ABSTRACT
The focus of Chapters 5 and 6 has been on how to restore the internal workings of the body after trauma, by resetting the alarm and skilful handling of the traumatic memory. But such internal workings do not exist in a vacuum: they are affected or ‘fed’ by the context in which we live, our relationships, mood, whether we are in pain, how well we have slept and whether we are suffering from other disorders. In this chapter the first of these contextual factors, relationships, is addressed and the other factors are dealt with in their respective chapters: mood (Chapter 8), pain and sleep (Chapter 9) and additional disorders (Chapter 11). In a sense the purpose of these chapters is to help the reader ‘starve’ the traumatic memory of sustenance.
