I think it’s great for both clinicians and people who have experienced trauma because the concepts are really approachable but still very informative!
In addition to writing this book (and many others!), Dr. Peter Levine has started Somatic Experiencing International, which features many different types of resources you can check out! The Somatic Experiencing® Professional Training is something that I am currently in the process of completing and is open to different kinds of healing professionals. If you are interested in talking to a Somatic Experiencing® Practitioner, you can find more information here.
Thank You for Reading!
I hope you enjoyed this book review. If you enjoyed reading this post, you can stay up to date on future posts by following me on Instagram or subscribing to my email list below!
