Over the past several years, many therapists have found that working with clients to identify where and how they hold trauma in their body and helping them to release it can be far more effective than traditional talk therapy alone. They've learned that somatic approaches can help trauma survivors to befriend their body, which they so often have come to see as the enemy. In this three-part series, researchers and clinicians share their perspectives...

"When a child has a poor attachment to their parent, it leads to all kinds of problems, because they have not learned how to regulate their emotions, they have not learned self-control, they have not learned self-reliance in a positive way. So all these problems come out in every other relationship in their life."́ Alexandra Cook, PhD. A secure attachment system forms the foundation for a child's development. The often devastating impact of attachment...

"While the therapeutic relationship is very important, and an important substrate to the patient doing his or her work, in some ways we may have to be more like plumbers than like priests. And the task of the plumber is to unplug the toilet, not to have a warm relationship with the person whose toilet is plugged. And so maybe the task of the therapist is to provide the patient the skills that allow them to manage their lives." Bessel van der Kolk....

"The literature says that 30% to 40% of the patients who engage in eating disorder behaviors are, in fact, survivors of sexual trauma, and I believe another whole cohort of those folks have experienced other kinds of trauma. If you think about it, being 90 pounds or being 300 pounds is a very visible, tangible way to say, 'I'm in pain.'" Lisa Ferentz. Until recently, the focus of eating disorder treatment has been on getting the sometimes life-threatening...

"We saw that things like intractable smoking, things like promiscuity, use of street drugs, heavy alcohol consumption, etc. , these were fairly common in the backgrounds of many of the patients. . . These were merely techniques they were using, these were merely coping mechanisms that had gone into place." Vincent Felitti, MD. When Dr. Vincent Felitti, head of the Department of Preventive Medicine at Kaiser Permanente in San Diego, began to delve...

Tim is a man who is still haunted by traumatic memories of his past, many linked to the death of his father. Desperate to resolve his nightmarish issues, Tim returns to his old hometown so he can pay a visit to the house where he grew up. But while Tim wants to convince himself the ghostly memories he carries are just a figment of his imagination, circumstances lead him to believe that there may be a kernel of truth to them.

"People have a range of capacities to deal with overwhelming experience. Some people, some kids particularly, are able to disappear into a fantasy world, to dissociate, to pretend like it isn't happening, and are able to go on with their lives. And sometimes it comes back to haunt them." Bessel van der Kolk. In this program, Bessel van der Kolk and others examine how dissociation functions as a defense against overwhelming stress, how the mind processes...