The Body Bears the Burden: Trauma, Dissociation, and Disease, 2nd ed

Scaer's interest in trauma stems from his experience assessing victims of motor vehicle accidents who have whiplash syndrome. These patients complain of diverse symptoms that often cannot be explained by their physical injuries. Moreover, despite their frequent involvement in litigation, patients with whiplash often fail to improve even after receiving substantial financial compensation for their injuries. These facts have led Scaer to conclude that unresolved previous trauma figures in the etiology of whiplash syndrome. Physical symptoms are not simply the direct result of physical injuries from a car crash. Rather, they are a kind of "body memory" resulting from earlier psychic trauma, such as childhood physical or sexual abuse, in addition to trauma from the accident itself.