SOWK Theory Blog : The Body Keeps the Score

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Chapters 17 & 18

Van Der Kolk amazes me with his thoughts, reflections, and personal experiences with the clients that he has treated. However, he also leaves me with questions and puzzling thoughts. How does one become so knowledgeable in trauma treatment? While I know it took years of education, experience, and practice - I don't think I will ever get his level. Chapter 17 reminded me a lot of my girl, Kate. I see her in the quote on page 280, " it is much more productive to see aggression or depression, arrogance, or passivity as learned behaviors: somewhere along the line, the patient came to believe that he or she could survive only if she or she was tough, invisible or absent, or that is was safer to give up". Kate appears to show aggression as displayed by her tough and defiant actions. While she may certainly be afraid, she doesn't appear to show it on the outside. She is tougher than most, and sadly it is not because she wants to be, but because for so long she had to be. I...

Chapters 15 & 16

I really enjoyed chapter 15 and the exploration of EMDR therapy. Throughout the chapter, we are exposed to different stories of EMDR and the success of this treatment modality.We read about David, a father and husband who has able to overcome and reverse the revengenful 'monster' that he was turning into and was instead able to get back in touch with his generous self and re-find himself in the activites that he enjoyed. We also read about Maggie and her experience with EMDR therapy and freedom that she felt upon completion. However, Van Der Kolk points out that Maggle, "like many trauma survivors, she told one story with words and anohter in her actions...(p. 252). I thought this was interesting perspective and I think about some of my own clients and how sometimes their actions can be contradicting to their words. Honestly, this can sometimes be really frustering, but I see now that this is a trauma response. After reading this section in the book and doing other variou...

Chapters13 & 14

These chapters, yet again, not only interested me but also made me reflect on some of my own clients and their experiences with trauma. The Body Keeps the Score has been a great resource for me as I work to understand my client's trauma's through the behavior interactions. I tend to highlight things that stick out to me when I read, and these two chapters were full of yellow underlines and circled words. There are so many things I feel like I could write about in this blog, but I will start with appreciating Van Der Kolk's introductory statement - "nobody can treat a war, or abuse, rape, molestation, or any other horrendous event, for that matter; what has happened a not be undone. But what can be dealt with are the imprints of the trauma on body, mind, and soul..." (p. 206). While this statement might be obvious, it was also a gentle reminder that my role as a case manager and eventual therapist is not to fix the problem. However, my role is to help those reestab...

Chapters 11 & 12

These chapters were heavy as they discussed components of sexual abuse and trauma, particularly how it can affect memory. The story of Julian is something that I can't imagine going through - the idea of hearing about a story and having startling memories of the same thing happening to you must be hard. Even harder yet, trying to have an intimate moment with a girlfriend and suddenly experiencing a flashback must also be hard as feelings of shame, fear, or even guilt may begin to creep in. Later in the chapter, Van Der Kolk states that due to traumatic experiences, narratives are not always organized in a coherent way. I did find it interesting to read about memories and just how greatly trauma can affect those memories - both good and bad. Van Der Kolk states, "whether we remember a particular event at all, and how accurate our memories of it are, largely depends on how personally meaningful it was and how emotional we felt about it at the...

Chapters 9 & 10

These chapters, yet again, have reinforced why the work we do is important. Page 138 stated, " such patients typically receive five or six different unrelated diagnoses in the course of their psychiatric treatment" and page 139 further expands by stating that " none of these diagnoses will be completely off the mark, and none of them will begin to meaningfully describe who these patients are and what they suffer from". Children with a mental diagnosis are much more than a statistic. I both enjoyed reading about and was taken aback by the formation of the DSM and how that diagnostical instrument came into 'power'. How what once was used for insurance companies is now the means of creating a lifelong label on someone. The stigma of having a diagnosis is something that one may carry with them all through life - from childhood to adulthood. Some may even identify as their diagnoses as the book describes a patient describing themselves as bipola...

Chapters 7 & 8

If I am honest, every time I read the pages of this book I am blown away by not only the knowledge of the author but the similarities of what my own clients are experiencing. In a way, this blog has almost become an outlet for my own experiences with my clients who are going through trauma. While I am not sure if that was the purpose, it has proven to be helpful for me. I have talked about one specific client before on these blogs, and I intend to keep bringing her up as so much of what we are reading correlates to her. I have decided to officially name her, using a pseudonym of course, as Kate. I thoroughly enjoyed reading these chapters, particularly chapter 7 and its discussion over attachments. Chapter 7 started with talking about the TAT or thematic apperception test in which clients are tasked with looking at "ambiguous and somewhat troubling scenes" (p. 108). Van Der Kolk further concluded that while "controlled children told stories...