Comments and Reflections on The Body Keeps the Score by B. van der Kolk

van der Kolk writes the challenge of recovery is reestablishing ownership of your own body and mind--of your self. ...For most people this involves (1) finding a way to become calm and focused, (2) learning to maintain calm in response to images, thoughts, sounds, or physical sensations that remind you of the past, (3) finding a way to be fully alive in the present and engage with the people around you, (4) not having to keep secrets from yourself, including secrets about the ways that you have managed to survive" (p. 205-6). It was ten o'clock in the morning at O'Hare airport in Chicago. I was stumbling through the airport after landing a few hours earlier after a sixteen-hour direct flight back to the States from Ethiopia with minimal sleep. All I wanted at that point in my trip was a large latte from Starbucks, a yogurt, and a quiet gate where I could slip my mask off my face for a few moments since I was heading into hour number twenty for mask-wearing. I had a seven-h...

I can remember at the beginning of the semester either Dr. Boer or perhaps Dr. van der Kolk noted the way the mind and body respond to trauma is a normal response. Parts of our brain go into overdrive protecting the body and mind from harm, while other parts of the brain shut down and even decrease in size. This is normal. When we face trauma, our brains also forget.  As difficult or frustrating as it may be to not have full memory of exact events or scenarios, how beautiful this ability actually is. How tragic it would be to continuously relive the sexual abuse from a perpetrator over and over again. How much more harm would it cause to the body, mind, and spirit to continuously be haunted by the images, sounds, and smells of an abuser if the memory did not shut down. How redeeming it is for God to cause this to happen in the brain when trauma and tragedy hit. Yet, when people do remember--like the story of Julian--navigating how people remember or what triggers their vivid memori...