The Surprising Solutions To Heal Trauma Without Medication - Bessel van der Kolk - #787

**Chris Williamson** (0:00)
Hello, friends, welcome back to the show. My guest today is Bessel van der Kolk. He's a psychiatrist, researcher and an author. Trauma is often discussed as a mental and psychological issue, but what if it affects more than just the mind? What does it mean if your body is holding on to trauma, and how might these memories manifest outside of our brains? Expect to learn what is meant by the body keeping the score, what is wrong with the traditional way that we talk about trauma, how you can learn to be more self-compassionate, how trauma manifests and masks itself as illnesses, the best therapies and modalities for understanding and releasing trauma, and much more. Trauma is a bit of a weird word for me, actually. I've sat in many a sauna in Austin and heard people talking about their ancestral trauma and dealing with past wounds and stuff, and it kind of gave me a bit of an ache. And yet, the more that I have looked at it, the more I've become open-minded to the psychological injuries that we all go through, often before we're even able to remember them or verbalize them, and the importance of making ourselves feel safe and secure and emotionally robust. And Bessel's work is really fantastic. I love that he takes a sort of holistic integrated approach. He is not trying to throw drugs at the problem. He is trying to do it from a much more careful integrated modality. And yeah, he's a fascinating guy. I mean, he's broke in the internet. The body keeps the score. This book absolutely broke the internet. And there's so much to take away from today. So I really, really hope that you enjoy this one. Don't forget that you might be listening but not subscribed. And that means you'll miss episodes when they go up. So if you want to support the show, and if you want to make me happy, and if you want to ensure that you're not going to miss episodes, it takes two seconds. Just navigate to Apple podcasts or Spotify, press the follow button in the middle of the page or the plus in the top right hand corner. I thank you very much.
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