Bessel van der Kolk: Fluid, Alive, and Optimistic

Bessel van der Kolk is a clinician, teacher, author, and one of the most esteemed researchers on post-traumatic stress in the world. A veteran professor at universities and hospitals across the United States, Bessel is the New York Times bestselling author of The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body and the Treatment of Trauma. In this episode of Insights at the Edge, Tami Simon and Bessel speak on his many decades researching trauma. They talk about recent developments in the treatment of trauma—specifically the effectiveness of such methods as EMDR, psycho-dramatics, yoga, and introception. Lastly, they discuss the healing of trauma at a societal level and why—despite the suffering he has encountered over the years—Bessel is essentially optimistic about humanity's ability to heal. (61 minutes)