“When people are forced to submit to overwhelming power, as is true for most abused children, women trapped in domestic violence, and incarcerated men and women, they often survive with resigned compliance.”— Bessel Van Der Kolk, amazon.com
“Mindfulness has been shown to have a positive effect on numerous psychiatric, psychosomatic, and stress-related symptoms, including depression and chronic pain.”— Bessel Van Der Kolk, amazon.com
“Silence about trauma also leads to death—the death of the soul. Silence reinforces the godforsaken isolation of trauma. Being able to say aloud to another human being, “I was raped” or “I was battered by my husband” or “My parents called it discipline, but it was abuse” or “I’m not making it since I…”— Bessel Van Der Kolk, amazon.com
“The best way to overcome ingrained patterns of submission is to restore a physical capacity to engage and defend.”— Bessel Van Der Kolk, amazon.com
“When something reminds traumatized people of the past, their right brain reacts as if the traumatic event were happening in the present.”— Bessel Van Der Kolk, amazon.com
“Dissociation is the essence of trauma. The overwhelming experience is split off and fragmented, so that the emotions, sounds, images, thoughts, and physical sensations related to the trauma take on a life of their own.”— Bessel Van Der Kolk, amazon.com
“It is enormously difficult to organize one’s traumatic experiences into a coherent account—a narrative with a beginning, a middle, and an end.”— Bessel Van Der Kolk, amazon.com