Sublime

I often ask my patients if they can think of any person they felt safe with while they were growing up. Many of them hold tight to the memory of that one teacher, neighbor, shopkeeper, coach, or minister who showed that he or she cared, and that memory is often the seed of learning to reengage. We are a hopeful species. Working with trauma is as mu

The resulting tyranny of the past interferes with the ability to focus effectively on both new and familiar situations.

Like traumatic memories that keep intruding until they are laid to rest, traumatic adaptations continue until the human organism feels safe and integrates all the parts of itself that are stuck in fighting or warding off the trauma.

Alexander and his colleagues were asking people in Crown Heights to bring together a stew of racial and religious factions and create a community with some shared purpose and identity. But his group did not take the crucial step of preparing the participants for what would happen to them as they began to share and learn from each other’s perspectiv

The restoration of healthy aggression is an essential part in the recovery from trauma. Empowerment is the acceptance of personal authority. It derives from the capacity to choose the direction and execution of one’s own energies. Mastery is the possession of skillful techniques in dealing successfully with threat.

What are these patients trying to cope with? What are their internal or external resources? How do they calm themselves down? Do they have caring relationships with their bodies, and what do they do to cultivate a physical sense of power, vitality, and relaxation? Do they have dynamic interactions with other people? Who really knows them, loves the

When the neo-cortex overrides the instinctual responses that would initiate the completion of this cycle, we will be traumatized.

This means helping them to respond appropriately to danger but, even more, to recover the capacity to experience safety, relaxation, and true reciprocity.