Trauma and Memory: Brain and Body in a Search for the Living Past: A Practical Guide for Understanding and Working with Traumatic Memory

A central premise to be explored in this work is that our present feeling state may be the major factor determining what and how we remember a particular event.

Through memory we maintain a thread of continuity by linking present with past.

we are also capable of surviving, adapting to, and eventually transforming traumatic experiences.

Good therapy consists of learning to call up the felt sense without becoming overwhelmed by what’s lurking inside.

can we observe our memories without changing them in the process of recall? The short answer is no.

In order to be in touch with your self, you have to activate the anterior insula, the critical brain area responsible for how you feel about your body and your self.

creating novel experiences that contradict overwhelming feelings of helplessness and replacing them with a sense of ownership of physical reactions and sensations.

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

In contrast to “ordinary” memories (both good and bad), which are mutable and dynamically changing over time, traumatic memories are fixed and static.