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Elizabeth R. asked this question about The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma:
How would one approach this book today given van der Kolk's history of being toxic and abusive in the workplace? How do we parse these "experts" who are revealed to have such a dichotomy between their public and private selves? (search "van der Kolk abuse" if you don't like this question) Sometimes there aren't other resources easily available.
Ava Kahn While in graduate school, I asked this same question to my trauma professor, after she assigned us this book (and everything came to light LITERALLY d…moreWhile in graduate school, I asked this same question to my trauma professor, after she assigned us this book (and everything came to light LITERALLY during my time in graduate school); the simple answer is that he may be a terrible human, but he happens to be a brilliant psychiatrist (albeit misogynistic narcissist).

I went to a workshop with him in the Bahamas at a yoga retreat center, and the first thing he said was "everything I know about trauma, I learned from my childhood." To me, this explains his narcissism and misogyny (does not excuse it), and perhaps is what makes him so brilliant on the topic.

It's unfortunate that he happens to be who he is as a human, however, I would not discount the work, because it is legitimate.(less)
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The Body Keeps the Score
by Bessel van der Kolk
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