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

In chapter 5, van der Kolk begins the chapter with this quote by Michael Hart, "Life is about rhythm. We vibrate, our hearts are pumping blood. We are a rhythm machine, that's what we are" (p. 74). As much as I find the neurobiological effects of trauma and stress fascinating, I find the ways our bodies are interconnected even more interesting, and it makes a lot of sense. Each system of the body works together to keep us alive, and when one system is in hyperarousal or survival mode, the rest of the body suffers. It may not suffer immediately, but eventually, the score will add up.  I find this true for myself when I prepare for a big trip, like traveling to Ethiopia. My to-do list is usually longer than normal as I am trying to get everything ready to travel while also trying to do all of the normal household tasks in preparation to leave my family at home. I have traveled to Ethiopia ten times. 8 out of 10 times I have left on the trip with a cold or a bad sinus infect...

As I read the van der Kolk chapters this week, the statement in Evans and Coccoma (2014) was helpful to keep in mind as we dug into neurobiological responses to trauma. The authors state how the behaviors our clients exhibit are actually normal  from a trauma-informed perspective (Evans and Coccoma, 2014, p. 19). What the brain and mind do when the individual either experiences or witnesses a traumatic event is actually normal and is the right way to respond. This is what the brain was made to do. God created us to survive.  This week I watched the effects of trauma unfold before me in the life of my son. At this time, I will not share the story of how my children have experienced trauma in their life (that will have to wait for another time, perhaps), but, rather, I will say both of them live life through the lens of trauma. This is the story that has unfolded for us this week. I will only share one part of the story.  On Monday afternoon, my oldest son got on the school...

I have found myself saying this phrase a lot lately, "I don't know what I don't know," especially as I dig deeper into this MSW program and learn the complexities of the brain and mind, and the complexities of trauma within individuals, families, and the greater society. Sometimes it is nice not knowing what I don't know. There can be a sense of privilege in the innocence of not knowing. Yet as I learn and become more are of those around me, I cannot help but change to, "Now that I know what I know, what can I do about it?"  Considering the stories van der Kolk shares within the first chapter of  The Body Keeps the Score , it seems likely, when reflecting into his first year as a staff psychiatrist at Boston's VA Clinic, he and others may have been saying, "I don't know what I don't know." Many did not know what the combat veterans had seen and experienced walking throughout the jungles of Vietnam. Many combat veterans came home fro...