Trauma is Really Strange

Steve Haines, whose official bio states that he has worked in the healthcare industry for over 25 years, has written several graphic novels on health topics. In addition to this book on trauma he has addressed other topics such as anxiety and pain. None of these books are regular length graphic novels but rather are 15 to 20 pages long.

The stated goal of the book is to be a non-scary introduction to trauma.  However, I found it either nutty or very scary. Trauma is defined as something that happens to every person. I disagree. The author states that how a person reacts to it depends on how they reacted to the stress of their birth. "It can be a struggle, imprints of fighting, being stuck, disappearing or not getting the right help..." Disassociation is the biggest problem from trauma but since the author provided many examples of trauma that would end up causing dissociation, it seemed like it was the most common problem from trauma.  Again, I disagreed with his assessment and later wondered whether I just was unqualified to have this opinion. Perhaps the book was written for his profession, not the general public.

I googled the author and discovered that he is a chiropractor in Britain. I was shocked. He makes statements in the book that should only be made by a psychiatrist or a psychologist. He is not qualified to write a book on the psychology of trauma.

Another problem that I had with the book had to do with the author's acceptance of evolution. He referred several times to the reptilian part of our brain which is the oldest part of the brain. The brain stem, which controls our instinct, is the reptilian brain. The human brain is the neocortex part of the brain. I completely reject this idea that humans do not have a totally human brain.

When I bought the book I was surprised that it was so short. I hoped that it would at least be informative.  It was anything but informative. I am disappointed with it and rate it -10.