Summary :
HEALING THE TRAUMATIZED SELF is an important clinical and scientific chal- lenge that is met admirably by Frewen and Lanius with their ability to integrate compassion and neuroscience, psychotherapy and traumatolo gy, heart and mind. Trauma, as they so vividly portray, is a dehumanizing experience, one in which those subjected to it are reduced to the status of objects, the victim of someone else's rage, nature's indifference, mis- fortune or misadventure. It involves being plunged into a state of help- lessness and, as the authors note, dissociation can be a powerful means of maintaining mental control at a time when physical control is lost (Spie- gel and Cardena 1991). Dissociation, the dis-integration of consciousness, memory, emotion, and somatic experience, can buffer the experience of trauma-a rape survivor said, "I heard someone screaming and realized it was me"-but it can also provide a template for traumatized living and self-misunderstanding that inhibits recovery. Frewen and Lanius, through decades of careful clinical and scientific experience, describe the problem and put forward a method for effectively treating it.

Copies :