Customer Reviews

The Trauma Spectrum: Hidden Wounds and Human Resiliency

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
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Here's a book that is just superb, in my book! Scaer is a retired medical doctor who no longer gives a rat's butt about being censured by the AMA. Just my kinda guy! And he has definitely NAILED all the ways that unresolved embodied trauma directs virtually everything in our lives from the kinds of work we do, to the kinds of parents we become, to the kinds of health issues and illnesses we encounter, to the kinds of friends and life partners we end up with. An amazingly, coherent, comprehensive account by someone who has unquestionably cleared out a lot of his own embodied trauma along the way.

I am profoundly grateful for this excellent book. As a clinical psychologist, I see traumatized individuals every day and this book explains so much about why this happens and what to do in treatment. This book fills in the blanks of the previous literature on this emerging field of psychology. Buy it!

When I first heard Dr. Scaer speak I kept thinking, "Why doesn't everyone know this stuff?!?!" Specifically, every healthcare provider should be required to read and understand what is being said in this book. But I also believe that the book could shed light for anyone who is not a medical worker, on understanding the "why and where" of how one feels and/or is struggling without success in trying to find healing with a chronic health condition. The content is so intuitive to my experience personally, as well as professionally as a healthcare provider, that I wouldn't care if it wasn't backed by science, but it is, and I would say even more so than Dr. Scaer gives himself or the material credit for. If someone feels the book is controversial then they are simply not versed in current scientific findings in mind-body medicine, psychoneuroendoimmunology, quantum physics, etc. I want to shout out, "There are reasons for your chronic pain... there is always a reason..." and it is found in this book. The problem is many are not ready to do the intense inner work and somatoemotional processing that it actually takes to reach a point of "discharge" of the freeze response. It is unconsciously held in the body for a reason... it is, by definition, "traumatic" content and it could annihilate someone if it came up and out all at once... you would dissociate or split off again if that happened. Anyway, trauma definition needs radical expansion and revamping but those that are responsible for such definitions are probably bound by unconscious trauma themselves and it is too scary to go there, but it shouldn't be this way. This book gives hope for the medical community to start to move towards integrative understanding of chronic health conditions. I would like to put in a plug that an additional treatment modality not mentioned that can help greatly with healing of trauma is guided imagery and the series by Belleruth Naparstek is the best place to go for this modality. Her imagery specific to trauma is incredibly powerful and imagery as a whole facilitates the right brain, sensory processing that is necessary to begin to access and transform trauma biology in the brain, nervous system and peripheral tissues of the body. For those not working with a mind-body practitioner, they may need to start with a more basic or gentler imagery than the PTSD one, such as Panic or Relaxation and Wellness or Depression for awhile first. OK, back to the book. It is well written and is a "must read" and I offer Dr. Scaer gratitude for his commitment to get this information out there. It is BADLY needed in the medical community.

Like Scaer's other book, the Body Bears the Burden, this tome sheds light on groundbreaking research and treatment in the field of trauma. I believe that any book by Scaer of his contemporary, Peter Levine, is well worth the pricce for their knowledge and understanding, and the effortless way in which they can paint a picture of human physiology without the heavy handed medical language that others use. Whereas Scaer's other book focusses on whiplash and car accident scenarios, this book covers a wider range of trauma types which further explains the scientific advances traumatology research is making.

As a survivor of child abuse myself, this book helped me enormously by explaining the effects of early trauma and the impact it can have in later life. The book also looks at trauma in an holistic way - taking into account the body/mind connection. Anyone who works with trauma victims will find this book a useful resource as will the victims themselves.

This will be a classic.
Scaer broke ground in actually listening to his patients even though like all allopaths his training was to force them into a diagnostic mold.
M.D. stands for M.inor D.iety and yet Robert has been able to humble himself and become part of the team for one goal, What's Best for the Patient.

It was a good compilation of the existing material that is already out there on trauma. I don't think that it would be a good suggestion for the average patient, because it may be difficult to maintain the focus neccessary to follow his thoughts. Patients may find selected excerpts more helpful. Patients with psychosomatic illnesses will be happy to find a doctor who sees some rational behind their disorders.

As a student in counseling for a masters, I was given a reading list for a trauma class that was daunting. On this list happened to be this book and happened to make this the 3rd or 4th book out of the lists of other classes. This book has been by far the best read out of any books thus far. The author takes material that is highly technical and puts into layman terms that anyone would be able to understand.

I recommend this book to any mental health professional as well as others interested in learning the effect of trauma on the mind, body, and soul.

I liked the book but did not read it all because it was bought as a gift for a friend. I was surprised to get 3 copies having ordered only 2. It meant paying postage to return it and it wasn't my mistake! ECA