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
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