In an Unspoken Voice Read online

  Further praise for In an Unspoken Voice

  “Peter Levine’s first book, Waking the Tiger, changed the world of trauma treatment: somatic therapy, specifically Somatic Experiencing®, the name of the specific approach he developed, no longer alternative fringe practice, became a major player in the world of the mainstream psychotherapies. Like an anthropologist acquainting us with a different culture that he has made his own, Levine, in his new book, In an Unspoken Voice, systematically and engagingly initiates us into the ways of the body and the nervous system that animates it: how it works, what makes it tick, how to make friends with it, how to understand it, how to communicate with it and, last but not least, how to treat it and release it (and with it, us) from the hold of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). No longer unspoken, all that is held in the body—in trauma and in health, in psychosomatic illness and in resilience—is described, articulated and made coherent. The result is a masterful, fluent book that seamlessly moves between evolution, science, Polyvagal theory, mind-body practice, impassioned defense of our animal natures, self-disclosure and specific step-by-step guide to treating trauma and restoring resilience. It is erudite, it is impassioned, it is learned and it is accessible.”

  —Diana Fosha, PhD, director of The AEDP Institute, co-editor of The Healing Power of Emotion: Affective Neuroscience, Development and Clinical Practice and author of The Transforming Power of Affect: A Model for Accelerated Change

  “To be traumatized is to be condemned to endless repetitions of unbearable experiences. In this beautifully written and engrossing book, Peter Levine explains how trauma affects our body and mind and demonstrates how to call upon the wisdom of our bodies to overcome and transform it. The accounts of his personal and therapeutic experiences, integrated with the essentials of the sciences of trauma and healing, are highly informative and inspiring. His distinctive voice should be widely heard by survivors, clinicians and scientists.”

  —Onno van der Hart, PhD, Honorary Professor of the Psychopathology of Chronic Trauma, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands, and coauthor of The Haunted Self: Structural Dissociation of the Personality

  “Like a wise old weaver Peter Levine painstakingly blends together strands of many dense colors into ever-fresh patterns emerging from his honed intelligence and fertile imagination. These strands comprise careful reflections on his own personal healing, his work with others, insights from studies with animals, different views from indigenous peoples here and elsewhere, various scientists exploring the biologies of the body, spiritual practices in many traditions and whatever else passes in front of his sparkling eyes. His first (and now iconic) book, Waking the Tiger, is now part of the canon for the education of therapists. This major new book is a welcome landmark in his long history of creating an intricate tapestry of Somatic theory and practice.”

  —Don Hanlon Johnson, PhD, professor of Somatics at California Institute of Integral Studies, founder of the first accredited graduate studies program in the field and author of Bone, Breath, and Gesture: Practices of Embodiment and Everyday Hopes, Utopian Dreams: Reflections on American Ideals

  “For more than forty years, Peter Levine has gently, humorously, and with stunning simplicity, shown us how trauma responses are part of a brilliant psychological self-protection system; a protection system that we, professionals and laypeople alike, unwittingly block with our many ‘normal’ responses. If you want to grasp the essence of how and why the trauma response can help people heal, read this book. If you want to help a traumatized person lessen the impact of the trauma while it’s happening, read this book. If you want to understand your own journey through stress and trauma, read this book. If you want some trail markers for a path from the daze of dissociation to the reemergence of deep vibrant aliveness and spiritual feeling, read this book.”

  —Marianne Bentzen, international trainer in Neuroaffective Psychotherapy, Copenhagen, Denmark

  “Peter Levine conveys his profound scientific understanding of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) so vividly that the reader can sense, feel and identify with the many traumatized children and adults he has worked with. Levine helps us to understand the complexity of PTSD seen from the outside as well as felt from the inside. He invites us into a spiritual dimension that draws equally on science and experience. Through his poetic style the reader is conducted from the built-in reactions of the nervous system to deep mental scars, and to how the skilled PTSD therapist can guide far-reaching healing processes. Levine’s understanding is vast in its scope, from an evolutionary understanding of the source of trauma to a spiritual dimension of how we as human beings can be strengthened by healing from trauma.”

  —Susan Hart, Danish psychologist, author of Brain, Attachment, Personality: An Introduction to Neuroaffective Development and The Impact of Attachment: Developmental Neuroaffective Psychology

  “This book stands as a worthy sequel to Levine’s groundbreaking Waking the Tiger. He expands his concepts of the neurophysiological basis for trauma with a thorough review of the science of trauma and his own creative theories, providing rich insights for application to the business of healing. Valuable case studies illustrate the ‘whys’ of the behavior of the trauma victim, and useful tools help the therapist enlist the body in the process.”

  —Robert Scaer, MD, author of The Trauma Spectrum and The Body Bears the Burden

  “Peter Levine’s approach to understanding and healing trauma is innovative, vital and thoroughly creative. The map for therapy that he introduces is very helpful to any healer of trauma. Once again Levine reminds us that our evolutionary ancestors are not so removed from us. That we and the other animals are all one family and that we should learn from them, as our survival and sanity depends on it. Levine’s suggestion to change posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) to posttraumatic stress injury (PTSI) is much more realistic as we are healing the hurt and not the disorder.”

  —Mira Rothenberg, author of Children with Emerald Eyes and founder of Blueberry Treatment Centers

  Copyright © 2010 by Peter A. Levine. All rights reserved. No portion of this book, except for brief review, may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise—without the written permission of the publisher. For information contact North Atlantic Books.

  Published by

  North Atlantic Books

  P.O. Box 12327

  Berkeley, California 94712

  and

  ERGOS Institute Press

  P.O. Box 110

  Lyons, Colorado 80540

  Cover design © Ayelet Maida, A/M Studios

  Cover art © fotosearch.com

  Author photograph © Gerry Greenberg

  Figures 6.2a through 6.4d—From Healing Trauma: A Pioneering Program for Restoring the Wisdom of Your Body written by Peter Levine and published by Sounds True.

  Used with permission from Sounds True, www.soundstrue.com.

  Diagrams A and B (color insert)—Netter illustrations from www.netterimages.com. © Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Used with permission.

  Creative design of all other figures: Justin Snavely

  In an Unspoken Voice: How the Body Releases Trauma and Restores Goodness is sponsored by the Society for the Study of Native Arts and Sciences, a nonprofit educational corporation whose goals are to develop an educational and cross-cultural perspective linking various scientific, social, and artistic fields; to nurture a holistic view of arts, sciences, humanities, and healing; and to publish and distribute literature on the relationship of mind, body, and nature.

  North Atlantic Books’ publications are available through most bookstores. For further information, v
isit our website at www.northatlanticbooks.com or call 800-733-3000.

  The Library of Congress has cataloged the printed edition as follows:

  Levine, Peter A.

  In an unspoken voice : how the body releases trauma and restores goodness / Peter A. Levine; foreword by Gabor Maté.

  p. cm.

  Summary: “Based on findings from biology, neuroscience, and the emerging field of body-oriented psychotherapy, In an Unspoken Voice explains that trauma is not a disease or a disorder, but an injury caused by fright, helplessness, and loss and that this wound can be healed only if we attend to the wisdom of the living, knowing body”—Provided by publisher.

  eISBN: 978-1-58394-652-7

  1. Psychic trauma. I. Title.

  RC552.T7L483 2010

  616.85′21—dc22

  2010023653

  v3.1

  In all things in nature

  there is something

  of the marvelous.

  —Aristotle (350 BC)

  Acknowledgments

  Everything responsible for our “human existence” is due to an anonymous multitude of others who lived before us, whose achievements have been bestowed upon us as gifts.

  —H. Hass (1981)

  FOR WHERE I STAND TODAY, I am indebted to the great scientific tradition and lineage of the ethologists, those scientists who study animals in their natural environments, who have contributed greatly to my naturalistic vision of the human animal. A most personal thanks to Nobel Laureate Nikolaas Tinbergen, whose suggestions and kind words of support encouraged me to pursue this naturalistic worldview. Though I have never met them, except through their written gifts to history, I would like to honor Konrad Lorenz, Heinz von Holst, Paul Leyhausen, Desmond Morris, Eric Salzen and Irenäus Eibl-Eibesfeldt. Other “virtual” teachers include Ernst Gellhorn, who informed my early neurophysiological thinking, and Akhter Ahsen, who helped consolidate my vision of the “undifferentiated and welded unity of the body and mind.”

  A giant, whose broad shoulders I stand on, is Wilhelm Reich, MD. His monumental contribution to the understanding of “life-energy” was taught to me by Philip Curcuruto, a man of few words and simple wisdom. My deep appreciation and personal debt go to Richard Olney and Richard Price, who taught me what little I know about self-acceptance. Having known (and been inspired by) Dr. Ida Rolf has been a catalyst in forming my identity as a scientist-healer. To Dr. Virginia Johnson, I thank you for your critical understanding of altered states of consciousness. And to Ed Jackson, thanks for trusting my nascent body/mind practice in the 1960s and for referring Nancy, my first trauma client.

  I am grateful for the tremendous support and help from my friends. Over the years (beginning in 1978) I have had many stimulating discussions with Stephen Porges, already a leading figure in the field of psychophysiology. Over the following decades, our paths have continued to cross as we shared our parallel and interwoven developments and a special friendship. Thanks and admiration to Bessel van der Kolk for his voracious inquiring mind, his broad comprehensive vision of trauma, his professional life of research advancing the field of trauma to its modern status, and his courage to challenge existing structures. I fondly recollect our sharing Vermont summers on the banks of East Long Lake, swimming, laughing and talking trauma into the wee hours.

  In putting this book together I am indebted to the creative challenge and tremendous editorial help from Laura Regalbuto, Maggie Kline and Phoebe Hoss; also thanks to Justin Snavely for his awesome technical help. And, once again, I appreciate the cooperative endeavor of a continuing partnership with North Atlantic Books; with Emily Boyd, project manager, and Paul McCurdy, the line editor.

  To my parents, Morris and Helen, I give thanks for the gift of life, the vehicle for the expression of my work, and for their unequivocal support from the “other side” of the physical plane. To Pouncer, the Dingo dog who had been my guide into the animal world as well a constant companion, I have fond body-memories of play and goodness. At the age of seventeen (arguably, over a hundred human years), he continued to show me the vital joy of corporeal life.

  Finally, I stand in awe of the many “coincidences,” “chance” meetings, synchronicities and fateful detours that have impelled and guided me on my life’s journey. To have been blessed by a life of creative exploration and the privilege to contribute to the alleviation of suffering has been a precious gift, a pearl beyond price.

  Thanks for all my teachers, students, organizations and friends throughout the world who are carrying out the legacy of this work.

  PETER A. LEVINE

  Contents

  Cover

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Epigraph

  Acknowledgments

  Foreword

  PART I — Roots: A Foundation to Dance On

  CHAPTER 1 The Power of an Unspoken Voice

  CHAPTER 2 Touched by Discovery

  CHAPTER 3 The Changing Face of Trauma

  CHAPTER 4 Immobilized by Fear:

  Lessons Learned from Animals

  CHAPTER 5 From Paralysis to Transformation:

  Basic Building Blocks

  CHAPTER 6 A Map for Therapy

  CHAPTER 7 Mapping the Body, Mending the Mind: SIBAM

  PART II — The Body as Storyteller: Below Your Mind

  CHAPTER 8 In the Consulting Room: Case Examples

  CHAPTER 9 Annotation of Peter’s Accident

  PART III — Instinct in the Age of Reason

  CHAPTER 10 We’re Just a Bunch of Animals

  CHAPTER 11 Bottoms-Up: Three Brains, One Mind

  PART IV — Body, Emotion and Spirituality: Restoring Goodness

  CHAPTER 12 The Embodied Self

  CHAPTER 13 Emotion, the Body and Change

  CHAPTER 14 Trauma and Spirituality

  Epilogue

  Notes

  About the Author

  Foreword

  IN AN UNSPOKEN VOICE IS PETER LEVINE’S MAGNUM OPUS, the summation of his lifelong investigation into the nature of stress and trauma and of his pioneering therapeutic work. It is also the most intimate and poetic among his books, most revealing of his own experience both as a person and as a healer. It is also his most scientifically grounded and erudite.

  An early heading in the beginning chapter reveals the essence of Peter’s teaching: “the power of kindness.” Injured in a motor vehicle accident, Peter finds his own healing potential unlocked by his willingness to attend fully to his physical/emotional experience, allowing it to unfold as it needs to. His process is facilitated by a compassionate human presence. The power of goodness—in this case, the organism’s innate capacity to restore itself to health and balance—is encouraged by a bystander, an empathetic witness who helps to prevent trauma by embodying kindness and acceptance.

  Not surprisingly, these are the very qualities Peter Levine considers essential in those called to do therapeutic work with traumatized human beings. As he says, the therapist must “help to create an environment of relative safety, an atmosphere that conveys refuge, hope and possibility.” But pure empathy and a warm therapeutic relationship are not enough, for traumatized people are often unable to read or fully receive compassion. They are too suppressed, too stuck in primal defenses more appropriate to our amphibian or reptilian evolutionary predecessors.

  So what is the therapist to do with human beings hurt and beaten down by past trauma? It is to help people listen to the unspoken voice of their own bodies and to enable them to feel their “survival emotions” of rage and terror without being overwhelmed by these powerful states. Trauma, as Peter brilliantly recognized decades ago, does not reside in the external event that induces physical or emotional pain—nor even in the pain itself—but in our becoming stuck in our primitive responses to painful events. Trauma is caused when we are unable to release blocked energies, to fully move through the physical/emotional reactions to hurtful experience. Trauma is not what happens to us, but what we hold inside in th
e absence of an empathetic witness.

  The salvation, then, is to be found in the body. “Most people,” Levine notes, “think of trauma as a ‘mental’ problem, even as a ‘brain disorder.’ However, trauma is something that also happens in the body.” In fact, he shows, it happens first and foremost in the body. The mental states associated with trauma are important, but they are secondary. The body initiates, he says, and the mind follows. Hence, “talking cures” that engage the intellect or even the emotions do not reach deep enough.

  The therapist/healer needs to be able to recognize the psychoemotional and physical signs of “frozen” trauma in the client. He or she must learn to hear the “unspoken voice” of the body so that clients can safely learn to hear and see themselves. This book is a master class in how to listen to the unspoken voice of the body. “In the particular methodology I describe,” Levine writes, “the client is helped to develop an awareness and mastery of his or her physical sensations and feelings.” The key to healing, he argues, is to be found in the “deciphering of this nonverbal realm.” He finds the code in his synthesis of the seemingly—but only seemingly—disparate sciences that study evolution, animal instinct, mammalian physiology and the human brain, and in his hard-won experience as a therapist.

  Potentially traumatic situations are ones that induce states of high physiological arousal but without the freedom for the affected person to express and get past these states: danger without the possibility of fight or flight and, afterward, without the opportunity to “shake it off,” as a wild animal would following a frightful encounter with a predator. What ethologists call tonic immobility—the paralysis and physical/emotional shutdown that characterize the universal experience of helplessness in the face of mortal danger—comes to dominate the person’s life and functioning. We are “scared stiff.” In human beings, unlike in animals, the state of temporary freezing becomes a long-term trait. The survivor, Peter Levine points out, may remain “stuck in a kind of limbo, not fully reengaging in life.” In circumstances where others sense no more than a mild threat or even a challenge to be faced, the traumatized person experiences threat, dread and mental/physical listlessness, a kind of paralysis of body and will. Shame, depression and self-loathing follow in the wake of such imposed helplessness.