# Somatic psychology/trauma therapy/affective neuroscience



## lelagy (Feb 6, 2012)

Hi, I already posted this in another section but I thought it might be more logical to put it here. I saw that someone had already made a post about Trauma releasing exercises and this post is quite related.

I've been suffering from derealization symptoms from many years - not all the time, but is has been occuring quite frequently, sometimes constantly.

The last six months or so, I have started to read more about trauma and its role in inducing dissociative states such as derealization. This has been extremely helpful to me. The whole field of trauma theory, affective neurosciences and body-centered approaches to treat trauma symptoms is truly interesting. I would really like to recommend a few books related to these topics that have been very helpful to me. Some of them are an easy read, some are slightly academical:

Waking the tiger by Peter Levine

In an unspoken voice by Peter Levine

Trauma and the body by Pat Ogden

The healing power of emotion, edited by Diana Fosha

The body remembers by Babette Rothschild

8 steps to safe trauma recovery by Babette Rothschild (I found the first chapter about mindfulness and how to use being mindful of inner bodily states for decision-making and orienting very helpful)

Body Psychotherapy by Nick Totton

Body, breath and consciousness by Ian Macnaughton

The Body in Psychotherapy: Inquiries in Somatic Psychology by Don Hanlon Johnson and Ian J. Grand

These books have given me a new understanding of derealization as a symptom of trauma. It might not be applicable to all sufferers of derealization since it can be triggered by other things, but I think many people could benefit from these books anyway since they also present som techniques that might be helpful for people whose dissociation was triggered by other things than trauma (of course I'm not sure about this since I'm not an expert on dissociation/derealization).

Some important features these books all have in common is that they give you a picture of what dissociation (depersonalization and derealization could be seen as forms of dissociation) is and how it can be explained from a neuroscientific perspective. They also present body-centered approaches for treating dissociative states and give, in my opinion, credible scientific explanations for why body-centered approaches could be good to approach dissociation.

I have collected a few exercises that I think are helpful, and I will try to remember to write them down and post them here, but I think it is very helpful to have the theoretical background as well. For me it hasn't only been a tough read, but I have also felt both comforted and understood by reading these books.

I have also found it helpful seeing a Somatic experiencing therapist (Somatic experiencing is a trauma treatment method - it is presented in the books by Peter Levine on my book list.

I hope this can be helpful to some of you out there. Take care!


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