ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the neurobiology of the body and the brain underlying trauma and dissociation, the main impediments to neural and psychological integration. Trauma arises from subcortical survival reactions to threats that disable the cortex. It involves a fragmenting of experience in the right brain, with dissociation occurring when there’s ongoing ‘dis-integration’ between outer and inner (bodily) senses. Traumatic memory and re-enactments, and dissociative phenomena, are addressed. Much unresolved trauma stems from neglect and abuse in early attachment relationships, and the poorly integrated right brain that is the outcome needs a healing therapeutic relationship.
