It changes not only how we think and what we think about, but also our very capacity to think. “Trauma results in a fundamental reorganization of the way mind and brain manage perceptions. In the 1990s, brain-imaging technology helped scientists to see the effects of trauma in the brain and brought about a new understanding of trauma. He noticed that this area of study was just as understudied as the PTSD in veterans, and that there were similarities with regard to the symptoms that the war veterans were exhibiting. In 1980, he started working with another group of patients: child abuse survivors. People felt supported, came back for a next session and continued coming to the meeting for weeks. As a way to offer them a form of support, he organised an informal group meeting where the veterans who felt unable to talk about their experiences (because of numbing or loss of words) started to share their stories within this social group. Van der Kolk observed many veterans walking into the clinic with complaints about nightmares, panic attacks, rage, aggression, urge to drink or use substances and finding little support because of the lack of resources. However, in the 1970s in America, PTSD was not yet an official diagnosis. He started his career working with Vietnam war veterans who experienced symptoms of PTSD.

Part 1 is an account of how Bessel van der Kolk started researching traumas and it is almost an account of how the field of trauma studies and trauma research evolved to what it is today. Per part of the book, we will give an overview of the main aspects dealt with. He advocates multidisciplinary cooperation within communities, the same way he works with different professionals from around the world and at the NCTSN.

He uses many real-life examples (fully anonymously of course to protect the identities of the families).

He is also the founder of the National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN), which is a network of organisations and professionals in many different sectors of society that specialise in treating traumatised children and their families all over the US.Īlthough the introduction of his book feels like a curriculum vitae, it is very relevant to understand Van der Kolk’s work and the way he chose to present his ideas and arguments. Since having been published in 2014, the book has become a best-seller and is one of the most prominent books about the effects of trauma on the biopsychosocial level, both for the person and for the society as a whole. In this blog, we will review a book by Bessel van der Kolk, a (Dutch-born) psychiatrist, researcher and author of the book, among others, ‘The Body Keeps the Score’.

The body keeps the score