8 Keys to Brain-Body Balance

by Robert Scaer, Babette Rothschild

Overview

Take-charge strategies to heal your body and brain from stress and trauma.

Understanding how our brains and bodies actually work is a powerful tool in mitigating the anxiety generated by unpleasant physical and emotional symptoms that we all may experience from time to time. Here, Robert Scaer unravels the complexities of the brain-body connection, equipping all those who are in distress with a plausible explanation for how they feel.

Making the science accessible, he outlines the core neurobiological concepts underlying the brain-body interface and explains why physical and emotional symptoms of stress and trauma occur. He explains why “feelings” represent physical sensations that inform us about the nature of our brain-body conflicts. He also offers practical, easy-to-implement strategies for strengthening motor skills, learning to listen to our gut to gauge our feelings, attuning to the present, and restoring personal boundaries to relieve symptoms and navigate a path to recovery.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780393707472
Publisher:	Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.
Publication date:	10/01/2012
Series:	8 Keys to Mental Health
Pages:	176
Sales rank:	747,793
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Robert Scaer, MD, a board-certified neurologist with forty years of clinical experience, lives in Louisville, Colorado.

Babette Rothschild, MSW, LCSW is an internationally recognized PTSD specialist and best-selling author of seven books translated into eighteen languages, including her new offerings Help for the Helper Updated + Expanded and the 8 Keys to Safe Trauma Recovery Workbook. Babette is also the creator and Series Editor of W. W. Norton’s 8 Keys to Mental Health Series. She currently lives in Los Angeles, California.

Table of Contents

Foreword Babette Rothschild vii

Preface xi

Introduction: Your Amazing Brain, Your Resourceful Body 1

Part I Brain-Body Basics: How We Feel and How we Move

Key 1 Brain and Body Message Systems 9

Key 2 Organizing Sensations and Movement 26

Part II How Our "Unconscious" Brain Runs the Show

Key 3 The Autonomic Nervous System 39

Key 4 The Emotional Brain 55

Part III How Experience Changes our Brain, for Better or For Worse

Key 5 The Plastic, Changing Brain 77

Key 6 The Brain in Stress and Trauma 93

Key 7 The Body in Stress and Trauma 110

Part IV How we Can Repair Our Brain

Key 8 Healing Your Wounded Brain and Body 133

Afterword 151

Recommended Reading 153

Index 155

Editorial Reviews

"In his latest comprehensive and accessible book, Robert Scaer has drawn from his deep understanding of neurology, neuroscience, and traumatology to offer the trauma patient practical knowledge for recovery and self-understanding. Presenting his material in a readable and enjoyable way, Scaer empowers his readers through his compassionate wisdom. This book will help anyone wishing to integrate their bodies and brains more effectively and harmoniously."

Peter Levine

"This book penetrates the world of neuroscience in a user-friendly, unpretentious yet scholarly manner, highlighting the critical relevance to clinical practice of past and current discoveries about the brain and its malleability. Scaer’s perspective as a neurologist is unique, hopeful, and empathic, and this integrative book will prove an encouraging resource for anyone seeking to understand the effects of trauma on brain and body."

Pat Ogden