Previous post
Next post
Disclaimer: I didn’t get all the way through this book before I had to return it to the library because someone else had requested it. When I found out I only had two days left, I powered through the sections that were most important to me, browsing at times. What I did read was interesting and powerful, so I wanted to share the book with you even though I didn’t get a chance to read it completely.
Still with me? Ok. Let’s talk about trauma. With the under-reporting of sexual trauma, broken homes and families, and the many other ways people can be hurt in this world, everyone has some connection with trauma. Either you’ve experienced it, or know someone who has.
The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma, by
This wasn’t an easy read. Besides the descriptions of the trauma that brought patients to Dr. van der Kolk’s office, the explanations of trauma and the body don’t mince on medical speak; the book reads academically with a heaping serving of science. He goes deep, explaining the roles of different parts of the brain. While the dense material made reading slow, the content was fascinating.
The beginning of the book is an in-depth look at the body and brain’s response to trauma, described as van der Kolk went from understanding what was happening to his trauma patients, to knowing why and how it was happening. While not the best bedtime reading because of the amount of bandwidth it required for comprehension, this section was fascinating.
The part I skipped completely was the section on children and trauma. Given my limited time and what promised to be upsetting content, I wanted to focus on the sections of the book that covered adults dealing with trauma.
If you’ve been reading the blog for a little while, you may already know my favorite part of a nonfiction book – the part where they explain how the rubber hits the road. In this book, we’re talking about van der Kolk’s description of different treatment models and their effectiveness with his patients.
I breezed through this section quickly, because of the deadline with the library, so I determined to continue my learning online, opening tab after tab about concepts that interested me, including IFS (Internal Family Systems). IFS posits that we have our Selves, and then a number of subpersonalities that control and monitor our behavior. A therapist helps you to separate these subpersonalities out, talking to them, and then allowing them to settle down so that your true Self (the calm, compassionate, connected part of you) can be making the calls. I know my description is a bit woo-woo, but before you throw it out the window, or if you’re curious, check out this link about the concept. I definitely wanted to learn more after reading it.
Pranayama and EFT tapping also caught my interest. This video walks you through EFT tapping, which is a process of tapping a series of pressure points to, for example, help when you’ve been triggered by something that reminds you of trauma you’ve experienced. Beyond this, it can also be used for other issues, like headaches and stress, as noted in the video.
Pranayama is a yogic discipline of breath control, and there are videos to learn how to do that, as well. I won’t send you down a YouTube rabbit hole for it.
Finally, yoga was noted in the book as a powerful tool for getting people grounded in their bodies. Often, trauma victims are numb, and don’t know how to reconnect with the sensations in their body, good or bad. Yoga helped veterans and sexual violence victims alike find a way back into themselves.
These four methods are by no means the end of van der Kolk’s discussion. I wish I’d had a little more time with the book so that I could really dive into the content. The overview I got was a good start. If you have an interest in trauma for personal reasons or to better understand someone you love, taken slowly, or even just used as a reference, this book could be a helpful tool.
