avoid predators, however, prey will sprint away and "literally shake off the residual effects of the immobility response" while "their bodies convulse with paroxysmal spasms". There is no evidence for Levine's conclusions about the prey's responses or Nancy's response to their session. Observing Nancy, Levine concluded that her convulsions were an "instinctive and long-overdue response" to her being strapped down and scared when a child. He concluded without evidence that Nancy's panic attacks were caused by the "frozen residue of 'energy'" that remained stuck in her, not from the traumatic experience. Levine argues that humans cannot effortlessly release energy from a traumatic memory because human's triune brain structure which, shaped by feelings and acumen, frequently supersedes instinct. He said that Nancy stopped experiencing panic attacks after she had additional sessions with him that involved more convulsions". Reception Ruth P. Newton, a professor at the University of California, San Diego, wrote a mixed review of the book in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine. She found the case materials to be "interesting" because readers can observe how Levine "uses his theory to guide his clinical work". But Newton found that "the theory and case material are entangled by a self-help format that weakens his presentation and jeopardizes the overall organization of the book". She concluded that "the book is more appropriately used by professionals rather than directly by patients or clients". Newton strongly criticized the book's self-help therapy activities that improperly claim to help readers to overcome their frightening experiences, writing, "I shudder to imagine a patient or client who is drawn to self-help books that will heal secret traumas alone in his or her living room with an exercise that asks them to ' pretend you are in an airplane flying at 30,000 feet… [when] you suddenly hear a loud explosion…followed by complete silence'." John Marzillier for British Psychological Society wrote that "The psychologist Peter Levine is a major figure in the trauma field. His earlier book, Waking the Tiger: Healing Trauma (North Atlantic Books, 1997), aimed at a general readership, was very successful." Marzillier found that in Waking the Tiger, the "notion of 'energy' was relatively undeveloped, a weakness in his model". In Psychology Today, Cheryl Eckl called Waking the Tiger a "seminal book" in which Levine tells readers "we can learn much about trauma from observing animals in the wild". References 1997 non-fiction books Self-help books Mind–body interventions