On this podcast, Bessel van der Kolk and Dr. Rangan Chatterjee discuss the variety of different medical conditions and symptoms that may have their root in trauma, from misunderstood illnesses like fibromyalgia to mental health disorders and autoimmune disease. Often, these are the conditions where western medicine really struggles to help.
Bessel has carried out years of research into trauma and studied the many modalities that can help us finally heal. Because our bodies quite literally keep the score and store the trauma, it’s often body-oriented therapies that may prove most helpful. We discuss why yoga (the union of body and mind), dancing or singing can be powerful ways to do this. Movement, he says, is the opposite of being ‘stuck’ in trauma. It’s a somatic pleasure response, an expression of life, and can put vulnerable, traumatized people back in touch with their bodies.
Bessel also shares some fascinating evidence on the power of EMDR (eye movement desensitization reprogramming), neurofeedback, and talks about his involvement in psychedelic therapy. Such is the prevalence of trauma in society that whether we have experienced it ourselves or we know people who have, it’s vital that we all learn about it and the various ways we can heal.
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CAUTION: This conversation contains themes of an adult nature and references to sexual assault.