Can you treat trauma by better sensing your body?
Book review of The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma.
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Book Summary #
The book is a history of Bessel van der Kolk's history in trauma therapy. There is a lot of narration and stories, which makes it engaging. But, if you look at other reviews, they may trigger or retraumatize some readers. In the end, there is a short chapter about each method of treating trauma that he believes in.
Trauma Treatments #
- EMDR
- yoga
- IFS
- psychomotor therapy
- neurofeedback
- theater.
What I got from it #
- Uncomfortable amount of knowledge about childhood trauma. (But also why it's important and how big a problem it is).
- I've heard about EMDR, yoga, and IFS before, so it is a good reminder of their usefulness.
- Understanding why knowing your own body is essential and motivation to work on my interoception.
Interoception #
I'm moved my notes on Interoception to a separate post.
Final thoughts #
If you don't know much about trauma, I recommend the book, especially if you have a history of trauma or know someone struggling with it.
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