Chapters 17 & 18

 In Chapter 17, Van Der Kolk talks about dissociative identity disorder. I don't believe that I have dealt with that in my current profession. The example of Mary stood out because that would be the stereotypical definition of DID. When Van Der Kolk talked about Peter and Joan having DID, it was shocking to me. The clients did not present as having different personalities but there was obvious dissociative features. It was at times confusing reading about the manager, firefighter and understanding what they meant. But after reading it again, the terms make sense. 

 I found that when Van Der Kolk talked about internal family systems therapy (IFS), the way that he described it made sense. That brings me to the question of do we attempt that approach with our trauma clients at the forefront?

 Van Der Kolk talked about ODD as a diagnosis for children. I have become to loathe that diagnosis because often times my children on my caseload are diagnosed as that even though there is a clear history of trauma. It is frustrating. Then I get into this power struggle with other professionals because at this point, I'm not qualified to give mental health diagnoses. The term mindfulness keeps coming up as well. I've been trying to practice this a lot this last week. I have a lot of things going on professionally and personally and I'm trying to live in the moment. It really is hard to do when there is so much going on. 

In Chapter 18, Van Der Kolk talks about the power of role playing or creating structures. It is mind blowing to me that something as simple as group interactions and role playing has such power to unlock and change the human brain. As I was reading, I could feel the emotions letting go of the people who were the main character. So would this be a part of the client telling their story or their trauma narrative but in role play mode? I felt sad reading about Mark catching his dad. What a huge period of time wasted for that man. 

For the examples Van Der Kolk gave with the above clients, the adults all talked about how their parents did the best that they could given their own circumstances. Is that really enough for a trauma survivor? For instance, Peter. His parents were Holocaust survivors. But that doesn't give the parents the right to treat other people poorly; specifically, your parents. 

Again, my love hate relationship with Van Der Kolk comes out. He has had so much experience and just seems to be an expert in all things. I know that it took him years. I get overwhelmed at the amount of content in this class and my other class. I want to know everything, but can only process so much.