Waking the Tiger: Healing Trauma: The Innate Capacity to Transform Overwhelming Experiences by Peter A. Levine & Ann Frederick

Author:Peter A. Levine & Ann Frederick
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Non-Fiction, Self Help, Mental Health, Health, Psychology
ISBN: 155643233X
Publisher: North Atlantic Books
Published: 1997-09-08T06:00:00+00:00

Woody Allen

In this characteristic one-liner, Woody Allen quips a fairly accurate description of the role played by dissociation-it protects us first from the impact of escalating arousal. If a life-threatening event continues, dissociation protects us from the pain of death. In his personal diary, the explorer David Livingstone graphically recorded this encounter with a lion on the plains of Africa:

“I heard a shout. Startled, in looking half round, I saw the lion just in the act of springing upon me. I was upon a little height; he caught my shoulder as he sprang, and we both came to the ground below together. Growling horribly close to my ear, he shook me as a terrier does a rat. The shock produced a stupor similar to that which seems to be felt by a mouse after the first shake of the cat. It caused a sort of dreaminess in which there was no sense of pain nor feeling of terror, though quite conscious of all that was happening. It was like what patients partially under the influence of chloroform describe, who see all the operation, but feel not the knife. This singular condition was not the result of any mental process. The shake annihilated fear, and allowed no sense of horror in looking round at the beast. This peculiar state is probably produced in all animals killed by the carnivore; and if so, is a merciful provision by our benevolent creator for lessening the pain of death.” [Italics mine]

The best way to define dissociation is through the experience of it. In its mildest forms, it manifests as a kind of spaciness. At the other end of the spectrum, it can develop into so-called multiple personality syndrome. Because dissociation is a breakdown in the continuity of a person’s felt sense, it almost always includes distortions of time and perception. A mild variety of this symptom is responsible for the experience many people have when driving home from the corner store; suddenly, they find themselves arriving home with no memory of how they got there-the last thing they remember is driving away from the store. Dissociation is also operating when we put our keys down “somewhere” and then can’t remember where. At such times, we may tacitly acknowledge the momentary absence of the felt sense by facetiously referring to ourselves or others as having been “spaced out,” or “out to lunch.” In other words, out of our bodies.

These are some of the forms that dissociation takes in our everyday lives. It enters into our experience specifically when we are faced with life-threatening situations. Imagine driving your car around a sharp curve on a narrow mountain road. Suddenly, you have to swerve to avoid a head-on collision with a truck coming straight at you. As you skid toward the narrow shoulder, watch the images unfold in slow motion. Then, with a fearless calm, notice that you are viewing someone else from the sidelines instead of confronting your own death.

Similarly, the woman being raped, the soldier

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