The Body Keeps the Score - Bessel van der Kolk, MD

[Pingo]

The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma Author: Bessel van der Kolk, MD Publisher: Penguin Books  (September 8, 2015) Paperback: 464 pages ISBN-10: 0143127748 ISBN-13: 978-0143127741

About the Book
This book offers a new paradigm for healing. The author explores traumatic stress, revealing how it literally rearranges the brain’s wiring—specifically areas dedicated to pleasure, engagement, control, and trust. He shows how these areas can be reactivated through innovative treatments including neurofeedback, mindfulness techniques, play, yoga, and other therapies.
 
According to the author, trauma is a fact of life. Veterans and their families deal with the painful aftermath of combat; one in five Americans has been molested; one in four grew up with alcoholics; one in three couples have engaged in physical violence. Such experiences inevitably leave traces on minds, emotions, and even on biology. Sadly, trauma sufferers frequently pass on their stress to their partners and children

I have read many books on PTSD and this is by far the best! Written in a language that's easy to understand.

Bessel Van Der Kolk describes the history of trauma, what is happening in your brain and body during and after trauma and he gives you real tools for your path to recovery and explains why they work.  Some of the tools he discusses are Yoga, EMDR, neurofeedback, Psychomotor therapy, Internal Family Systems, writing, art, music and dance.  

It is a very hopeful book and I highly recommend it!

About the Author
Bessel van der Kolk (born 1943) is a Boston-based Dutch psychiatrist noted for his research in the area of post-traumatic stress since the 1970s. His work focuses on the interaction of attachment, neurobiology, and developmental aspects of trauma’s effects on people. He is professor of psychiatry at Boston University School of Medicine and medical director of the Trauma Center in Boston, where he also serves as director of the National Center for Child Traumatic Stress Complex Trauma Network. He is past president of the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies.

[ForeverDad]

I did some quick research on Internal Family Systems mentioned in this book, The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma.  I was quite intrigued by what I read about it.  It refers to our internal selves — no, we're not actually schizophrenics — as falling into 3 main categories: exiles, managers and firefighters.

• Exiles — The seat of your deep, dark fears and long-held negative beliefs, your "inner child" as it were.  Bad stuff happens to us and we take away painful lessons that we don’t let go.  And these fears often unconsciously guide our actions in frustrating ways.
• Managers — The inner child has an overprotective parent, 'Managers'.  That nagging voice in your head.  It thinks if you gave in to the fears of the inner child you’d be paralyzed, so it harasses you endlessly and occasionally steers 'you' to behave in ways that aren’t aligned with your goals.  They are good motivators but can go to an extreme of perfectionism, intellectualizing, one-sided caretaking, conflict avoidance at great personal cost and trying to control or please others.
• Firefighters — They share the same goal as managers, they want to exile vulnerable parts and extinguish emotional pain. However, firefighters are emergency response workers. They get activated after the fact, when the memories and emotions of exiles break through despite the repressive efforts of managers. (The independence Firefighter is, unsurprisingly, perpetually 15 years old.)

You can’t banish any of these three — exiles, managers and firefighters — so the goal is to get them working together.  That means keeping the Firefighters calm, getting the Managers to trust you, and figuring out what the Exile really needs to feel secure.

https://www.selfleadership.org/ifs-store.html#books
https://www.theladders.com/career-advice/how-to-quit-bad-habits-without-willpower-3-secrets-from-neuroscience

From what I read, this therapy can help resolve many PTSD issues and make us more grounded and productive.