It is an undisputed biological truth that our memories are physically as well as psychically represented within us—in our brains and in our bodies—but it is one that’s often overlooked by clinical practitioners. This is unfortunate, because there do exist certain situations in which all the discussion, understanding and insight ( that is, talking therapy) in the world never succeeds in dispelling the painful images, reactions and somatic aftereffects (e.g., jumpiness, depressed mood state) of events that were once experienced as overwhelming. Numerous treatment-impasses occur because top-down brain processing—cerebral processing which proceeds downward from the neocortical, thinking areas of the brain, where language and higher reasoning processes are represented—cannot fully access and effect changes in the deeper, wordless regions of the midbrain where the engines of anxiety and hyperarousal are churning.

A person may, therefore, reach an exquisite intellectual and emotional understanding in regard to some of the painful events she or he has been through, yet remain in a bodily state of apprehension—perennially jammed on high alert, internally mobilized.

In Secrets, Lies, Betrayals, Scarf explores the ways in which the body retains the memory of painful events from the past—including secrets that a person may be holding from himself, because knowing them would be unbearable. She also discusses the ways in which such hurtful knowledge can be released and openly dealt with, enabling the individual to live a freer, healthier life.

It is now recognized that the body has a unique memory system: that early trauma and deeply buried feelings can be woven into the very fabric of our physical being. Certain events, however (even a change in the weather), can trigger these body-based memories, which may then manifest themselves in symptoms—for example, persistent anger, mood swings, headaches, muscle tension, and fatigue. These echoes from the past may also bring about self-destructive patterns of behavior—re-enactments of threatening but perhaps completely forgotten incidents.

Why does a beautiful, successful woman like Claudia seek out abusive, explosively tense relationships in which she is forced to hide the most basic truths about her history and who she is? Why does the presence of a female colleague’s name in her husband’s cell phone directory make Karen feel physically ill, so much so that she is forced to cancel a long-anticipated European holiday with a group of the couple’s friends? And why does Scarf herself experience painful physical symptoms in her jaw when she wrestles with contradictory memories of her mother?

As she explores these and other personal narratives, Scarf explains the ways in which the body’s neurobiological systems retain some of our lives’ most important experiences. Then, she goes on to describe the new power therapies, such as reprocessing (EMDR) and psychomotor (PBSP), which often have immediate results in situations where traditional Atalking@ therapies have proven to be of little avail.

This book is grounded in recent breakthroughs in mind/body science, and leavened by Scarf’s personal experiences and those of the people she interviewed. It is a mixture of research, analysis, insight into the human psyche and the latest news from the therapeutic front lines. Most centrally of all, it is about the traumas of everyday existence—about the surprisingly deep ways in which they affect us—both mentally and physically—and what steps we might take in order to master them.