‘The Body Keeps the Score’ Mind , Brain and Body in the Transformation of Trauma by Bessel Van der Kolk.
“We are fundamentally social creatures – our brains are wired to foster working and playing together. Trauma devastates the social-engagement system and interferes with cooperation, nurturing and the ability to function as a productive member of a clan” Bessel Van der Kolk.
Bessel Van der Kolk is a qualified psychiatrist who specializes in the field of post-traumatic stress and its effect on the brain and body. He has written over 150 peer-reviewed scientific articles, the majority of them about post-traumatic stress. Backed by this knowledge and advances in neuroscience which have given us a better understanding of how trauma changes brain development, self-regulation and the capacity to stay focused and in tune with others, Van Der Kolk explains the way our nervous system and hormones change after traumatic events and helps us to understand trauma and its impact on every aspect of our lives with practical suggestions on the best way to move forward.
“People can learn to control and change their behaviour, but only of they feel safe enough to experiment with new solutions. The body keeps score: If trauma is encoded in heart breaking and gut-wrenching sensations, then our first priority is to help people move out of fight-or-flight states, reorganise their perception of danger and manage relationships”
Bessel Van der Kolk
