Trauma energetics

SummaryThis article describes a plausible and testable scientific basis for the various forms of energy psychology that is attracting the interest of therapists worldwide. Our emerging understandings of the energetics of the living matrix and acupuncture network are providing a detailed picture of a high-speed electronic communication and information processing system in the body that may underlay classical concepts of the subconscious and intuition and that can help us explore the boundary between conscious and subconscious phenomena. The hypothesis is that the connective tissue matrix and its extensions reaching into every cell and nucleus in the body is a whole-person physical system that senses and absorbs the physical and emotional impact in any traumatic experience. The matrix is also the physical material that is influenced by virtually all hands-on, energetic and movement therapies. It is suggested that the living matrix is the physical substrate where traumatic memories are stored and resolved. The practical implications of this non-neural hypothesis, in terms of treatment of the trauma patient, are discussed.