Recently finished this book. Well worth it in my POV. Author:  Bessel van der Kolk. It talks about trauma, mostly developmental, emotional, abuse, war, and childhood traumas rather than specific shock traumas (like car accidents). Covers the neuroscience and brain quite a bit, but not overly (mostly as adjuncts to case studies and therapeutic modalities). He also cover attachment. I found the start to be a bit slow.  But towards the end he goes into some depth in regards to several therapeutic approaches that seem to have tremendous positive results with trauma (even childhood trauma which he states is far more difficult to treat than traumas that occur later in life since one doesn't have an underlying basis of safety and security to draw upon). With all of these methods, he provides some stunning research he himself has done, along with research done by others. Yoga IFS (internal family systems) The idea here is that each person has an entire internal family or community of selves within, and that they can have conflicts among each other. Working with your imagination, you can speak to, lead, heal, and communicate with these separate selves and even help various selves interact with each other in more positive ways. Just before learning about this, I had seen in myself the same thing and come to basically the same idea independently.  When I read this, it felt like it was using the exact same language I used to describe what I was experiencing. Psychomotor Al Pesso's work This one really intrigued me.  The essence of it is to take the relationships you have inside of yourself and transpose them into external reality via objects or other people.  Then you can see them more clearly and play around with them.  Even swapping your parents who may have abused or neglected you, with your ideal parent. Ex:  You pick someone to play your father.  You then position them at the distance and location from you that feels most appropriate.  You can do this for everyone in your life.  Then, you can interact with him, ask him things, tell him things.  You can even swap him for the ideal father you wanted and interact with that person. In the book, he claims that this can heal and alter very early and fundamental feelings of insecurity by replacing those older memories (and the feelings associate with them) with newer and more helpful feelings. Theater Neurofeedback EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) Seems to be able to integrate and heal many traumatic memories without the need for A) much talking B) feeling safe with your therapist.  There were some other benefits as well which I forget.   He also discusses the psychiatric side of things.  He started of in psychiatry, but throughout the book he seems to lean towards favoring other approaches besides psychiatry and medications (at least for most people.  He does suggest that some people do benefit from medications).  I think his main critic of Western psychiatry is how we over-prescribe, and how often medications don't solve the core issues and often have negative side effects. Points Trauma disconnects Trauma and mental illness, at their core, are about feeling unsafe and disconnected from others and oneself.   Trauma is fight-flight and freeze responses that don't shut off Trauma is not the event, but how one responds to events.  Though fight-flight and freeze responses can be healthy and crucial survival responses, in trauma they become chronic and don't shut off.  This leads to overflooding of stress hormones, which then can lead to all sorts of mental, attentional, developmental, and physical ailments and problems. Feeling safe is king The first step in healing trauma and changing one's nervous system is safety.  You can't help someone, even yourself, if you don't first feel safe.  Once you feel safe, then you'll be open and able to help yourself and others. Bottom-up & top-down approaches Top-down approaches are when people use their will, mind, and conscious energies of mind to change, analyze, and observe their emotions, thoughts, and behaviors.  Mindfulness and CBT are examples of this. Though, when people are too overwhelmed, top-down approaches can be difficult.  This is where bottom-up approaches can help.  This means, instead of using your mind to change your physiology, you use your physiology and biology to change your mind.  Breathwork, yoga, cold showers and movement are examples of these. Dissociation Depression, being "space out" or "out of it", not feeling your body, all of these are dissociative experiences.   Contrary to how someone might seem on the outside (shut down, lethargic, depressed, too calm and unexcited), their inner world and physiology is actually pumping stress hormones.   This is when the freeze response becomes chronic.  All mammals (maybe even animals) have this response.  If an animal feels it cannot escape its prey or danger, it will freeze.  Evolutionarily, the prey may come to see this limp animal as sick and disease, thus leave it alone.  But, even though it's limp and motionless, internally it's heartbeat is heightened and stress hormones are coursing through its veins.     My main takeaways A renewed sense of excitement and curiosity to explore different techniques and modalities.  I think the thing that really impressed and excited my the most was how many different approaches he covered, and included studies, evidence, stories to back them up.  I really felt excited and empowered since I have been dealing with a lot of severe mental health issues over the years, and this really opened my world and hopes to try more and see what happens. One size doesn't fit all & use a handful of approaches.  Even though this book gave a lot of information, he still mentioned that humans and trauma is complex and one thing may not work for everyone.  I also like the idea of being able to draw upon many modalities to heal traumas and deal with daily hiccups and life.     I'd definitely recommend this book to anyone dealing with mental issues and trauma.  It's a great way to introduce yourself to many areas of thought on mental health, as well as an introduction to several types of therapies and solutions. It comes from someone who started out in the traditional and culturally accepted systems within psychiatry and mental health, but seems to now be moving towards alternatives.  If you want something that falls somewhere between mainstream psychology and alternative psychology, this is probably it.  Though, he does seem to poo-poo the mainstream more or less, he still is a scientist and comes from that background, so he's not "wayyyyy out there". Practical Insightful  Theoretical Maybe leans towards the neuroscience, physiological, and biological side a bit.  But not overly. Good introduction or book to read if you want many sources and avenues to explore. 8.5/10