SOWK Theory Blog : The Body Keeps the Score

 Trauma is overwhelming. Reading about it, learning about it, experiencing it - all overwhelming. The amount of knowledge and experience that Van Der Kolk has is also overwhelming for this second-semester graduate student who still trying to distinguish the responsibilities of all the different brain structures. Chapter 3 was interesting to read as the trauma scripts were reinvented as participants essentially volunteered to relive their trauma's. Marsha's story was hard to read about as I can't imagine and pain, guilt, and fear that could come from losing your children in an instant. Through Marsha's story, I was better able to recognize and understand how diverse and individualistic triggers can be. To some - parents fighting and loud noises might be a trigger and yet to others, such as Marsha, the sound of children laughing. I wondered, ethically, if this procedure was okay and I was pleased to see that Van Der Kolk also questioned this as well.  Reading about Broc...

 I started reading  The Body Keeps the Score  on a little puddle jumper flight from Glendive, MT to Billings, MT and I could not put this book down. Van Der Kolk starts by detailing his experience working with veterans from the Vietnam war. The story of Tom was very eye openings as he filled the reader in on Tom's day to day life experience and the trauma that he endured long past the end of the war. While I have no experience working with veterans, I was intrigued by Tom's story and I wanted to know more - more about him, his wife, his kids, and his law practice. One specific section in chapter 1 that stood out to me came from page 13 in which Van Der Kolk stated, "Trauma, whether it is the result of something done to you or something you yourself have done, almost always makes it difficult to engage in intimate relationships. After you have experiences something so unspeakable, how do you learn to trust yourself or anyone else again"? Man - that hit home for me. On ...