What do you think?
Rate this book
Psychological Trauma
Covers the psychological consequences of overwhelming life experiences, the psychobiology of trauma response, traumatic antecedents of borderline personality disorder, trauma in the family, amnesia, dissociation, and the return of the repressed.
237 pages, Hardcover
First published October 1, 1986
3 people are currently reading
1369 people want to read
About the author
Bessel van der Kolk
38 books3,009 followersBessel van der Kolk MD spends his career studying how children and adults adapt to traumatic experiences, and has translated emerging findings from neuroscience and attachment research to develop and study a range of treatments for traumatic stress in children and adults.
In 1984, he set up one of the first clinical/research centers in the US dedicated to study and treatment of traumatic stress in civilian populations, which has trained numerous researchers and clinicians specializing in the study and treatment of traumatic stress, and which has been continually funded to research the impact of traumatic stress and effective treatment interventions. He did the first studies on the effects of SSRIs on PTSD; was a member of the first neuroimaging team to investigate how trauma changes brain processes, and did the first research linking BPD and deliberate self-injury to trauma and neglect in early childhood.
In 1984, he set up one of the first clinical/research centers in the US dedicated to study and treatment of traumatic stress in civilian populations, which has trained numerous researchers and clinicians specializing in the study and treatment of traumatic stress, and which has been continually funded to research the impact of traumatic stress and effective treatment interventions. He did the first studies on the effects of SSRIs on PTSD; was a member of the first neuroimaging team to investigate how trauma changes brain processes, and did the first research linking BPD and deliberate self-injury to trauma and neglect in early childhood.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
Want to read
July 27, 2015
After listening to him for some minutes, I find his thoughts enough appealing: (1) we have an "insane/stupid" diagnostics system; (2) it seems drugs won't do the real healing work (on people with traumas); (3) a therapist/healer should be a "real diagnostician" not a labeller [my expression]; (4) love and hate are part of the human species drives, though he had stopped being "optimistic" about the species, in 2003, after the Iraq intervention due to the 9/11 events.(5) Love is a key component in the healing process.
Some of his family stories are amazing and illustrating (his father under the Nazi regime, being a fundamentalist Christian...).
August 3, 2009
I also went to a week long seminar with Bessel. Amazing speaker and his ideas are terrific and astute. The book is excellent.
December 17, 2015
I read this a very long time ago... very helpful
June 20, 2024
“As long as you keep secrets and suppress information, you are fundamentally at war with yourself. Hiding your core feelings takes an enormous amount of energy, it saps your motivation to pursue worthwhile goals, and it leaves you feeling bored and shut down. Meanwhile, stress hormones keep flooding your body, leading to headaches, muscle aches, problems with your bowels or sexual functions—and irrational behaviors that may embarrass you and hurt the people around you."
“Activists in the early campaign for AIDS awareness created a powerful slogan: ‘Silence = Death.’ Silence about trauma also leads to death—the death of the soul. Silence reinforces the godforsaken isolation of trauma. Being able to say aloud to another human being, ‘I was battered by my husband’ or ‘They called it discipline, but it was abuse’ or ‘I was raped’, is a sign that healing can begin.”
"The body keeps the score: If trauma is encoded in heartbreaking and gut-wrenching sensations."
"We have discovered that helping victims of trauma find the words to describe what has happened to them is profoundly meaningful, but usually it is not enough."
“Trauma is not just an event that took place sometime in the past; it is also the imprint left by that experience on mind, brain, and body. This imprint has ongoing consequences for how the human organism manages to survive in the present.”
Bessel van der Kolk,
“Activists in the early campaign for AIDS awareness created a powerful slogan: ‘Silence = Death.’ Silence about trauma also leads to death—the death of the soul. Silence reinforces the godforsaken isolation of trauma. Being able to say aloud to another human being, ‘I was battered by my husband’ or ‘They called it discipline, but it was abuse’ or ‘I was raped’, is a sign that healing can begin.”
"The body keeps the score: If trauma is encoded in heartbreaking and gut-wrenching sensations."
"We have discovered that helping victims of trauma find the words to describe what has happened to them is profoundly meaningful, but usually it is not enough."
“Trauma is not just an event that took place sometime in the past; it is also the imprint left by that experience on mind, brain, and body. This imprint has ongoing consequences for how the human organism manages to survive in the present.”
Bessel van der Kolk,
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews