New Reads

So as it turns out, my sister is not yet finished with Educated by Tara Westover, which means I cannot start it until she's done. Unfortunate, but the book I have started is called The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma by Bessel Van Der Kolk, M.D. It also has a pretty cover, so I will attach it down below.

It's not something I would typically read, but due to quarantine times, the only options I have right now are what's lying around my house. (Bear in mind, my family is a medical family – my dad is a doctor, my mom is a nurse, and my brother and sister both studied some variation of health science in college. So, you know who the black sheep is here.) One of my sister's friends gifted it to her.

Though I'm only a few chapters in, the book is pretty compelling. Van Der Kolk introduces the topic of trauma by talking about the lessons he's learned from interactions and studies with Vietnam veterans. For me, when I think of trauma, PTSD is the first thing I think of. On one hand, it's really sad revealing the lives of some of these vets who have such intense flashbacks that they can't be around their family members in some cases. On the other hand, it's interesting to read about how in some support groups for these vets, these experiences – though traumatic – are what bring them together.

Expanding outward, the book doesn't solely focus on war veterans, though it starts there. Van Der Kolk explains that trauma can come in many different forms, and it doesn't necessarily have to be as extreme as fighting in a war to be considered harmful. He noted cases of childhood trauma or generational patterns as other things which affect each of us.

I'm really interested in diving deeper into this book. I'm sure personally I have some things my body holds onto that I haven't consciously thought on in a while. My mom is also really big into this kind of study, so I'm curious to learn more. For example, whenever I start to get sick my mom says it's because I'm stressed. Though this is true, it makes me wonder what else is at work when this happens, like why does my body shut down whenever I get too stressed? I'm sure there are other methods that can help coping. Not that I'll become a body-trauma expert by the time I finish this, but I think I'll definitely be more aware of what's going on in my body.

It also makes me wonder how something like our current COVID situation affects us. I've seen several articles online that say how most of our behavior right now is perhaps due to some sort of grief.