As long as you keep secrets and suppress information, you…

“While trauma keeps us dumbfounded, the path out of it is paved with words, carefully assembled, piece by piece, until the whole story can…

— Bessel A. van der Kolk

“. I was often surprised by the dispassionate way patients’ symptoms were discussed and by how much time was spent on trying to manage…

— Bessel A. van der Kolk

“In April 2013, a few weeks before DSM-V was formally released, NIMH director Thomas Insel announced that his agency could no longer support DSM’s…

— Bessel A. van der Kolk

“The brain-disease model takes control over people’s fate out of their own hands and puts doctors and insurance companies in charge of fixing their…

— Bessel A. van der Kolk

“It was early in my career, and I had been seeing Mary, a shy, lonely, and physically collapsed young woman, for about three months in weekly…

— Bessel A. van der Kolk

“Unlike other forms of psychological disorders, the core issue in trauma is reality.”

— Bessel A. van der Kolk

“Beneath the surface of the protective parts of trauma survivors there exists an undamaged essence, a Self that is confident, curious, and calm, a…

— Bessel A. van der Kolk

“trauma produces actual physiological changes, including a recalibration of the brain’s alarm system, an increase in stress hormone activity, and alterations in the system…

— Bessel A. van der Kolk

“The brain-disease model takes control over people’s fate out of their own hands and puts doctors and insurance companies in charge of fixing their…

— Bessel A. van der Kolk

“The ACE study group concluded: “Although widely understood to be harmful to health, each adaptation [such as smoking, drinking, drugs, obesity] is notably difficult…

— Bessel A. van der Kolk

“Like so many survivors of childhood abuse, Marilyn exemplified the power of the life force, the will to live and to own one's life,…

— Bessel A. van der Kolk

“The internal system of an abuse victim differs from the non-abuse system with regard to the consistent absence of the effective leadership, the extreme…

— Bessel A. van der Kolk

“... stress hormones are meant to give us the strength and endurance to respond to extraordinary conditions. People who actively do something to deal…

— Bessel A. van der Kolk

“As long as you keep secrets and suppress information, you are fundamentally at war with yourself…The critical issue is allowing yourself to know what…

— Bessel A. van der Kolk

“When you have a persistent sense of heartbreak and gutwrench, the physical sensations become intolerable and we will do anything to make those feelings…

— Bessel A. van der Kolk