Foreword / by Gabor Maté, MD
Section 1. How the body experiences trauma
The universal steps of the body's instinctual trauma response
The difference between stress and trauma
Understanding our critical line: neuroception, capactiy, and the gap
Inside the storm: overwhelm at the cellular level
The whole-body experience of overwhelm
The three survival mechanisms: how our body survives powerlessness
Section 2. How and why the body holds trauma
Why the body holds on to trauma
Getting stuck in the loop: the formation of a biology of trauma
The patterns of pain: recognizing stored trauma in the body
When trauma becomes disease: the fifth pattern of stored trauma
Vulnerability for trauma: early life and preexisting filters
Section 3. How the body heals
The map and framework for the journey
Support: building regulation through repair
The internal chemisty of dysregulation
Repair of early programming of fear
Repair of programs for dysfunction and disease
From healing to living: next steps
