There Is Nothing to Fix

 

I was recently sent a copy of There Is Nothing to Fix, by trauma expert Suzanne Jones. The book is part autobiography, part self-help resource, investigating the connections between the mind and the body, and how trauma can affect both of these. Jones has developed the TIMBo system: Trauma Informed Mind Body. Put simply, our minds and bodies both react to our lives' experiences, and the psychosomatic responses to perceived dangers are not always appropriate. They're usually overly severe. Due to the caveman / woman nature of our brains, we tend to catastrophise. Can we counter this by paying attention to our bodies? Jones’ TIMBo courses were designed for trauma survivors to come to terms somatically with their experiences.

Jones' story blends real-life anecdotes (some her own, some from TIMBo participants) with medically-confirmed details, punctuated with spaces for the reader to include their own thoughts during writing exercises. The writer and her students have endured a range of abuses, many carefully and respectfully retold as examples throughout the book. Jones then goes on to describe techniques for tackling these traumas, to allow her students to move on from past incidents.

The book and Jones’ teachings are aimed largely at women, but a lot of the examples are perfectly accessible for men too. These encourage us to approach our problems from another angle, from a place of understanding.

The more I read about psychology, the more I learn about my own conditions (brain damage, memory difficulties, depression and anxiety). My head trauma occurred during a complication at birth, and I spent a few subsequent days in intensive care away from my mother. Jones explains that lack of connection in infancy can lead to brain damage, and can cause ‘dysregulations in the fear response.’

It’s written in my assessment that the head trauma would have caused the memory difficulties, and subsequently the problems socially, but for some years now I’ve suspected that the time spent in intensive care would have informed my subsequent anxiety- that it would have had something to do with it. Perhaps I have been experiencing that dysregulation my whole life.

I can’t list out here all the food-for-thought Jones offers up. It’s less a vending machine for the brain than a cerebral banquet. I have many notes from the book, stored in my phone, that I’m hoping to refer to once this ridiculous COVID-19 situation goes away and we can have a social life again. More to the point, I can then use what I’ve learned.

I had a few issues with the book. A section on Yoga refers to ‘chakras,’ which are believed to be power centres, wheels of energy of power point within the body. I’m not sure how scientifically this is backed up, and similarly I’m unsure about events being ‘recorded into your cells’- unless these are the cells of the hippocampus, the section of the brain which stores the memories. (The book briefly touches on some of the sectors of the brain, but not the hippocampus.) Similarly, there are references to the ‘primitive’ part of the brain without explicitly calling it the ‘amygdala.’ There’s some discussion of the left-and-right brain theory, suggesting that one side works creatively and the other analytically. This has largely been debunked. The book is also missing an index.

Aside from these criticisms, it’s a weighty, generous book packed with advice and knowledge. A fascinating read.

Thanks to Ascot Media for providing the book.