SOWK Theory Blog : The Body Keeps the Score

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...

     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...

       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...

       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...