Sensory Pathways to Healing from Trauma

"A comprehensive, useful, and fascinating tour of the impact of trauma on the sensory systems of the brain and what we can do to support the journey to healing these deep developmental wounds. Our tour guides offer not only clear, in-depth, and cutting-edge scientific views into the eight senses that shape our experience of being alive, but also practical clinical steps any therapist can harness to catalyze deep and lasting change toward well-being."--from the Foreword by Daniel. J. Siegel, MD, Executive Director, Mindsight Institute

“This is an amazing book, one that has the potential to challenge and reconfigure central aspects of how we currently provide trauma therapy. Lanius and colleagues integrate their important findings on the dynamic neurobiology of posttraumatic stress disorder and their extensive fMRI research to develop an approach that focuses on critical sensory pathways as a way to facilitate reparative neuroplasticity. And, lest we become too distracted by the science of it all, each chapter includes a ‘Bridging to Practice’ section that allows the clinician to directly apply these insights to the real world of trauma psychotherapy. This is an ambitious, brilliant book that begs to be read, reread, and reflected upon. Very impressive.”--John Briere, PhD, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences (Emeritus), Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California

"Reading this book is like downloading the mind of one of the greatest neuropsychiatrists of our age to learn about smarter, more effective trauma healing. This rich, revelatory, resonant book offers a profound new paradigm. It is packed with emerging, neuroscience-proven insights. The book explores how trauma slips into our psyches through our bodies and describes safe, accessible ways to harness those same pathways for recovery. The mental health field--and our world as a whole--has never needed Lanius's mind and heart more than we do right now.”--Donna Jackson Nakazawa, author of Girls on the Brink and The Adverse Childhood Experiences Guided Journal

“With compassion and clarity, this powerful book reveals the ways trauma echoes through every sensory system in the brain and body--touch, sight, sound, smell, and beyond. Raw, moving accounts from survivors illuminate what trauma can truly feel like from the inside. Alongside these personal stories, the authors provide clinical insights into groundbreaking healing methods that are harnessing modern neuroscience to help survivors reclaim their lives. This book offers a new and hopeful understanding of how layers of trauma combine to shape the nervous system--and how they can be gently and effectively unwound.”--Sebern F. Fisher, MS, BCN, author of Neurofeedback in the Treatment of Developmental Trauma-