In an Unspoken Voice: How the Body Releases Trauma and Restores Goodness

by Peter A. Levine

The body/mind keeps flowing through new encounters with vitality, bouncing back into the stream of things unless there is a significant disruption. In this case, the person is knocked off that normal course—whether it is from a single episode, such as a disaster, an accident, surgery or rape, or from a chronic stressor, such as abuse or ongoing marital stress. When such disruptions fail to be fully integrated, the components of that experience become fragmented into isolated sensations, images and emotions. This kind of splitting apart occurs when the enormity, intensity, suddenness or duration of what happened cannot be defended against, coped with or digested. Personal vulnerability, such as age, genetics and gender also account for this psychic implosion. The result of this inability for the body/mind to integrate is trauma, or at the very minimum, disorientation, a loss of agency and/or a lack of direction. Trapped between feeling too much (overwhelmed or flooded) or feeling too little (shut down and numb) and unable to trust their sensations, traumatized people can lose their way. They don’t “feel like themselves” anymore; loss of sensation equals a loss of a sense of self. As a substitute for genuine feelings, trauma sufferers may seek experiences that keep them out of touch—such as sexual titillation or succumbing to compulsions, addictions and miscellaneous distractions that prevent one from facing a now dark and threatening inner life.