Bessel van der Kolk, MD, is a Dutch psychiatrist and trauma expert based in the United States. His research, writing, and teaching focus on the effects of traumatic experiences and the treatment of post-traumatic stress (PTSD).
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One of the world's foremost psychiatrists specializing in PTSD, Dr. Bessel van der Kolk visits Big Think to discuss the history of the disorder, its varying effects on sufferers of all ages, and forms of treatment that can "help people to come back to life." To understand PTSD, says Dr.
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In Trauma and Memory, bestselling author Dr.
When a person experiences traumatic events, the aftermath can be extremely debilitating. Trauma not only affects the mind, but can have lifelong effects on the body.
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Traumatized people chronically feel unsafe inside their bodies: The past is alive in the form of gnawing interior discomfort.
Dr. Bessel van der Kolk, one of the world’s foremost experts on trauma, has spent over three decades working with survivors.
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In his book “The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma,” van der Kolk reveals how trauma rearranges the brain’s wiring, including areas dedicated to pleasure, engagement, control, and trust.
Nowhere is this relationship more essential yet more endangered than in our healing from trauma, and no one has provided a more illuminating, sympathetic, and constructive approach to such healing than Boston-based Dutch psychiatrist and pioneering PTSD researcher Bessel van der Kolk.
As long as you keep secrets and suppress information, you are fundamentally at war with yourself. . . . The critical issue is allowing yourself to know what you know. That takes an enormous amount of courage.
“The Body Keeps the Score” hinges on the idea that trauma is stored in the body and that, for therapy to be effective, it needs to take the physiological changes that occur into account.
For most patients, the COVID-19 crisis has created a “new normal.” They may be stuck at home, unable to work, or feeling isolated from dear friends and family. This all can leave people feeling helpless.
Photo Credit: Boston Globe / Contributor / Boston Globe / Getty Images
Traumatized people chronically feel unsafe inside their bodies: The past is alive in the form of gnawing interior discomfort.
