Summary

“Losing your Body, Losing your Self” begins with a quote from writer/philosopher Rainer Maria Rilke that suggests honoring the questions of life instead of searching for answers. The author then introduces this chapter with the story of Sherry, a young woman who self-harmed as a way of triggering some kind of feeling in herself after a lifetime of being ignored and devalued by her mother. He uses this story as a springboard into further consideration of how psychotherapy needed / needs to deepen its consideration of the body’s interactions with trauma and with healing.

In “Losing your Body,” The author begins his consideration of this idea with description of how many traumatized individuals, according to research, lose degrees of physical sensation – their bodies stop registering what they are feeling, and / or being able to identify what...