Reddit reviews Waking the Tiger: Healing Trauma
We found 13 Reddit comments about Waking the Tiger: Healing Trauma. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
Waking the Tiger Healing Trauma The Innate Capacity to Transform Overwhelming Experiences
Somatic tolerance protects these animals from experiencing the horrors of what is happening to their bodies, and also prevents them from a form of PTSD should they get away at the last minute. There is a facinating field of psychology centered around this. Check out Waking The Tiger if you want to read a little more about it.
From the book: "Waking the Tiger offers a new and hopeful vision of trauma. It views the human animal as a unique being, endowed with an instinctual capacity to heal as well as an intellectual spirit to harness this innate capacity. It asks and answers an intriguing question - why are animals in the wild, though threatened routinely, rarely traumatized? By understanding the dynamics that make wild animals virtually immune to traumatic symptoms, the mystery of human trauma is revealed. Waking the Tiger normalizes the symptoms of trauma and the steps needed to heal them.
edit for typo
You just reminded me of something else -- I bet her doctor training had mostly trained her to pay attention / make eye contact in an evaluative way? Skipping over a popscience explanation that is probably half-right anyway, evaluative attention is kind of off-putting and can preclude connection (and I assume attunement?). Supposedly there are physical differences in the physiological cues we give when we're paying attention to evaluate something (to understand it or assess it for threat or whatever) than when we are paying attention with open curiosity, and we pick up on stuff like that.
Ok yeah let me put together a book list (that last stuff was from The Charisma Myth)...
HELPFUL BOOKS (sorry for formatting, I'm on mobile)
https://www.amazon.com/Healing-Developmental-Trauma-Self-Regulation-Relationship/dp/1583944893
https://www.amazon.com/Narcissistic-Family-Diagnosis-Treatment/dp/0787908703
https://www.amazon.com/Waking-Tiger-Healing-Peter-Levine/dp/155643233X
This is a good start, but there are more out there.
This idea
> I have always been told that I cannot recover from PTSD unless I go back to the same sorts of people and places who gave it to me in the first place, and this terrifies me.
is outdated, and not supported by any clinical evidence that I'm aware of. I don't blame you for begin terrified. I suffer from complex PTSD as a result of ongoing childhood trauma myself, although my experiences sound less horrific than yours. I also work on a crisis hotline so I deal with a lot of trauma survivors.
I am so sorry that you have had such repeated bad experiences. Your experience of having an involuntary hold put on you when you stated that you were not at immediate risk flies in the face of all current guidelines, which make a clear distinction between suicidal ideation (thoughts) and suicidal intent. Sadly, there are a lot of people out there hanging on to the outdated (and dangerous) idea that anyone with suicidal thoughts or evidence of trauma needs to be locked up immediately, and it sounds like that evaluator was one of them. Either that or she was just plain crazy herself!
As for getting help, you certainly deserve to find some real help. Our friend at metanoia.org (author of our "read this first" link), has put together an awesome guide on how to tell good therapists from bad ones, including bad ones with good intentions. You might find it helpful.
http://metanoia.org/choose/
SwirlingShadows suggestion to educate yourself is also a good one. Some books that I have found helpful are:
Waking the Tiger by Peter Levine
Invisible Heroes by Belleruth Naparstek
The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog by Bruce Perry and Maia Szalavitz
Hugs to you.
I feel for you. I was cursed with such similar experiences for so long. Something like a little argument with my girlfriend could trigger a huge panic attack/anxiety episode type thing in me that seemed to come out of nowhere.
You really, really honestly should read [Waking the Tiger] (http://www.amazon.com/Waking-Tiger-Transform-Overwhelming-Experiences/dp/155643233X) by Peter Levine. It's a big book in the somatic psychology world that connects issues like these back to their roots in trauma. The trauma can be something as ostensibly insignificant as a tonsillectomy or obviously huge like abuse. The idea is that when confronted with overwhelmingly scary situations our bodies go into an instinctual immobilization response. We freeze, and then when the danger passes we never shake it off-- we keep going and pack all that emotion away. And so, unresolved it keeps coming back again and again until you can rewrite that old story of helpless terror in a scary situation into a new one where you realize your capacity to escape danger, thereby dispelling the fear. And the book tells you how to do it. It's simply amazing.
I did a year of massage school and the deep interconnectedness between the body and the mind comes out in both the teaching and the experience. It's interesting that you got the exact same learning through mediation. The exact words you use to describe your learnings make me think you've been involved with body work, actually.
This book goes into how animals deal with trauma through physical actions and how humans have learned to side-step those actions at great cost. You might find it interesting.
Levine - Waking the Tiger
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Waking-Tiger-Transform-Overwhelming-Experiences/dp/155643233X
I'm so sorry friend. Nightmares are awful for how real they feel despite us logically knowing they're untrue. I went through a phase of having TONS of nightmares about her in succession, and that was kind of a turning point for healing for me. I partially think it was my brain having more resources to know how to fight back and wanting to recreate those situations so I had a chance to do it right. The woowoo side of me felt like my mom energetically knew I was making such huge progress in healing and the nightmares were the last way she could attack me. Either way, the nightmares got better over time. I still have the occasional nightmare, but the emotional response is much easier to calm down from when I wake up.
You are doing great work trying to protect yourself, and your Nmom will probably do ANYTHING to keep some control. Keep on blocking her and ignoring her and it will get easier. I super recommend this book for helping through trauma. I'm sorry you've had to go through so much. You are strong, smart, and kind. It's going to get easier. <3
> Only occasionally will I have physical reactions like shaking and sweating that I can sometimes put down, and sometimes can't.
I've been reading this book, and though my trauma is nothing near yours, it's been very helpful to me. Levine finds it unnecessary and harmful to purposely relive traumatic events in your mind, but suggests releasing the physical effects of it. By stifling those tremors, you may be preventing yourself from healing. Good luck to you, and thank you for sharing your story.
Waking The Tiger: Healing Trauma by Peter Levine and Strong at the Broken Places - Overcoming Childhood Abuse
I found these two books to be extremely helpful. I'm not sure what kind of abuse you've suffered, but the Levine book features the practice of Somatic Experiencing (releasing the body tension caused by trauma) - helpful with physical abuse and traumatic events.
I'm sorry to hear that this has happened to you too. If it helps, I've been there (<6 yrs ago, 21 now) and been to a therapist and things are looking much better now. Don't be afraid to talk to someone specialized in abuse. I read that you were interested in Regression Therapy - do some reading on Lifespan Integration...
Depending on how much trauma you go through dancing with the bottle and if you learn to process stress out of the body. You should check out Waking the Tiger. If you are dealing with ptsd, you'll be glad you did.
\> it feels so distant, faded, like lemon La Croix instead of lemonade.
So, first of all, I love that. You are quite obviously passionate to be able to whip up a phrase like that. But remember that you've spun these emotions to a degree that some would say that might be abuse or too profound to be understood easily and that (maybe) you've been trained to over complicated your emotions.
Take it easy.
I think what you're talking about is a disconnection from your felt sense. If you haven't yet, pick up the book Waking the Tiger: Healing Trauma by Peter A. Levine, full of information related to bodily sensations - especially if you feel you might be possible have some childhood limitations around this topic or a victim of trauma.
Key takeaways, Meditation, and Yoga work on the mind-body connection - especially the yoga will help you tap into your sense.
Try taking warm showers as an exercise to tap into your felt sense to get an idea of what that is (if you've forgotten).
One of the reasons it's so hard to reason with our feelings is because those parts of our bodies don't use language to communicate. You can't just tell some parts of your brain "it's ok now, you can feel this". You sometimes have to activate it and then you can guide it.
another interesting one with a similar title. http://www.amazon.com/Waking-Tiger-Peter-A-Levine/dp/155643233X
In a sense, yes. A formal diagnosis is not a requirement, but could be helpful if that is really what is going on. It could also be a hindrance. Unfortunately, the situation in the mental health field nowadays is really complicated, particularly with the fact that so many practitioners have significant problems with pathological narcissism themselves. It is absolutely critical, if you are having a problem with pathological narcissism, that you do take the reigns in addressing the problem. In that regard, narcissistic psychopathology parallels addiction very significantly. Many practitioners even recommend 12 step programs. As you may already know, narcissistic psychopathology is very common among M.D.'s in the U.S. and elsewhere - particularly among surgeons (current estimates of NPD as high as 40%, and my guess is that is low).
Another route is to also consider how your childhood and familial experiences effected you. A good book to read is "The Wizard of Oz and Other Narcissists". Another good one is "Why is It Always About You?" (ignore the preachy Christian parts). Trying to think deeply about the stories and lessons of these books and how they relate to you, your life, and your family and friends is critical. Almost everyone is surrounded by pathological narcissism in some way in the U.S., so there will be useful lessons, to some degree, on practically every page. In particular, if you start realizing that you are suffering/effected by narcissism in your life, heed the lessons pointed out in the Wizard of Oz book - they are extremely useful, but MUST be put into practice, not simply "understood". If you seek out treatment from mental health clinicians, pay very close attention to the sections of the book where she describes how to spot pathological narcissism in clinicians and put it into use. This is critically important regardless of what your condition turns out to be. A clinician with traits or full NPD can not only be unhelpful to your treatment, but even dangerous, and they are all too common. Avoid any religiously preachy clinicians like the plague, as a rule.
Have you considered doing some workbooks? That may be helpful because it removes the personal aspect of the intervention. A good one is:
https://www.amazon.com/Dialectical-Behavior-Therapy-Skills-Workbook/dp/1572245131
You might benefit from neurofeedback. Some is better than others, so don't be put off if it doesn't work well the first place you try.
It sounds like you'll want to really pay attention to the covert/introverted narcissism components. If you read about these topics and things start resonating (which can lead to intensely strong feelings, "good" or "bad"), then you are probably on the right track. The absolute key is to be extremely honest with yourself. Really, really extremely honest and non-morally-judgemental. You may also find a lot of value in a concept called "radical acceptance". You seem to be struggling significantly with not being able to be the "Great Savior" to your patients that you wanted to be. You'll probably nee to do a lot of reflection on that and think about how it figures into your life story. Developing a journaling habit, if you don't already, would probably be an excellent idea. Getting your life story out and thinking about why things happened is key. Reflect, integrate realizations into your life story. Rinse and repeat.
I went through a multi-decade ordeal in assisting a family member (also a doctor) who was in a nearly identical situation as you. There was NPD, but also comingled with addiction (substance), mood disorder, and bipolar. It was pretty difficult to sort out, but that person is doing much, much better now. Of course, this is all routed in childhood trauma, so it may be helpful to do some basic reading on that:
https://www.amazon.com/Body-Keeps-Score-Healing-Trauma/dp/0143127748
https://www.amazon.com/Waking-Tiger-Healing-Peter-Levine/dp/155643233X
Learn what your triggers are, and mind them.
Finally, a really important concept is discussed by Ronningstam, which is often overlooked by even very good practitioners who understand narcissism quite well. It is the critical component of redirecting ego-drive into healthy behaviors; Understanding the difference between healthy narcissism vs. pathological narcissism. This is, IMO, the #1 reason why NPD, pathological traits thereof, and addiction treatment fail so often. She discusses this very well in other parts of her book.
Of course I could be completely wrong, but that's my opinion, for what it's worth. As I mentioned, if you start digging, stay honest, and it starts resonating (good or bad), you're probably on the right path.
Good luck.