When the mind hurts, the body remembers

How do we describe people who have experienced trauma? "Paranoid," "unable to move on," "self-pitying," "obsessed with the past"? It's as if positive thinking, willpower, courage, love, and companionship should enable people to overcome trauma. And those trapped in trauma, if not too weak-willed, must be seeking sympathy.

However, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) not only exists but involves a series of real physiological changes beyond rational and volitional control. Trauma can be etched into our brain circuits, alarm systems, and bodily sensations. The moment of mental and physical collapse ends, but it plays out uncontrollably in memory and the nervous system, not only crushing our ability to live a normal life but also tearing apart our trust in the outside world and ourselves.

The truth is, what traps survivors in the abyss of suffering is not only the trauma itself but also the various instincts and defense mechanisms that humans have evolved for self-preservation.

The author, Bessel van der Kolk, is a psychiatrist and a pioneer in trauma research. He combines the astonishing advances in the field of psychological trauma in recent decades with over thirty years of clinical experience treating trauma patients to propose a new understanding of trauma. From a neuroscience perspective, we can see how trauma reshapes our brains—normal memory processing collapses due to overwhelming threats, time freezes, and danger seems to never end. The amygdala constantly sounds alarms, stress hormones are secreted in large quantities, and sleep patterns and the immune system are continuously impacted. Even if the survivor wants to move past the trauma and tries to ignore the overwhelming emotions, the part of the brain responsible for self-preservation drags the body back to the scarred past day after day.

Facing the pain inflicted by outsiders is already difficult enough, but deeper within the survivor's heart lurks an even more tyrannical devil: shame and self-blame. Survivors despise themselves for their helplessness, fear, dependence, or rage at the time of the trauma. To shut down unbearable feelings, some choose alcoholism, violence, or self-harm; some become dissociated and numb, destroying their ability to live fully. As a result, survivors lose connection with themselves and with the present moment—they are neither living nor dead, but somewhere in between.

From domestic violence to school bullying, from chronic childhood neglect to major disasters, from rape to car accidents, from bereavement to heartbreak, conflict, accidents, betrayal, isolation—trauma is ubiquitous in life and is one of the most significant public health issues in modern society. Everything about us—our brains, minds, and bodies—is designed to cooperate within a social system. This is humanity's most powerful survival strategy, the key to the success of the human species, but it is also the part that collapses in most mental health problems. Survivors need professional help, and ordinary people also have many negative experiences to process. But to understand human suffering, we must understand the neural connections of the human body and brain.

Published only a few years ago, this book has already become a classic in the field of trauma and is considered "the most significant series of breakthroughs in mental health over the past thirty years." In the book, the author examines why past trauma therapies such as medication and talk therapy had limited effects and delves into various new therapies he experimented with over thirty years on himself and his patients. These include using yoga to regulate an over-aroused body, mindfulness for self-awareness, Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) to reorganize memories, neurofeedback to reset brain circuits, and self-leadership, construction, and theater methods to rebuild connections with oneself and others.

The author posits that when dealing with trauma, one is actually dealing with the imprints trauma leaves on the body and brain. The key to recovery is to utilize the brain's own neuroplasticity, allowing survivors to feel present in the moment and ultimately reclaim ownership of themselves.

The author himself comes from a traumatized family. He grew up in an insecure childhood and, after becoming a practicing physician, dedicated himself to unraveling the perplexing mysteries of human suffering. From enthusiastically embracing the pharmacological revolution in his early years to understanding that patients were his only true textbook, he realized that "many manifestations classified as mental illnesses, such as obsessive thinking, OCD, and panic attacks, as well as most self-destructive behaviors, initially served as self-protective strategies and adaptive behaviors in response to trauma." He states, "I have been able to stay in this work for so long because it has allowed me to explore the sources of my own joy, creativity, meaning, and connection—these are the things that make life worthwhile. I cannot imagine how I could face the suffering many of my patients endure, and I see their symptoms as part of their strength—their ways of learning to survive." Ultimately, he discovered—

"Only one thing makes the work of treating trauma possible: treating with awe everything that patients have done to survive."