important. also enormous.

half of this book is important and half of it is him telling you about his career.

the case histories are the reason to read it and some of them genuinely opened my eyes. the stuff about trauma sitting in the body rather than in the story people tell about it explains things I have seen on wards for years and had no framework for. patients who cant sit still. patients who go completely flat. the bit about people describing pain that isn't where the injury is, yeah. that tracks.

but it is so long, and it goes round and round, and every few chapters we are back at a conference in the eighties where he said something and nobody listened. I understand he had to fight for this. I do. I still skipped whole sections and I dont feel bad about it.

the treatment chapters are a mixed bag. some of it I would happily pass on, some of it, the neurofeedback especially, felt like it was being sold to me harder than the evidence supports, and I dont love that in a book that people who are actually suffering are going to buy in a hurry.

6 because I did finish it and I do still think about it. but who is this long for? I have given it to two people now and both of them stalled somewhere around page 200 and I dont blame either of them. if you only want the useful part, its chapters three to six and then you can stop