In his book, Van der Kolk identifies several evidence-based trauma-focused treatment methods. The author’s approach suggests that trauma treatment focuses on resolving traumatic stress through managing the balance between rational and emotional parts of the brain. While traumas could be caused by different experiences, such as neglect, the brain’s common response to trauma is the disturbance of the emotional brain’s alarm system that operates mainly to protect an individual from danger. Limbic system therapy allows restoration of the emotional part of the brain and its alarm system.
Culturally empathic conceptualizations and interventions could be employed in trauma treatment therapies. Van Der Kolk suggests that by training the arousal system through simple interventions such as breathing and movement techniques, religious and cultural practices allow restoration of the emotional brain of the population that experiences trauma. As example, the author used aikido, judo, yoga, tae kwon do, jiujitsu, and capoeira (Van Der Kolk, 2014, p. 208).
According to Van Der Kolk (2014), the human body presents a significant part of intervention methods for trauma therapy and allows opportunities for trauma prevention care to a diverse population. As common strategies for interventions, the author recommends bodywork, such as therapeutic massages and sensorimotor psychotherapy, as well as somatic experiencing. The text states that not only the development of skills of breathing and movements but also the exploration of physical sensations and body activities allow the training of the arousal system (Van Der Kolk, 2014).
Therefore, emotional-regulation techniques should be widely employed in the work of mental health professionals in areas where traumas and neglect are more common, such as education, families, and the army. Van Der Kolk provides sufficient insight on the trauma therapy theme by explaining the work of the human response system and illustrating how culturally-informed conceptualizations and interventions could be used for treatment purposes. The information provided in the text could be used in the process of choosing the strategy for trauma prevention care for diverse populations.
Reference
Van der Kolk, B. A. (2014). The body keeps the score: Brain, mind, and body in the healing of trauma. Viking.