Your reality narrows after trauma — here’s how to expand it | Bessel van der Kolk

Bessel van der Kolk MD

Yes, I’m aware I keep sharing Bessel’s videos. But I find his clear explanations so eye-opening, and I’ve always felt heard and understood by him in relation to trauma.

Psychiatrist Bessel van der Kolk, author of The Body Keeps the Score, explains how trauma isn’t just remembered, it is physically lived and relived through the body and brain.

He describes how traditional talk therapy often fails to reach the survival centres of the brain where trauma resides. Instead, healing comes through visceral experiences that help rewire perception, build a sense of safety, and reconnect the self. Through movement, touch, psychodrama, and even psychedelics, the brain can learn to see the present as safe again.