Dr. Robert Scaer on Trauma

PDF Transcript

 

Dr. Robert Scaer, a leader in the field of trauma and healing, shared his years of research with us in a recent interview. With 30 years of experience, and extensive study of the human brain and its response to traumatic events, he brings an unique insight and understanding to this process, including key components of healing from trauma (such as connection and support, and somatic or body components such as tapping).

A few key points from the interview (click play above, download the MP3, or read the PDF transcript):
- Trauma is defined as a threat to life. And of course that can be something much less than one would think (as opposed to rape, warfare, incest or horrible sources of things we acknowledge as trauma)
- Trauma may be any situation where one is faced with a threat to one’s well-being, one’s survival. And that can be like losing a job, and a situation that is combined with a state of helplessness where one has no control over that event
- Feeling safe and part of a group facilitates trauma healing
- The brain/body connection is very important to healing
- All addiction is the result of trauma, trying to rebalance the neurochemistry of the brain
- Lack of attachment and attunement between child and parents is one of the most critical traumas to address

Learn more about Trauma Relief using Tapping (EFT) in our Trauma Relief Center

Robert Scaer, M.D. is Board Certified in Neurology, and has been in practice for 33 years, twenty of those as Medical Director of Rehabilitation Services at the Mapleton Center in Boulder, CO. His primary areas of interest and expertise have been in the fields of brain injury and chronic pain, and more recently in the study of traumatic stress and its role in physical symptoms and diseases.

He has lectured extensively nationally and internationally on these topics, and has published several articles on somatic syndromes of traumatic stress. He has published a book, The Body Bears the Burden: Trauma, Dissociation and Disease, presenting a new theory of dissociation and its role in many diseases. A second book, The Trauma Spectrum: Hidden Wounds and Human Resiliency, released in July, 2005, explores the insidious spectrum of culturally-based trauma that shapes our lives, and how transformation and healing may still take place. He is currently retired from clinical medical practice, and continues to pursue a career in writing and lecturing.

More information can be found at his website:
http://www.traumasoma.com