Bessel Van der Kolk is a neuroscientist who has studied and helped to understand trauma and how it relates to so many mental health issues. Van der Kolk used many of his client's cases from his therapeutic experiences to help explain the connection between trauma and a person's mental health. Some key takeaways from this book are as follows: a) Just as we can destroy each other, we can also heal each other. b) Language gives us the power to change by communicating our experiences. c) We can control our response to trauma through breathing, movement and touch. d) When people feel safe, they will be able to prosper. Van der Kolk explains the history of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) and how he believed it was more profit-oriented…show more content… Throughout the book, you can see that he has a deep respect for those suffering from trauma and is determined to heal the whole person before him. The book is easily divided into five parts, which I will summarize below. Part 1: Rediscovering Trauma Knowledge of trauma and mental health was discovered in the late 19th century, so it is not a new field. Van der Kolk's early research on veterans has an impact, particularly the case example of traumatically distorted perception found in Rorschach tests. Since eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) deals with perception, this case study showed how trauma can distort the brain's "reality." Working with veterans allowed him to see through a "trauma lens" as he began working with survivors of child sexual abuse. He found that as a therapist he had to find ways to help his patients work through all of their past experiences so that they were able to process their feelings in a healthy way. Part 2: This is your trauma brain Here he shares that the brain's response to stress can be overwhelmed by past trauma, causing a person to react in unhealthy
