How Trauma Lives in the Body with Bessel van der Kolk

Aspen Ideas to Go

A traumatic event can literally change the way our brain functions, and live on in our body in unexpected ways. The field of psychiatry has not always acknowledged or fully studied the physical impacts of trauma, and mental health practitioners are often not aware of appropriate treatments for traumatized patients. Psychiatrist Bessel van der Kolk has been researching trauma as a clinician for about four decades, and founded one of the first research centers in the United States dedicated to studying traumatic stress in civilians. In 2014, he published the book “The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Treatment of Trauma,” which struck a chord with millions of people, and has stayed on the New York Times bestseller list for most of the time since publication. Van der Kolk has been a leader in exploring innovative treatments for trauma, such as neurofeedback and eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) as well as a proponent of applying simpler and more widespread techniques to trauma therapy, such as yoga and Qigong. The executive director of Aspen Public Radio, Breeze Richardson, interviews van der Kolk at an event from the Winter Words 2023 season, from Aspen Words.

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