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Bessel A. van der Kolk Quotes

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Famous Bessel A. van der Kolk Quotes

“The brain-disease model overlooks four fundamental truths: (1) our capacity to destroy one another is matched by our capacity to heal one another. Restoring relationships and community is central to restoring well-being; (2) language gives us the power to change ourselves and others by communicating our experiences, helping us to define what we know, and finding a common sense of meaning; (3) we have the ability to regulate our own physiology, including some of the so-called involuntary functions of the body and brain, through such basic activities as breathing, moving, and touching; and (4) we can change social conditions to create environments in which children and adults can feel safe and where they can thrive. When we ignore these quintessential dimensions of humanity, we deprive people of ways to heal from trauma and restore their autonomy. Being a patient, rather than a participant in one’s healing process, separates suffering people from their community and alienates them from an inner sense of self.”

CommunityHealingHealthMedicineMental HealthTraumaPtsd
Book:The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma
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“Mary was my first encounter with dissociative identity disorder (DID), which at that time was called multiple personality disorder. As dramatic as its symptoms are, the internal splitting and emergence of distinct identities experienced in DID represent only the extreme end of the spectrum of mental life.”

Mental HealthDissociative Identity DisorderDissociationMultiple Personality DisorderMental Life
Book:The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma
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“Because drugs have become so profitable, major medical journals rarely publish studies on nondrug treatments of mental health problems.31 Practitioners who explore treatments are typically marginalized as “alternative.” Studies of nondrug treatments are rarely funded unless they involve so-called manualized protocols, where patients and therapists go through narrowly prescribed sequences that allow little fine-tuning to individual patients’ needs. Mainstream medicine is firmly committed to a better life through chemistry, and the fact that we can actually change our own physiology and inner equilibrium by means other than drugs is rarely considered.”

Mental HealthMental IllnessEffectivenessPsychotherapyMental Health BiasAlternative TherapyPsychiatric DrugsAlternative TreatmentsClinical LiteratureClinical TrialLack Of ResearchMedical Journals
Book:The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma
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