This New York Times Bestseller is the quintessential book for anyone who wishes to claim themselves ‘trauma-informed’ as a practitioner or personally. As a coach, multiple programs have recommended it to me, and I think it is a valuable resource for professional and personal development.
The better we all understand that hurt people hurt people, the more likely we are to support each other in healing individually and intergenerationally.
It is heavy. It was one of the first mainstream resources to help us understand the broad scope of “small t” trauma and “BIG T” Trauma.
Some of my favorite quotes that I refer to often include:
Mindfulness not only makes it possible to survey our internal landscape with compassion and curiosity but can also actively steer us in the right direction for self-care.”
Bessel A. van der Kolk, The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma
In order to change, people need to become aware of their sensations and the way that their bodies interact with the world around them. Physical self-awareness is the first step in releasing the tyranny of the past.”
Bessel A. van der Kolk, The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma
The author helps the reader understand the complexity of all the physical, mental, and emotional ways trauma shows up in our lives after the fact – and that we cannot change things that we are unaware of – self-awareness is the key to liberating ourselves from trauma and the symptoms of trauma.
This book was a paradigm shift regarding how we understand trauma and healing. Normalizing that we have all suffered from multiple “small t” traumas was one crucial aspect. De-stigmatizing having trauma is a huge step for most people suffering in silence because they fear that they are alone in their experience.
Kolk, one of the world’s experts on trauma, combines science with human stories that draw you in. Honestly, I recommend you read it in spurts because it is a lot to take in, but ultimately, it is a message of healing, resilience, and agency of individuals who have taken back their lives. He shows us the pathway to recovery.
It is a must-read if you work in the realm of mental health and the medical field, and/or you are a trauma survivor yourself or have close loved ones who are stuck in their stories around trauma. There are solutions, but it all starts with building a deeper awareness in our society regarding how the trauma of the past affects us all.
I’ll leave you with the quote at the beginning of Chapter 7:Getting On The Same Wavelength: Attachment and Attunement:
The roots of resilience…are to be found in the sense of being understood by and existing in the mind and heart of a loving, attuned, and self-possessed other.”
Diana Fosha
The Sobees Self-Help Score: 4.5 out of 5
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