Customer Reviews
Not just naive, this is potentially dangerous - By: John Gass, 22 Feb 2008 
I was recommended this book by a friend & I'm struggling to see why (but maybe she meant "Taming The Tiger"?). The book shows how one idea (and not even an original one) can make a potential author think they've hit a literary & economic goldmine.
In this case the author proposes a third instinctual response to threat... fight, flight and, now, freeze. This is a very valid extension of what is commonly taught but is hardly original. The value any author brings to this third dimension is surely to examine how we can react to the 'freeze' response and, unfortunately, Peter Levine's theories give us nothing of value. Worse than this, it leads us towards a belief that any one of us can counsel someonein pain towards a recognition that their emotional freezing can be resolved by re-enacting the traumatic event & imagining a more healthy outcome, even if this imagining is patently false, ridiculous & potentially harmful.
But what is unforgivable is that he proposes that any one of us can help people who are suffering from 'freeze' & that an encouraged false memory is better than a real one because,in the false memory, we can become a hero. This is madness, & an unsustainable one at that. If he had any evidence to back his beliefs I might be persuaded to listen to his highly controversial views but, given that he stands separate from the scientific establishment, I can't even imagine that he is doing anything other than giving his extravagant imagination total free rein.
Save your money - this one is a total lemon.
Insightful Generalisations - By: Miss T Fied, 22 Jan 2008 
This book focuses on `shock trauma'; - the result of an isolated event or series of events with no consistent history of previous trauma. It also is written from the perspective that there is a community of family & friends - or caregivers - to support the traumatised through the healing process. Whilst it may help individuals who suffered long term childhood assault at the hands of their primary caregivers - that is not its focus or intent although the self help exercisein this book may help many traumatised people get into bodily sensations, feelings & thoughts. And that's really great & a positive aspect of the book. But whilst undoubtedly contributing to an understanding of PTSD & trauma (not the same thing), this book's fundamental flaw seems to be that it is written by someone who has a limited personal understanding of the impacts of long term sustained trauma without a normal & caringly supportive context.
Levine switches from an apparently factual style of writing to use of "I" & "we" throughout - so the reader never really knows the extent to which his own personal experience(s) of trauma influences what he puts forward as fact & influences his own interpretation of his client's stories. For example he claims one patient must have been "in denial" because she claimed not to have been frightened during a kidnapping a few years ago. What if that patient had been persistently assaulted at a very young age & lived a life of emotional numbness as a consequence? She truly may not have felt fear at the time of kidnappingin adulthood - having lived her whole life dissociated & devoid of feelings. Yet to say she is `in denial' of her fear is intensely disrespectful - she maybe had no fear resource available to her to deny. Unsurprisingly that patient did not return to him.
Phrases such as "I am endlessly fascinated by the subject of trauma" ... "we will continually be on edge" etc raise alarm bells as attempts to get the reader to over-identify with him & accept what he says. Andin truth the freeze reaction certainly does existin humans - but not always as the `feign death' response Levine postulates. Many adult PTSD sufferers will have experienced the conflicting mental urge to run at the same time as to turn & fight. This may lie behind some peoples' `freeze' reaction - but again appears outside Levine's experience. Eg he draws analogies with the response of prey animals to threats & to trauma - & applies them to humans. And this may be appropriate for children & adults who find themselvesin a `helpless' state at the time of trauma. But what of the fact that humans are potentially vulnerable whilst young & then grow up to be the ultimate predator of all ? What happens to tiger cubs & lions who are turned on by their own parents ? It does happen - & some end up dissociated & unable to relate to other big cats as a consequence. And this book may not be of much help to those who have been through such an experience.
Amazing wisdom - By: Irene MacDonald, 02 Oct 2007 
I first discovered this bookin a Focusing Workshop earlier this year. In my work as a Therapist I recommend this book to traumatised clients & work with them to find their innate ability to heal. It is a useful guide to Therapists & invaluable as a self-help book for clients. The wisdom containedin its pages provides hope for so many people whose lives have been diminished by trauma; this helps them to use the body's natural ability to heal.
Amazed these are innate responses, not so crazy - By: Cresida, 02 Jun 2007 This has to be more helpful then any dr, neorosurgeon, psychiatrist, because so little is understood about trauma when it reaches its most severe level. For three yrs i have been dibilitated to the point i can't walk or leave my flat, my body is breaking down, seizures, no immune system, i was begining to think i was imagining it. I was stunned when i read this, people who were paralysed by fear of their anger, thats me, oh leap yee lame for joy. if only peoplein the system were more educated. My gp is reading it now, then my parents, it gives me hopw that someone out there must be able to help me get my life back. This book should not be missed it is easy to read & so informative & tells you shocking truths that really happen to people, thank you so much cresida9
A redeeming message for trauma survivors - By: , 08 Mar 2003 As a psychiatrist & author of "Lostin the Mirror: an Inside Look at Borderline Personality Disorder," I have dealt with many kinds of trauma & am always interestedin new approaches to this difficult area. I found "Waking the Tiger" an engrossing approach to the problem of how trauma creates damaging & often enduring symptoms. Dr. Levine's concept of the "freeze response"in the face of overwhelming threat provides a missing link to symptoms such as dissociation that our old ideas of "fight or flight" fail to explain.
Even more important to trauma survivors & their therapists is the redeeming message that immobilizationin the face of threat is an automatic biological response that is not voluntarily chosen by the victim. The January 2003 issue of Clinical Psychiatry News reported that an overwhelming majority of victims of sexual assault describe a moderate or high level of paralysis occurring during the assault, consistent with Dr. Levine's observations.
Dr. Levine also provides an astute portrayal of the nature of memory by acknowledging that memories are not literal recordings of events but a complex of images that are influenced by arousal, emotional context, & prior experience. Like a painting, memories may even transform over time as new experiences add layers of meaning to the images. While remembering the past can be an important aspect of therapy, appreciating the subjective quality of memories is crucial to integrating them appropriately into the healing process.
