The Psychophysiology of Trauma and Trauma Treatment - Book Report/Review Example

PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGY OF TRAUMA It is significantly important that both clinicians and their exhibit marvelous understanding of the psychophysiology of trauma and knowing what exactly to do about its symptoms. If anything, The Body Remembers: The Psychophysiology of Trauma and Trauma, by Babette Rothschild, a body-psychotherapist and specialist educator in the treatment of trauma and P.T.S.D, whose others previous books include “8 Keys To Safe Trauma Recovery andTrauma Essentials; the Go-To Guide” rightly sheds trappings of insight about physiology and the collision of trauma on the body and occurrence of somatic memory (Rothschild, 2008). It is essentially thought that people who have gone through trauma recall the inherent memory of traumatic dealings in their bodies and brains. For Rothschild, the recollection is often articulated in the symptomatology of, dissociative behaviors, flashbacks, posttraumatic stress disorder nightmares, amid others. As a matter of fact, the body of the traumatized person declines to be overlooked (Rothschild, 2008).. Rothschild, while tumbling the gap between clinical practice and scientific theory, as well as bridging the chasm between body therapy and talk therapy; offers non-touch methods and doctrines for generously giving the body its due. Also, Rothschild trains her eyes to it, because it’s of critical importance for clinicians. In essence, she consolidates up -to -date insight about the psychobiology of the stress reaction in compelling conditions and acute and stretched trauma. In any case, this grants the clinicians from all faculties, a base for speculating about the genesis of their customers symptoms and integrating a hold for the body into their performance (Rothschild, 2008). According to Rothschild (2008), Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a type of anxiety disorder which affects a person’s emotions and is caused by experiencing a situation which is life- threatening or one which is deemed to be unsafe. People with PTSD tend to remember their traumatic experiences, but avoid encountering with any events which might remind them of their former traumas. However, PTSD may be caused by less harmful events like unemployment, separation with a spouse or girlfriend. Rothschild (2008) argues that some of the symptoms of PTSD include: headaches, irritability, difficulty in concentrating, lack of interest, nightmares among others. Complications brought about by PTSD are: depressions, panic attacks, alcohol and drug abuse among others. Treatment can be administered through early diagnosis of the disorder, prompt treatment and ensuring there is a strong social support system. It is therefore crucial for the patient to talk about their feelings to people they confide in, and seek medical attention immediately they start experiencing such symptoms (Rothschild 2008). The impact of experiencing trauma on the human body and somatic memory is brought out in this book. Traumatized persons can recall these events in their mind and body and this memory is expressed through PTSD, startle response, nightmares, flashbacks and other dissociative behaviors. The body cannot forget these experiences as they are engraved in the mind. Rothschild highlights the techniques and principles for giving the body what it requires. She incorporates knowledge on psychobiology of response to stress in both normal situations which are challenging in extreme traumatic events (Rothschild, 2008). This helps clinicians to have a clear idea when determining the patients’ symptoms including considerations for the body into their practice. Rothschild narrates past experiences when dealing with PTSD and the process involved in treatment. The essential challenge of the impact of trauma on the mind and the body helps in treating survivors of trauma. Rothschild keenly, adeptly highlights the ways of incorporating somatic work with clear case study examples and techniques. The use of diagrammatic explanations in the book has not been clearly illustrated. Rothschild is a bit jarring, when she inarticulately mentions that there is an existence of people whose physiology has been negatively affected by trauma to an extent that engaging in discussions, on sensations of the body, may spark the development of stress response. At this juncture, she glaringly fails to tell us which are the best ways to recognize cases of trauma, and what our response should be when it happens. The overview of the book is purely concise. The topic sentence that Rothschild chose is glaringly, bluntly thoughtful. She cleverly uses her own experiences to tell of the physical effect of traumatic experiences and explains of how storage of memory takes place. Besides, she also thoughtfully uses a number of examples, of the way people pay attention to involuntary physical body movements made by people while speaking and tries to come up with interpretations of these movements and explores the body sensations that manifest as a result of these memories. In her book, there is no doubt that Rothschild’ focus is to help patients in a manner in which they can be able to grasp and explore themselves and their own bodies. Even more, she is openly; clearly interested in helping patients by making them have an idea of how to heal their body from PTSD (Rothschild, 2008). Her main intention of writing this book is to help people in making the right decisions and avoid invalid associations that are caused by PTSD and be less skeptical of new ideas. Contrary, in the book The Body and Transformation: A Narrative Inquiry, Cori uses the same approach as Rothschild. She tries to discover the similarity between the experience of a traumatic event and the human body. Her intention of writing this book was informed on her past experiences with similar occurrences of many patients. Cori (2009) is of the view that trauma can be referred to past childhood events and the most appropriate remedy for trauma would be counseling the patients. Cori, however, fails to provide explanations on how to really counter this trauma as counseling is not always applicable to all individuals as people different people posses different levels of trauma as some are mild while others are not. This issue has to be approached with extreme caution as trauma experienced during childhood can affect an individual’s health and may lead to escalation of other stress related illnesses. Should the child experience trauma, immediate medical attention should be administered as trauma does not only affect a person’s mental health but also the emotional health when the child becomes an adult. I really admire Coris effort to enlighten the readers on what actually causes trauma, as it is critically important for the reader to be on the lookout for trauma causing events. Also, Cori outlines the problems faced by the medical practitioners and their inability to heal the patient properly. Acceptance of setbacks is important for medical practitioners so as not to administer the wrong treatment to the wrong illness. However, the author does not tell the reader what actions the practitioner takes when faced with such crisis. Rothschild’s book is informative and is made more interesting by the use of case study examples that are relevant to the issue of trauma. Reading the book is a learning experience as some new facts are brought in place but some of the facts seem irrelevant. The book has a sad tone and is an inspiration in some sense as it enlightens the reader to want to read more and more and learn more. Rothschild positively accepted and confronted her sadness and devastation of experiences in childhood. Rothschild’s setback seems to be her private practice and thus does not take insurance and offers her services as if the time is unlimited and the patients must be protected from their traumas. It is advisable to learn various techniques of helping the clients to overcome their traumas not just to contain it (Rothschild, 2008). Rothschild appears to have done very little research on her literature review in her book. This leaves the reader expecting more to which is not available. The book is based more on past experiences rather than past researches done. The narrative form the arc of the book takes leaves the readers wondering whether the message brought out in the book is the real case study or there was a case of exaggeration for the purpose of marketing the book. Furthermore, the book adds or creates new knowledge (Rothschild, 2008). This is succinctly brought out in a way that is relevant to our own lives as most of us can relate to such events. This book helps the readers to understand and implement the eight keys to safe recovery from trauma and also be able to help others who are affected. Through her book, she strives to make the process of healing less painful than the traumatic experience and through her personal traumatic experiences and the process of treatment; she realized treatment does not require remembering the whole original traumatic level of stress (Rothschild, 2008). Her recovery plan is implemented through planning for a course of treatment and realizing that recalling is not necessary as the most important thing is making the best of the state of affairs. However her information is not designed to replace already existing approaches to therapy but to play the role of a nice attachment (Rothschild, 2008). This book helps the readers who have been faced with traumatic events to use it a positive tool when working with their professional clinical therapists. Babette Rothschild’s book bring out the view that therapists perform trauma therapy too early without prior preparation before performing memory processing when they are not supposed to perform any processing. The book talks about helping people to standardize their physiology through several practices which include: identifying their parasympathetic responses, recognizing both internal and external resources, use of cognitive techniques to segregate past trauma experienced in the form of flashbacks from at this point and now reality and the use of toning techniques to position and feel the body (Rothschild, 2008). Trauma therapists need to be properly trained to handle cases of trauma. I agree with Rothschild’s view that when conducting a trauma therapy, the patient should be able to recognize the changes taking place in their bodies and identify signs of arousal of the nervous system and relaxations to be able to differentiate what is of benefit from what is harmful to their health. This is important to therapists to be able to track their own sensations of the body and emotional responses to be able to respond positively to the client’s case and administer the required treatment (Rothschild, 2008). Stuffed with appealing case studies, The Body Remembers incorporates body and mind in the dealing of posttraumatic stress disorder. It will appeal to clinicians. References Rothschild, B. (2008). Body Remembers: The Psychophysiology of Trauma and Trauma. New York: Norton. Read More