“… genes are not fixed; life events can trigger biochemical messages that turn them on or off …”
Trauma is an unfortunate trend in our world. Many, too many, people experience some kind of trauma in their life – child abuse, violent crime, abuse, war. Studying trauma and finding the best ways to help people deal with and have control over their lives is the work of Dr. van der Kolk. In The Body Keeps the Score, he reviews his decades of research and study and comes up with some surprising results.
My aunt recommended this book to me several years ago and I just recently put it on my library holds. Then, while I was looking at the books I already had on my Kindle, I saw I had actually bought it already. While I’m writing this, we’re currently in the Covid-19 social distancing and I’m getting to read a bit more so I thought I would read The Body Keeps the Score while I waited for other books to become available.
The book starts off by reviewing how trauma affects people. He gives specific cases as examples. Trauma can affect behavior, relationships, thought processes and even body chemistry. Severe trauma can even affect a person’s genes, which can then be passed down to children. The book then also reviews cases where people were helped to deal with their trauma. Some of the treatments can be as simple as yoga or as complicated as brain wave therapy. However, there is hope. While it would be great to eliminate trauma, especially to children, at least there is progress being made in treatment.
The Body Keeps the Score is a long and in-depth book, which meets the seriousness of the topic. Some of the cases give specific details of abuse, which can be hard to read. However, the second half of the book is fascinating as he explores things that can really help people deal with trauma. I would recommend this book to anyone who works with children, especially teachers. It’s definitely a good book to understand trauma and its affects.
What are your thoughts on trauma therapy? Share in the comments!