Trauma is a fact of life. Veterans and their families deal with the painful aftermath of combat; one in five Americans has been molested; one in four grew up with alcoholics; one in three couples have engaged in physical violence. Dr. Bessel van der Kolk, one of the world’s foremost experts on trauma, has spent over three decades working with survivors. In The Body Keeps the Score, he uses recent scientific advances to show how trauma literally reshapes both body and brain, compromising sufferers’ capacities for pleasure, engagement, self-control, and trust. He explores innovative treatments—from neurofeedback and meditation to sports, drama, and yoga—that offer new paths to recovery by activating the brain’s natural neuroplasticity. Based on Dr. van der Kolk’s own research and that of other leading specialists, The Body Keeps the Score exposes the tremendous power of our relationships both to hurt and to heal—and offers new hope for reclaiming lives.
Comment: Another book I brought from the library by impulse. I was simply quickly turning the pages and some words popped up to catch my attention. The blurb also suggested this would be an interesting theme to learn more about and that was it.
In this book, dr Bessel van der Kolk (whose name I had not heard before) presents an interesting summary on his years of studies and projects developed to learn more about trauma and how to help patients dealing with its effects. Although this cannot be a complete manual on "how to", it offers case studies and the projects developed and even suggestions to possible treatments that could go beyond chemicals. There also inclusions of work done by other doctors and scientists and how the healing of the brain is a much more complex work than what many might imagine.
I had no expectations, for once, going into this book. What I know about trauma and how to treat this doesn't go further than what is common sense and what we see in some literature or movies - with all the limitations that such vehicles imply. Still, I decided to read the book because I was curious and the main reason why I felt like trying such a big book which would certainly contain medical terms and professional jargon I would not always understand was quite simple. While turning the pages very randomly, I've noticed names being mentioned, which means this book would have case studies and examples from real people, even if not their real names.
Now, since finishing the book I've checked out some reviews by other readers and the most negative ones point out some issues which, as always, might be a matter of interpretation as well as many other things, but there was also a lot of references to the author, dr van der Kolk, not having behaved properly with female co-workers or such. I have not investigated anyway, but I've read the book without being aware of this information and tried to focus on the theme discussed and think about the goal of this book.
Another frequent critique was the fact the author seemed to include too many details on trauma and too much focus on "defending" the patients and not having the same apparent compassion for those affected by their actions. I actually felt interested in reading this because there were references to real people and their cases, that was what made this book more captivating and why someone like me, who lacks knowledge in medicine, psychology and proper treatments, would feel a connection to what was being described/shared. If this was just about facts and specific literature in the field, I would likely not choose to read it.
In regards to the fairness, the respect or any other term one might want to refer to the way the patient's cases were used, I cannot say. Was it correct to present things this way? But I'm also assuming we were not given the whole information to judge beyond what feels right or wrong in how the reader might see the information...
The book is divided into several chapters, where trauma in different situations is identified and presented (veterans, children, sexual abuse) and in the final chapter the author introduces possible techniques and/or treatments to help patients, so pills or other chemical use don't have to be the only option. I will admit this was where I struggled the most to absorb information. I suppose for many reasons, the methods presented aren't as easy to prove or to demonstrate effective and it did feel a bit too vague. Still, it goes along other type of literature I've read before (for instance, healing trauma through hypnosis, exploring past lives regression and meditation...) which isn't as accepted or generalized.
No comments:
Post a Comment