# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Whilst the pandemic has, and continues to, take its toll on our mental health, the ability to reconnect through World Mental Health Day 2022 will provide us with an opportunity to re-kindle our efforts to protect and improve mental health.

Many aspects of mental health have been challenged; and already before the pandemic in 2019 an estimated one in eight people globally were living with a mental disorder. At the same time, the services, skills and funding available for mental health remain in short supply, and fall far below what is needed, especially in low and middle income countries.

The COVID-19 pandemic has created a global crisis for mental health, fueling short- and long-term stresses and undermining the mental health of millions. Estimates put the rise in both anxiety and depressive disorders at more than 25% during the first year of the pandemic. At the same time, mental health services have been severely disrupted and the treatment gap for mental health conditions has widened.

Growing social and economic inequalities, protracted conflicts, violence and public health emergencies affect whole populations, threatening progress towards improved well-being; a staggering 84 million people worldwide were forcibly displaced during 2021. We must deepen the value and commitment we give to mental health as individuals, communities and governments and match that value with more commitment, engagement and investment by all stakeholders, across all sectors. We must strengthen mental health care so that the full spectrum of mental health needs is met through a community-based network of accessible, affordable and quality services and supports.

Stigma and discrimination continue to be a barrier to social inclusion and access to the right care; importantly, we can all play our part in increasing awareness about which preventive mental health interventions work and World Mental Health Day is an opportunity to do that collectively. We envision a world in which mental health is valued, promoted and protected; where everyone has an equal opportunity to enjoy mental health and to exercise their human rights; and where everyone can access the mental health care they need.

WHO will work with partners to launch a campaign around the theme of Making Mental Health & Well-Being for All a Global Priority. This will be an opportunity for people with mental health conditions, advocates, governments, employers, employees and other stakeholders to come together to recognize progress in this field and to be vocal about what we need to do to ensure Mental Health & Well-Being becomes a Global Priority for all.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Whilst the pandemic has, and continues to, take its toll on our mental health, the ability to reconnect through World Mental Health Day 2022 will provide us with an opportunity to re-kindle our efforts to protect and improve mental health.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The Trinity Counseling and Wellness Center provides a full range of counseling and psychological services to all students who desire assistance in coping with personal and emotional difficulties and social relationships. All services offered by the center are free, and all contact with members of the staff is privileged and confidential as provided by law. The center is located at 135 Allen Place, accessible from the Campus Safety parking lot in the gray and white building near the handicapped ramp at the back of the lot.

Students may call the Center at (860) 297-2415 between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. and our office manager, will help to set up an appointment as soon as possible. You can meet our staff members on our staff page.

Usually an appointment can be set up relatively promptly within a few days to a week, although in busy periods, or if a student wishes an appointment with a specific person or at a specific time of day, it may be longer before a time can be scheduled. If it is an urgent situation, we will schedule you as soon as possible. Appointments may routinely be made as early as 9:00 a.m. or as late as 4:00 p.m., Monday through Friday. In an emergency, students will be seen as quickly as necessary. You can also e-mail Dr. Randolph Lee, director of the center, assistant director,​ with any questions.​​​​

Counseling and Wellness Center Statement of Anti-Racism

The Counseling and Wellness Center condemns acts of racial violence, anti-Blackness and institutional racism at Trinity College, in the United States, and in the world at large. We acknowledge the racist history of the United States. We recognize that psychology itself has been used to justify racism and bigotry. We stand with our Black students, colleagues and community members. We strive to provide inclusive and culturally competent mental health services. We have a lot to learn. We commit to mandatory training for our staff on cultural competency, racism and promoting racial justice in mental health.

Statement in support of survivors of sexual and interpersonal violence at Trinity College

The Counseling and Wellness Center affirms our commitment to believing and supporting survivors of sexual and interpersonal violence at Trinity, across identity and experience. Your story matters and we will support you and your healing. We denounce those who invalidate survivors who choose not to disclose their experiences. You have a right to decide if and when to share your story. If you choose to disclose, we will help you navigate that process. We will support your decision and offer ideas to increase safety and empowerment in your life. We believe that you should have access to all the information to make an informed choice about disclosure. We pledge to create a safe space for you to make your own decisions.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Counseling and Wellness Center - Counseling and Wellness Center

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Trinity Counseling and Wellness Center provides a full range of counseling and psychological services to all students who desire assistance in coping with personal and emotional difficulties and social relationships. All services offered by the center are free, and all contact with members of the staff is privileged and confidential as provided by law.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Product Details

ISBN-13:

9780143127741

Publisher:

Penguin Publishing Group

Publication date:

09/08/2015

Pages:

464

Sales rank:

144

Product dimensions:

5.40(w) x 8.40(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Bessel van der Kolk, M.D., is the founder and medical director of the Trauma Center in Brookline, Massachusetts. He is also a professor of psychiatry at Boston University School of Medicine and director of the National Complex Trauma Treatment Network. When he is not teaching around the world, Dr. van der Kolk works and lives Boston.

Read an Excerpt

PROLOGUE

FACING TRAUMA

One does not have be a combat soldier, or visit a refugee camp in Syria or the Congo to encounter trauma. Trauma happens to us, our friends, our families, and our neighbors. Research by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has shown that one in five Americans was sexually molested as a child; one in four was beaten by a parent to the point of a mark being left on their body; and one in three couples engages in physical violence. A quarter of us grew up with alcoholic relatives, and one out of eight witnessed their mother being beaten or hit.1

As human beings we belong to an extremely resilient species. Since time immemorial we have rebounded from our relentless wars, countless disasters (both natural and man-made), and the violence and betrayal in our own lives. But traumatic experiences do leave traces, whether on a large scale (on our histories and cultures) or close to home, on our families, with dark secrets being imperceptibly passed down through generations. They also leave traces on our minds and emotions, on our capacity for joy and intimacy, and even on our biology and immune systems.

Trauma affects not only those who are directly exposed to it, but also those around them. Soldiers returning home from combat may frighten their families with their rages and emotional absence. The wives of men who suffer from PTSD tend to become depressed, and the children of depressed mothers are at risk of growing up insecure and anxious. Having been exposed to family violence as a child often makes it difficult to establish stable, trusting relationships as an adult.

Trauma, by definition, is unbearable and intolerable. Most rape victims, combat soldiers, and children who have been molested become so upset when they think about what they experienced that they try to push it out of their minds, trying to act as if nothing happened, and move on. It takes tremendous energy to keep functioning while carrying the memory of terror, and the shame of utter weakness and vulnerability.

While we all want to move beyond trauma, the part of our brain that is devoted to ensuring our survival (deep below our rational brain) is not very good at denial. Long after a traumatic experience is over, it may be reactivated at the slightest hint of danger and mobilize disturbed brain circuits and secrete massive amounts of stress hormones. This precipitates unpleasant emotions intense physical sensations, and impulsive and aggressive actions. These posttraumatic reactions feel incomprehensible and overwhelming. Feeling out of control, survivors of trauma often begin to fear that they are damaged to the core and beyond redemption.

* * *

The first time I remember being drawn to study medicine was at a summer camp when I was about fourteen years old. My cousin Michael kept me up all night explaining the intricacies of how kidneys work, how they secrete the body's waste materials and then reabsorb the chemicals that keep the system in balance. I was riveted by his account of the miraculous way the body functions. Later, during every stage of my medical training, whether I was studying surgery, cardiology, or pediatrics, it was obvious to me that the key to healing was understanding how the human organism works. When I began my psychiatry rotation, however, I was struck by the contrast between the incredible complexity of the mind and the ways that we human beings are connected and attached to one another, and how little psychiatrists knew about the origins of the problems they were treating. Would it be possible one day to know as much about brains, minds, and love as we do about the other systems that make up our organism?

We are obviously still years from attaining that sort of detailed understanding, but the birth of three new branches of science has led to an explosion of knowledge about the effects of psychological trauma, abuse, and neglect. Those new disciplines are neuroscience, the study of how the brain supports mental processes; developmental psychopathology, the study of the impact of adverse experiences on the development of mind and brain; and interpersonal neurobiology, the study of how our behavior influences the emotions, biology, and mind-sets of those around us.

Research from these new disciplines has revealed that trauma produces actual physiological changes, including a recalibration of the brain's alarm system, an increase in stress hormone activity, and alterations in the system that filters relevant information from irrelevant. We now know that trauma compromises the brain area that communicates the physical, embodied feeling of being alive. These changes explain why traumatized individuals become hypervigilant to threat at the expense of spontaneously engaging in their day-to-day lives. They also help us understand why traumatized people so often keep repeating the same problems and have such trouble learning from experience. We now know that their behaviors are not the result of moral failings or signs of lack of willpower or bad character-they are caused by actual changes in the brain.

This vast increase in our knowledge about the basic processes that underlie trauma has also opened up new possibilities to palliate or even reverse the damage. We can now develop methods and experiences that utilize the brain's own natural neuroplasticity to help survivors feel fully alive in the present and move on with their lives. There are fundamentally three avenues: 1) top down, by talking, (re-) connecting with others, and allowing ourselves to know and understand what is going on with us, while processing the memories of the trauma; 2) by taking medicines that shut down inappropriate alarm reactions, or by utilizing other technologies that change the way the brain organizes information, and 3) bottom up: by allowing the body to have experiences that deeply and viscerally contradict the helplessness, rage, or collapse that result from trauma. Which one of these is best for any particular survivor is an empirical question. Most people I have worked with require a combination.

This has been my life's work. In this effort I have been supported by my colleagues and students at the Trauma Center, which I founded thirty years ago. Together we have treated thousands of traumatized children and adults: victims of child abuse, natural disasters, wars, accidents, and human trafficking; people who have suffered assaults by intimates and strangers. We have a long tradition of discussing all our patients in great depth at weekly treatment team meetings and carefully tracking how well different forms of treatment work for particular individuals.

Our principal mission has always been to take care of the children and adults who have come to us for treatment, but from the very beginning we also have dedicated ourselves to conducting research to explore the effects of traumatic stress on different populations and to determine what treatments work for whom. We have been supported by research grants from the National Institute of Mental Health, the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, the Centers for Disease Control, and a number of private foundations to study the efficacy of many different forms of treatment, from medications to talking, yoga, EMDR, theater, and neurofeedback.

The challenge is: How can people gain control over the residues of past trauma and return to being masters of their own ship? Talking, understanding, and human connections help, and drugs can dampen hyperactive alarm systems. But we will also see that the imprints from the past can be transformed by having physical experiences that directly contradict the helplessness, rage, and collapse that are part of trauma, and thereby regaining self-mastery. I have no preferred treatment modality, as no single approach fits everybody, but I practice all the forms of treatment that I discuss in this book. Each one of them can produce profound changes, depending on the nature of the particular problem and the makeup of the individual person.

I wrote this book to serve as both a guide and an invitation-an invitation to dedicate ourselves to facing the reality of trauma, to explore how best to treat it, and to commit ourselves, as a society, to using every means we have to prevent it.

PART ONE

THE REDISCOVERY OF TRAUMA

CHAPTER 1

LESSONS FROM VIETNAM VETERANS

I became what I am today at the age of twelve, on a frigid overcast day in the winter of 1975. . . . That was a long time ago, but it's wrong what they say about the past. . . . Looking back now, I realize I have been peeking into that deserted alley for the last twenty-six years.

-Khaled Hosseini, The Kite Runner

Some people's lives seem to flow in a narrative; mine had many stops and starts. That's what trauma does. It interrupts the plot. . . . It just happens, and then life goes on. No one prepares you for it.

-Jessica Stern, Denial: A Memoir of Terror

The Tuesday after the Fourth of July weekend, 1978, was my first day as a staff psychiatrist at the Boston Veterans Administration Clinic. As I was hanging a reproduction of my favorite Breughel painting, "The Blind Leading the Blind," on the wall of my new office, I heard a commotion in the reception area down the hall. A moment later a large, disheveled man in a stained three-piece suit, carrying a copy of Soldier of Fortune magazine under his arm, burst through my door. He was so agitated and so clearly hungover that I wondered how I could possibly help this hulking man. I asked him to take a seat, and tell me what I could do for him.

His name was Tom. Ten years earlier he had been in the Marines, doing his service in Vietnam. He had spent the holiday weekend holed up in his downtown-Boston law office, drinking and looking at old photographs, rather than with his family. He knew from previous years' experience that the noise, the fireworks, the heat, and the picnic in his sister's backyard against the backdrop of dense early-summer foliage, all of which reminded him of Vietnam, would drive him crazy. When he got upset he was afraid to be around his family because he behaved like a monster with his wife and two young boys. The noise of his kids made him so agitated that he would storm out of the house to keep himself from hurting them. Only drinking himself into oblivion or riding his Harley-Davidson at dangerously high speeds helped him to calm down.

Nighttime offered no relief-his sleep was constantly interrupted by nightmares about an ambush in a rice paddy back in 'Nam, in which all the members of his platoon were killed or wounded. He also had terrifying flashbacks in which he saw dead Vietnamese children. The nightmares were so horrible that he dreaded falling asleep and he often stayed up for most of the night, drinking. In the morning his wife would find him passed out on the living room couch, and she and the boys had to tiptoe around him while she made them breakfast before taking them to school.

Filling me in on his background, Tom said that he had graduated from high school in 1965, the valedictorian of his class. In line with his family tradition of military service he enlisted in the Marine Corps immediately after graduation. His father had served in World War II in General Patton's army, and Tom never questioned his father's expectations. Athletic, intelligent, and an obvious leader, Tom felt powerful and effective after finishing basic training, a member of a team that was prepared for just about anything. In Vietnam he quickly became a platoon leader, in charge of eight other Marines. Surviving slogging through the mud while being strafed by machine-gun fire can leave people feeling pretty good about themselves-and their comrades.

At the end of his tour of duty Tom was honorably discharged, and all he wanted was to put Vietnam behind him. Outwardly that's exactly what he did. He attended college on the GI Bill, graduated from law school, married his high school sweetheart, and had two sons. Tom was upset by how difficult it was to feel any real affection for his wife, even though her letters had kept him alive in the madness of the jungle. Tom went through the motions of living a normal life, hoping that by faking it he would learn to become his old self again. He now had a thriving law practice and a picture-perfect family, but he sensed he wasn't normal; he felt dead inside.

Although Tom was the first veteran I had ever encountered on a professional basis, many aspects of his story were familiar to me. I grew up in postwar Holland, playing in bombed-out buildings, the son of a man who had been such an outspoken opponent of the Nazis that he had been sent to an internment camp. My father never talked about his war experiences, but he was given to outbursts of explosive rage that stunned me as a little boy. How could the man I heard quietly going down the stairs every morning to pray and read the Bible while the rest of the family slept have such a terrifying temper? How could someone whose life was devoted to the pursuit of social justice be so filled with anger? I witnessed the same puzzling behavior in my uncle, who had been captured by the Japanese in the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) and sent as a slave laborer to Burma, where he worked on the famous bridge over the river Kwai. He also rarely mentioned the war, and he, too, often erupted into uncontrollable rages.

As I listened to Tom, I wondered if my uncle and my father had had nightmares and flashbacks-if they, too, had felt disconnected from their loved ones and unable to find any real pleasure in their lives. Somewhere in the back of my mind there must also have been my memories of my frightened-and often frightening-mother, whose own childhood trauma was sometimes alluded to and, I now believe, was frequently reenacted. She had the unnerving habit of fainting when I asked her what her life was like as a little girl and then blaming me for making her so upset.

Reassured by my obvious interest, Tom settled down to tell me just how scared and confused he was. He was afraid that he was becoming just like his father, who was always angry and rarely talked with his children-except to compare them unfavorably with his comrades who had lost their lives around Christmas 1944, during the Battle of the Bulge.

As the session was drawing to a close, I did what doctors typically do: I focused on the one part of Tom's story that I thought I understood-his nightmares. As a medical student I had worked in a sleep laboratory, observing people's sleep/dream cycles, and had assisted in writing some articles about nightmares. I had also participated in some early research on the beneficial effects of the psychoactive drugs that were just coming into use in the 1970s. So, while I lacked a true grasp of the scope of Tom's problems, the nightmares were something I could relate to, and as an enthusiastic believer in better living through chemistry, I prescribed a drug that we had found to be effective in reducing the incidence and severity of nightmares. I scheduled Tom for a follow-up visit two weeks later.

When he returned for his appointment, I eagerly asked Tom how the medicines had worked. He told me he hadn't taken any of the pills. Trying to conceal my irritation, I asked him why. "I realized that if I take the pills and the nightmares go away," he replied, "I will have abandoned my friends, and their deaths will have been in vain. I need to be a living memorial to my friends who died in Vietnam."

I was stunned: Tom's loyalty to the dead was keeping him from living his own life, just as his father's devotion to his friends had kept him from living. Both father's and son's experiences on the battlefield had rendered the rest of their lives irrelevant. How had that happened, and what could we do about it? That morning I realized I would probably spend the rest of my professional life trying to unravel the mysteries of trauma. How do horrific experiences cause people to become hopelessly stuck in the past? What happens in people's minds and brains that keeps them frozen, trapped in a place they desperately wish to escape? Why did this man's war not come to an end in February 1969, when his parents embraced him at Boston's Logan International Airport after his long flight back from Da Nang?

Tom's need to live out his life as a memorial to his comrades taught me that he was suffering from a condition much more complex than simply having bad memories or damaged brain chemistry-or altered fear circuits in the brain. Before the ambush in the rice paddy, Tom had been a devoted and loyal friend, someone who enjoyed life, with many interests and pleasures. In one terrifying moment, trauma had transformed everything.

(Continues...)

Excerpted from "The Body Keeps the Score"
by .
Copyright &copy 2015 Bessel van der Kolk.
Excerpted by permission of Penguin Publishing Group.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

What People are Saying About This

Praise for The Body Keeps the Score

"In this inspirational work which seamlessly weaves keen clinical observation, neuroscience, historical analysis, the arts, and personal narrative, Dr. van der Kolk has created an authoritative guide to the effects of trauma, and pathways to recovery. The book is full of wisdom, humanity, compassion and scientific insight, gleaned from a lifetime of clinical service, research and scholarship in the field of traumatic stress. A must read for mental health and other health care professionals, trauma survivors, their loved ones, and those who seek clinical, social, or political solutions to the cycle of trauma and violence in our society."
- Rachel Yehuda, Ph.D., professor of psychiatry and neuroscience, director of the Traumatic Stress Studies Division at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY

"This is an absolutely fascinating and clearly written book by one of the nation's most experienced physicians in the field of emotional trauma. The Body Keeps the Score helps us understand how life experiences play out in the function and the malfunction of our bodies, years later."
- Vincent J. Felitti, M.D., chief of preventative medicine, emeritus, Kaiser Permanente San Diego; co-principal investigator, ACE study

"Every once in a while, a book comes along that fundamentally changes the way we look at the world. Bessel van der Kolk has written such a book. The arc of Van der Kolk's story is vast and comprehensive, but he is such a skillful storyteller that he keeps us riveted to the page. I could not put this book down. It is, simply put, a great work."
- Stephen Cope, founder and director, Kripalu Institute for Extraordinary Living; author of Yoga and the Quest for the True Self

"Breathtaking in its scope and breadth, The Body Keeps the Score is a seminal work by one of the preeminent pioneers in trauma research and treatment. This essential book unites the evolving neuroscience of trauma research with an emergent wave of body-oriented therapies and traditional mind/body practices that go beyond symptom relief and connect us with our vital energy and here-and-now presence."
- Peter A. Levine, Ph.D., author of In An Unspoken Voice: How the Body Releases Trauma and Restores Goodness

"Dr. van der Kolk's masterpiece combines the boundless curiosity of the scientist, the erudition of the scholar, and the passion of the truth teller."
- Judith Herman, M.D., clinical professor of psychiatry, Harvard Medical School; author of Trauma and Recovery

" The Body Keeps the Score is clear, fascinating, hard to put down, and filled with powerful case histories. Van der Kolk, the eminent impresario of trauma treatment, who has spent a career bringing together diverse trauma scientists and clinicians and their ideas, while making his own pivotal contributions, describes what is arguably the most important series of breakthroughs in mental health in the last thirty years. We've known that psychological trauma fragments the mind. Here we see not only how psychological trauma also breaks connections within the brain, but also between mind and body, and learn about the exciting new approaches that allow people with the severest forms of trauma to put all the parts back together again."
-Norman Doidge, author of The Brain That Changes Itself

"This exceptional book will be a classic of modern psychiatric thought. The impact of overwhelming experience can only be truly understood when many disparate domains of knowledge, such as neuroscience, developmental psychopathology, and interpersonal neurobiology are integrated, as this work uniquely does. There is no other volume in the field of traumatic stress that has distilled these domains of science with such rich historical and clinical perspectives, and arrived at such innovative treatment approaches. The clarity of vision and breadth of wisdom of this unique but highly accessible work is remarkable. This book is essential reading for anyone interested in understanding and treating traumatic stress and the scope of its impact on society."
- Alexander McFarlane AO, MB BS (Hons) MD FRANZCP, director of the Centre for Traumatic Stress Studies, The University of Adelaide, South Australia

" The Body Keeps the Score articulates new and better therapies for toxic stress based on a deep understanding of the effects of trauma on brain development and attachment systems. This volume provides a moving summary of what is currently known about the effects of trauma on individuals and societies, and introduces the healing potential of both age-old and novel approaches to help traumatized children and adults fully engage in the present."
- Jessica Stern, policy consultant on terrorism; author of Denial: A Memoir of Terror

"As an attachment researcher I know that infants are psychobiological beings. They are as much the body as they are of the brain. Without language or symbols infants use every one of their biological systems to make meaning of their self in relation to the world of things and people. Van der Kolk shows that those very same systems continue to operate at every age, and that traumatic experiences, especially chronic toxic experience during early development, produce psychic devastation. With this understanding he provides insight and guidance for survivors, researchers, and clinicians alike. Bessel van der Kolk may focus on the body and trauma, but what a mind he must have to have written this book."
- Ed Tronick, distinguished professor, University of Massachusetts, Boston; author of Neurobehavior and Social Emotional Development of Infants and Young Children

"This book is a tour de force. Its deeply empathic, insightful, and compassionate perspective promises to further humanize the treatment of trauma victims, dramatically expand their repertoire of self-regulatory healing practices and therapeutic options, and also stimulate greater creative thinking and research on trauma and its effective treatment. The body does keep the score, and Van der Kolk's ability to demonstrate this through compelling descriptions of the work of others, his own pioneering trajectory and experience as the field evolved and him along with it, and above all, his discovery of ways to work skillfully with people by bringing mindfulness to the body (as well as to their thoughts and emotions) through yoga, movement, and theater are a wonderful and welcome breath of fresh air and possibility in the therapy world."
- Jon Kabat-Zinn, professor of medicine emeritus, UMass Medical School; author of Full Catastrophe Living

"In The Body Keeps the Score we share the author's courageous journey into the parallel dissociative worlds of trauma victims and the medical and psychological disciplines that are meant to provide relief. In this compelling book we learn that as our minds desperately try to leave trauma behind, our bodies keep us trapped in the past with wordless emotions and feelings. These inner disconnections cascade into ruptures in social relationships with disastrous effects on marriages, families, and friendships. Van der Kolk offers hope by describing treatments and strategies that have successfully helped his patients reconnect their thoughts with their bodies. We leave this shared journey understanding that only through fostering self-awareness and gaining an inner sense of safety will we, as a species, fully experience the richness of life."
- Stephen W. Porges, PhD, professor of psychiatry, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; author of The Polyvagal Theory: Neurophysiological Foundations of Emotions, Attachment, Communication, and Self-Regulation

"Bessel van der Kolk is unequaled in his ability to synthesize the stunning developments in the field of psychological trauma over the past few decades. Thanks in part to his work, psychological trauma-ranging from chronic child abuse and neglect, to war trauma and natural disasters-is now generally recognized as a major cause of individual, social, and cultural breakdown. In this masterfully lucid and engaging tour de force, Van der Kolk takes us-both specialists and the general public- on his personal journey and shows what he has learned from his research, from his colleagues and students, and, most important, from his patients. The Body Keeps the Score is, simply put, brilliant."
- Onno van der Hart, PhD, Utrecht University, The Netherlands; senior author, The Haunted Self: Structural Dissociation and the Treatment of Chronic Traumatization

"A fascinating exploration of a wide range of therapeutic treatments shows readers how to take charge of the healing process, gain a sense of safety, and find their way out of the morass of suffering."
- Francine Shapiro, PhD, originator of EMDR therapy; senior research fellow, Emeritus Mental Research Institute; author of Getting Past Your Past

"In this magnificent book, Bessel van der Kolk takes the reader on a captivating journey that is chock-full of riveting stories of patients and their struggles interpreted through history, research, and neuroscience made accessible in the words of a gifted storyteller. We are privy to the author's own courageous efforts to understand and treat trauma over the past forty years, the results of which have broken new ground and challenged the status quo of psychiatry and psychotherapy. The Body Keeps the Score leaves us with both a profound appreciation for and a felt sense of the debilitating effects of trauma, along with hope for the future through fascinating descriptions of novel approaches to treatment. This outstanding volume is absolutely essential reading not only for therapists but for all who seek to understand, prevent, or treat the immense suffering caused by trauma."
- Pat Ogden PhD, founder/educational director of the Sensorimotor Psychotherapy Institute; author of Sensorimotor Psychotherapy: Interventions for Trauma and Attachment

"A book about understanding the impact of trauma by one of the true pioneers in the field. It is a rare book that integrates cutting edge neuroscience with wisdom and understanding about the experience and meaning of trauma, for people who have suffered from it. Like its author, this book is wise and compassionate, occasionally quite provocative, and always interesting."
- Glenn N. Saxe, MD, Arnold Simon Professor and chairman, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry; director, NYU Child Study Center, New York University School of Medicine

" The Body Keeps the Score eloquently articulates how overwhelming experiences affect the development of brain, mind, and body awareness, all of which are closely intertwined. The resulting derailments have a profound impact on the capacity for love and work. This rich integration of clinical case examples with ground breaking scientific studies provides us with a new understanding of trauma, which inevitably leads to the exploration of novel therapeutic approaches that 'rewire' the brain, and help traumatized people to reengage in the present. This book will provide traumatized individuals with a guide to healing and permanently change how psychologists and psychiatrists think about trauma and recovery."
- Ruth A. Lanius, MD, PhD, Harris-Woodman chair in Psyche and Soma, professor of psychiatry, and director PTSD research at the University of Western Ontario; author of The Impact of Early Life Trauma on Health and Disease

"This is an amazing accomplishment from the neuroscientist most responsible for the contemporary revolution in mental health toward the recognition that so many mental problems are the product of trauma. With the compelling writing of a good novelist, van der Kolk revisits his fascinating journey of discovery that has challenged established wisdom in psychiatry. Interspersed with that narrative are clear and understandable descriptions of the neurobiology of trauma; explanations of the ineffectiveness of traditional approaches to treating trauma; and introductions to the approaches that take patients beneath their cognitive minds to heal the parts of them that remained frozen in the past. All this is illustrated vividly with dramatic case histories and substantiated with convincing research. This is a watershed book that will be remembered as tipping the scales within psychiatry and the culture at large toward the recognition of the toll traumatic events and our attempts to deny their impact take on us all."
- Richard Schwartz, originator, Internal Family Systems Therapy

"When it comes to understanding the impact of trauma and being able to continue to grow despite overwhelming life experiences, Bessel van der Kolk leads the way in his comprehensive knowledge, clinical courage, and creative strategies to help us heal. The Body Keeps the Score is a cutting-edge offering for the general reader to comprehend the complex effects of trauma, and a guide to a wide array of scientifically informed approaches to not only reduce suffering, but to move beyond mere survival- and to thrive."
- Daniel J. Siegel, MD, clinical professor, UCLA School of Medicine, author of Brainstorm: The Power and Purpose of the Teenage Brain; Mindsight: The New Science of Personal Transformation; and The Developing Mind: How Relationships and the Brain Interact to Shape Who We Are

"This is masterpiece of powerful understanding and brave heartedness, one f the most intelligent and helpful works on trauma I have ever read. Dr. Van der Kolk offer a brilliant synthesis of clinical cases, neuroscience, powerful tools and caring humanity, offering a whole new level of healing for the traumas carried by so many."
- Jack Kornfied, author of A Path With Heart

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma|Paperback

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
ISBN-13: 9780143127741 Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group Publication date: 09/08/2015 Pages: 464 Sales rank: 144 Product dimensions: 5.40(w) x 8.40(h) x 1.10(d) Bessel van der Kolk, M.D., is the founder and medical director of the Trauma Center in Brookline, Massachusetts. He is also a professor of psychiatry at Boston University School of Medicine and director of the National Complex Trauma Treatment Network.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Identifying signs and symptoms of mental or behavioral health challenges is an important part of the process of taking care of your overall health. Mental health screenings are a quick way to determine if you or someone you care about may need to reach out to a doctor or mental health professional for an evaluation. They are educational, not diagnostic.

The screenings and resources on this site are provided for informational purposes only, and should not be used to replace the specialized training and professional judgment of a health care or mental health care professional.

The screenings on this site are not appropriate for, and should not be completed by, persons under age 18. Persons under age 18 with symptoms of depression are advised to talk with their parents or guardians about seeing a physician or qualified mental health professional for a complete evaluation.
Healthy Lives Connecticut Online Screener
Mental health is a key part of your overall health. Brief screenings are the quickest way to determine if you or someone you care about should connect with a mental health professional - they are a checkup from your neck up. This program is completely anonymous and confidential, and immediately following the brief questionnaire you will see your results, recommendations, and key resources.
Adult Screeners Youth Screeners

Kutcher Adolescent Depression Scale(KADS) is used as a screening tool to identify young people at risk for depression or by trained health care providers (such as public health nurses, primary care physicians) or educators (such as guidance counselors) to help evaluate young people who are in distress or who have been identified as possibly having a mental health problem.

Child Trauma Screen (CTS) - The CTS is being used by behavioral health providers, pediatricians, school staff, child welfare workers, and juvenile justice staff to identify children who may be suffering from trauma exposure and need more comprehensive assessment or treatment.

CRAFFT Screening Test is a behavioral health screening tool for use with children under the age of 21 and is recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics' Committee on Substance Abuse for use with adolescents. It consists of a series of 6 questions developed to screen adolescents for high risk alcohol and other drug use disorders simultaneously. It is a short, effective screening tool meant to assess whether a longer conversation about the context of use, frequency, and other risks and consequences of alcohol and other drug use is warranted.

The Mood and Feelings Questionnaire (MFQ) is an inventory tool that measures depressive symptoms in children and young adults. The questionnaire consists of a variety of statements describing feelings or behaviors that may manifest as depressive symptoms in children. Click here for short version.

Brief Screener for Alcohol, Tobacco, and other Drugs helps identify risky substance use by adolescent patients.

Screening to Brief Intervention (S2BI) tool is a brief three-question tool that serves as a screening device to inform brief interventions or referral to treatment for teens and their families.

Child Development

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Identifying signs and symptoms of mental or behavioral health challenges is an important part of the process of taking care of your overall health. Mental health screenings are a quick way to determine if you or someone you care about may need to reach out to a doctor or mental health professional for an evaluation.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Anxiety and What I Would Tell #MyYoungerSelf | Bill Hader

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.keywords[]
psychology psych2go "psych facts" "psychology facts" "psychology lessons" blog

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Do you feel alone with your thoughts and you just don't know where to go to sometimes? At Psych2Go, we aim to provide a community where you can learn about yourself and others through cute animation videos. Do not use our videos to self diagnose, but rather use it as a starting point for seeking professional help.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
iPhone Screenshots

How does it work?

Moodrise delivers a bright constellation of curated images, video, and audio to positively (and specifically) impact brain chemistry, and progressively elevate your mood. We pair proven science with the power of storytelling to help you feel better.

We call this: Digital Nutrition.

Think of it as a vital supplement to your existing digital diet. Everything you see or hear on Moodrise is positive and purposeful, and uniquely designed to boost your sense of well-being.

Why now?

Because we're living in the midst of a global mental health crisis, with more than 300M people actively suffering from clinical depression, and hundreds of millions more impacted by mild to moderate symptoms of anxiety.

Rather than ditch our phones entirely, we're developing a suite of products to intelligently leverage technology to support (and nourish) individual emotional needs, improve mental health, strengthen resilience and elevate well-being. That's our mission.

Is Moodrise for me?

It is. We all want to live our best lives, and we really do deserve to feel good. But our team realize that the "wellness journey" can often be tough, tedious, and time-consuming. In many cases, it can be expensive. But we won't ever charge an arm or a leg. And we aren't making painful changes to your lifestyle. Our narrow goal is to reduce distress and suffering, put a smile on your face, and progressively improve your experience here on planet Earth.

Is it REALLY that easy?
Yes. Remember: not everything that feels good has to be bad for you. And not everything that's truly good for you works instantaneously. Sometimes, the very best things take a little bit of time to deliver their full benefits. That's Moodrise.

Don't believe us? Give it a shot. Try Moodrise for yourself.

Version 2.1.3

New. Today. And designed just for you: new mood-tracking features, feelings, and factors. And all new audio/visual assets. Out now. Download the latest version of the app to see an experience it.

Voila, a simple mental health app

Simple. Beautiful. Rewarding. You choose the mental state you want to be more in and voila, you can start a therapy. Each therapy is a very short collection of videos that's visually amazing. This app doesn't lead with or force you to go through all the science behind what they're doing unless you want to. I've had it with me on my commutes.

Great app

Has become a part of my daily regiment, simple to use and interesting to read and learn the science behind the images and sounds.

I love this

I normally don't leave reviews. But this app does it for me. I hope they keep releasing medicines because I love it. Simple, beautiful concept.

The developer, AeBeZe Labs, Inc., has not provided details about its privacy practices and handling of data to Apple. For more information, see the developer's privacy policy.

No Details Provided

The developer will be required to provide privacy details when they submit their next app update.

Information

Compatibility

iPhone

Requires iOS 12.0 or later.

iPod touch

Requires iOS 12.0 or later.

Mac

Requires macOS 11 or later and a Mac with Apple M1 chip.

Age Rating

12+ Infrequent/Mild Medical/Treatment Information

Family Sharing

With Family Sharing set up, up to six family members can use this app.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
‎How does it work? Moodrise delivers a bright constellation of curated images, video, and audio to positively (and specifically) impact brain chemistry, and progressively elevate your mood. We pair proven science with the power of storytelling to help you feel better. We call this: Digital Nutritio...

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.provider_name
CT.gov - Connecticut's Official State Website

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Warm Lines are telephone services staffed by people with psychiatric disabilities who offer phone support to their peers. These lines are not crisis lines and the hours of operation vary at each facility. Online support groups can be helpful when unable to attend meetings in person.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Editorial Reviews

...an irresistibly candid and addicting memoir about psychotherapeutic practice as experienced by both the clinician and the patient...In showing us how patients reveal just a part of their selves, [Gottlieb] gives us a dizzily satisfying collage of narratives, a kind of ensemble soap opera set in the already soap operatic world of Los Angeles...Gottlieb can be judgmental and obsessive, but she's authentic, even raw, about herself and her patients....

The New York Times Book Review - Alex Kuczynski

04/08/2019

Gottlieb ( Marry Him) provides a sparkling and sometimes moving account of her work as a psychotherapist, with the twist that she is in therapy herself. Interspersing chapters about her experiences as a patient with others about her work, she explains, "We are mirrors reflecting mirrors reflecting mirrors, showing one another what we can't yet see." By exploring her own struggles alongside those of her patients, Gottlieb simultaneously illuminates what it's like to be in and to give therapy. As she observes, "Everything we therapists do or say or feel as we sit with our patients is mediated by our histories; everything I've experienced will influence how I am in any given session at any given hour." From "John," a successful TV producer who has walled himself away from other people, to "Julie," who has a terminal illness and is struggling to find her way through her life's closing chapters, Gottlieb portrays her patients, as well as herself as a patient, with compassion, humor, and grace. For someone considering but hesitant to enter therapy, Gottlieb's thoughtful and compassionate work will calm anxieties about the process; for experienced therapists, it will provide an abundance of insights into their own work. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

"Some people are great writers, and other people are great therapists. Lori Gottlieb is, astoundingly, both. Maybe You Should Talk to Someone is about the wonder of being human: how none of us is immune from struggle, and how we can grow into ourselves and escape our emotional prisons. Rarely have I read a book that challenged me to see myself in an entirely new light, and was at the same time laugh-out-loud funny and utterly absorbing." -Katie Couric "If you have even an ounce of interest in the therapeutic process, or in the conundrum of being human, you must read this book. It is wise, warm, smart and funny, and Lori Gottlieb is exceedingly good company." - Susan Cain, New York Times best-selling author of Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can't Stop Talking "Shrinks, they're just like us-at least in Maybe You Should Talk to Someone, the heartfelt memoir by therapist Lori Gottlieb. Warm, funny, and engaging (no poker-faced clinician here), Gottlieb not only gives us an unvarnished look at her patients' lives, but also her own. The result is the most relatable portrait of a therapist I've yet encountered." -Susannah Cahalan, New York Times best-selling author of Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness "This is a daring, delightful, and transformative book. Lori Gottlieb takes us inside the most intimate of encounters as both clinician and patient and leaves us with a surprisingly fresh understanding of ourselves, one another, and the human condition. Her willingness to expose her own blind spots along with her patients' shows us firsthand that we aren't alone in our struggles and that maybe we should talk more about them! Maybe You Should Talk to Someone is funny, hopeful, wise, and engrossing-all at the same time." - Arianna Huffington, Founder, Huffington Post and founder & CEO, Thrive Global " Maybe You Should Talk to Someone is ingenious, inspiring, tender, and funny. Lori Gottlieb bravely takes her readers on a guided tour into the self, showing us the therapeutic process from both sides of the couch-as both therapist and patient. I cheered for her breakthroughs, as if they were my own! This is the best book I've ever read about the life-changing possibilities of talk therapy." - Amy Dickinson, "Ask Amy" advice columnist and New York Times best-selling author of Strangers Tend to Tell Me Things "I was sucked right in to these vivid, funny, illuminating stories of humans trying to climb their way out of hiding, overcome self-defeating habits, and wake up to their own strength. Lori Gottlieb has captured something profound about the struggle, and the miracle, of human connection." -Sarah Hepola, New York Times best-selling author of Blackout: Remembering the Things I Drank to Forget "With wisdom and humanity, Lori Gottlieb invites us into her consulting room, and her therapist's. There, readers will share in one of the best-kept secrets of being a clinician: when we bear witness to change, we also change, and when we are present as others find meaning in their lives, we also discover more in our own." -Lisa Damour, New York Times best-selling author of Untangled: Guiding Teenage Girls Through the Seven Transitions into Adulthood "I've been reading books about psychotherapy for over a half century, but never have I encountered a book like Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: so bold and brassy, so packed with good stories, so honest, deep and riveting. I intended to read a chapter or two but ended up reading and relishing every word." - Irvin Yalom MD, author of Love's Executioner, and other Tales of Psychotherapy, and professor emeritus of psychiatry at Stanford University. "Here are some people who might benefit from Lori Gottlieb's illuminating new book: Therapists, people who have been in therapy, people who have been in relationships, people who have experienced emotions. In other words, everyone. Lori's story is funny, enlightening, and radically honest. It merits far more than 50 minutes of your time." -A.J. Jacobs, New York Times best-selling author of The Year of Living Biblically

From the Publisher

★ 2019-02-03

A vivacious portrait of a therapist from both sides of the couch.

With great empathy and compassion, psychotherapist and Atlantic columnist and contributing editor Gottlieb ( Marry Him: The Case for Settling for Mr. Good Enough, 2010, etc.) chronicles the many problems facing the "struggling humans" in her stable of therapy patients. The intimate connection between patient and therapist established through the experience of psychic suffering forms the core of the memoir, as the author plumbs the multifaceted themes of belonging, emotional pain, and healing. "Therapists...deal with the daily challenges of living just like everyone else....Our training has taught us theories and tools and techniques, but whirring beneath our hard-earned expertise is the fact that we know just how hard it is to be a person," she writes. Through Gottlieb's stories of her sessions with a wide array of clients, readers will identify with the author as both a mid-40s single mother and a perceptive, often humorous psychotherapist. In addition to its smooth, conversational tone and frank honesty, the book is also entertainingly voyeuristic, as readers get to eavesdrop on Gottlieb's therapy sessions with intriguing patients in all states of distress. She also includes tales of her appointments with her own therapist, whom she turned to in her time of personal crisis. Success stories sit alongside poignant profiles of a newly married cancer patient's desperation, a divorced woman with a stern ultimatum for her future, and women who seem stuck in a cycle of unchecked alcoholism or toxic relationships. These episodes afford Gottlieb time for insightful reflection and self-analysis, and she also imparts eye-opening insider details on how patients perceive their therapists and the many unscripted rules psychotherapists must live by, especially when spotted in public ("often when patients see our humanity, they leave us"). Throughout, the author puts a very human face on the delicate yet intensive process of psychotherapy while baring her own demons.

Saturated with self-awareness and compassion, this is an irresistibly addictive tour of the human condition.

Kirkus Reviews

Read More

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, Her Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed|Hardcover

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER!Now being developed as a television series with Eva Longoria and ABC!“Rarely have I read a book that challenged me to see myself in an entirely new light, and was at the same time laugh-out-loud funny and utterly...

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Join researcher and #1 New York Times best-selling author Brené Brown as she unpacks and explores the ideas, stories, experiences, books, films, and music that reflect the universal experiences of being human, from the bravest moments to the most brokenhearted.

Dr. Brené Brown is a research professor at the University of Houston, where she holds the Huffington Foundation Endowed Chair at the Graduate College of Social Work. She also holds the position of visiting professor in management at the University of Texas at Austin McCombs School of Business.

Brené has spent the past two decades studying courage, vulnerability, shame, and empathy. She is the author of six #1 New York Times best sellers and is the host of two award-winning podcasts, Unlocking Us and Dare to Lead.

Brené's books have been translated into more than 30 languages, and her titles include Atlas of the Heart, Dare to Lead, Braving the Wilderness, Rising Strong, Daring Greatly, and The Gifts of Imperfection. With Tarana Burke, she co-edited the best-selling anthology You Are Your Best Thing: Vulnerability, Shame Resilience, and the Black Experience.

Brené's TED talk on the Power of Vulnerability is one of the top five most-viewed TED talks in the world, with over 50 million views. Brené is the first researcher to have a filmed lecture on Netflix, and in March 2022, she launched a new show on HBO Max that focuses on her latest book, Atlas of the Heart.

Brené spends most of her time working in organizations around the world, helping develop braver leaders and more-courageous cultures.

She lives in Houston, Texas, with her husband, Steve. They have two children, Ellen and Charlie, and a weird Bichon named Lucy.

Follow Brené

Brené Brown: Hi everyone. I'm Brené Brown. Welcome to the Unlocking Us podcast.

BB: Twelve years ago I bought a used microphone, I hooked it up to my laptop, and recorded a podcast on empathy and shame. It was very DIY from my kitchen table, but I fell in love with podcasting. It was intimate, raw, and most importantly it gave me a way to connect directly with you. Well, here it is a dozen years later, and I'm coming back, with Unlocking Us.

BB: I've given a lot of thought to how I want to spend this next decade, and one thing I know for sure is that I want to have more meaningful conversations. Conversations that help us unlock the deeply human part of who we are.

BB: Together we can explore ideas, stories, experiences, research, books, films, music. Anything that reflects the universal experiences of being human. From the bravest moments to the most brokenhearted.

BB: Some episodes of the new podcast will be conversations with the people who are teaching me, challenging me, confusing me, and maybe even ticking me off a little bit. Some days I'll just talk directly to you about what I'm learning and how it's changing the way I think and show up. We'll also have a way for you to send me questions for Ask Me Anything episodes. And, at some point, I'm going to hit the road and do some live shows too.

BB: Episodes of Unlocking Us will drop every Wednesday. You can find me wherever you normally listen to your podcasts.

BB: Here's the thing. I want to live, love, parent and lead with more courage and more heart. And that requires conversations that help us learn, grow, and challenge what we think we know about ourselves, about each other, and about this world. You can subscribe now, invite your friends, and I really cannot wait to have these conversations with you.

© 2020 Brené Brown Education and Research Group, LLC. All rights reserved.

Brown, B. (Host). (2020, January 13). Introducing: Unlocking Us. [Audio podcast episode]. In Unlocking Us with Brené Brown. Cadence13. https://brenebrown.com/podcast/introducing-unlocking-us/

Join researcher and #1 New York Times best-selling author Brené Brown as she unpacks and explores the ideas, stories, experiences, books, films, and music that reflect the universal experiences of being human, from the bravest moments to the most brokenhearted.

Brené Brown: Hi everyone. I'm Brené Brown. Welcome to the Unlocking Us podcast.

BB: Twelve years ago I bought a used microphone, I hooked it up to my laptop, and recorded a podcast on empathy and shame. It was very DIY from my kitchen table, but I fell in love with podcasting. It was intimate, raw, and most importantly it gave me a way to connect directly with you. Well, here it is a dozen years later, and I'm coming back, with Unlocking Us.

BB: I've given a lot of thought to how I want to spend this next decade, and one thing I know for sure is that I want to have more meaningful conversations. Conversations that help us unlock the deeply human part of who we are.

BB: Together we can explore ideas, stories, experiences, research, books, films, music. Anything that reflects the universal experiences of being human. From the bravest moments to the most brokenhearted.

BB: Some episodes of the new podcast will be conversations with the people who are teaching me, challenging me, confusing me, and maybe even ticking me off a little bit. Some days I'll just talk directly to you about what I'm learning and how it's changing the way I think and show up. We'll also have a way for you to send me questions for Ask Me Anything episodes. And, at some point, I'm going to hit the road and do some live shows too.

BB: Episodes of Unlocking Us will drop every Wednesday. You can find me wherever you normally listen to your podcasts.

BB: Here's the thing. I want to live, love, parent and lead with more courage and more heart. And that requires conversations that help us learn, grow, and challenge what we think we know about ourselves, about each other, and about this world. You can subscribe now, invite your friends, and I really cannot wait to have these conversations with you.

© 2020 Brené Brown Education and Research Group, LLC. All rights reserved.

Brown, B. (Host). (2020, January 13). Introducing: Unlocking Us. [Audio podcast episode]. In Unlocking Us with Brené Brown. Cadence13. https://brenebrown.com/podcast/introducing-unlocking-us/

Unlocking Us Podcast with Brené Brown & Ashley Brown Ruiz

Unlocking Us Podcast with Brené Brown & Ashley Brown Ruiz

Unlocking Us Podcast with Father Richard Rohr

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Join researcher and #1 New York Times best-selling author Brené Brown as she unpacks and explores the ideas, stories, experiences, books, films, and music that reflect the universal experiences of being human, from the bravest moments to the most brokenhearted.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Chances are good your employees are seeking out anxiety management techniques as a way to cope with the challenges of returning to work during a pandemic.

Even if they aren't, they may be quietly suffering from extreme anxiety or fear.

The COVID-19 pandemic has pushed mental health into the wellness spotlight along with a need to learn self-care. In particular, anxiety about going to work has many employees on edge about returning to the workplace.

As of late June, 31% of adults were dealing with anxiety and depression symptoms.

If employers don't address anxiety and help their employees learn how to manage their mental health, many will find it difficult to return to the same productivity levels prior to the pandemic.

Luckily, there are simple techniques that can be used anywhere to squash anxious thoughts.

That's why we've rounded up expert advice from psychologists, CEOs, social workers, meditation instructors, and mindfulness coaches down below.

Here's what they are doing right now to help reduce COVID-19-related anxiety in their clients, employees, and themselves.

23 Anxiety Management Techniques to Try From the Experts

Learn Breathing Techniques for Stressful Moments

When you start feeling anxious where your heart starts racing and you feel dizzy, do a deep breathing exercise. Breathe in for four seconds, hold it for four seconds, and breathe out for eight seconds. Do this at least five times or however long it takes to feel better. This focuses your attention on your breath and takes your mind away from your anxious thoughts.

Plan Out Your Day for a Greater Sense of Control

Even planning out what you're going to wear the next day and what you're eating for breakfast can give you a better sense of control over your situation. This can help you relieve some anxiety that comes from the uncertainty you feel from returning to work.

Have Positive Affirmations Ready

Positive self-talk can help you handle anxious thoughts or stressful moments at work. You may have favorite quotes or poems about being strong and overcoming difficult times that you can print out and frame on your desk. Look at the quotes and poems when you are feeling anxious and you may feel encouraged.
- Dr. Brian Wind, Chief Clinical Officer, Clinical Psychologist at 4. Create a Calming Workspace
Think about what you might want at your desk that helps you feel more calm: pictures of family, Post-It notes of your favorite mantras, or fidget toys. When we can keep things that help us feel better on hand, and create easy access to those items, it will help reduce stress and anxiety.
5. Stay Structured
Keep your day structured to help you focus on what you can control. We might not know when and how we will all move through this, but if you can look at your calendar and see you have a meeting at 10am, a walk break at 1pm, and laundry in the evening, that helps focus on the day rather than the uncertainty.
6. Lean into Self-Care
Ask yourself each morning how you want to tend to yourself. This makes you a priority and will help you manage all the stress and anxiety that may be with you as you return to work, school, or whatever might be causing you stress. One day you might decide to FaceTime a friend after work, step outside the office just to get some air, or get your favorite takeout meal. It can be anything you want. Each day might be a different self-care skill, and the idea is if you can focus on taking care of yourself while you are stressed and anxious, your stress and anxiety will decrease!

- Angela Ficken, Psychotherapist at Progress Wellness, LLC

Focus on What You Can Control (Not What You Can't Control)

You can control how many times you wash your hands and if you choose to wear your mask. You can't control what is going on in the building and what you hear or see.Stay present in the moment; be mindful. Don't get lost in the past or worried about the future, practice mindfulness, or gratitude to help you feel calm and secure.

Pay Attention to the Positive Events Happening Every Day

Research shows we have three times more positive than negative events every day. But we pay attention to the negative. Our brain lingers in the positive. Notice what you are paying attention to. Challenge yourself to write down three good things that happened today, no matter how small they are. It is the little things that count.

Just Breathe

When people get anxious they may feel their chest tighten or they get nauseous. Just breathe.Think about your breathing.Do you feel the air get down into your diaphragm?Everyone's optimal breath rate is between 4- 7 breaths per minute. If you slow your breath rate down, you can slow your heart rate.If you can get those two to dance together, you have created heart rate variability, a sign of wellness.
- Leigh Richardson, Founder/Clinical Director of , MS, NCC, LPC, BCN, BCB, CCTP
Use Physical Coping Strategies

Coping strategies such as deep breathing or progressive muscle relaxation (PMR) are both helpful for reducing the symptoms of anxiety, stress, and panic attacks. Both of these strategies work through increased activation of the parasympathetic nervous system which, if the skill is practiced correctly, helps suppress the sympathetic nervous system which is responsible for the physiological effects of panic and anxiety.
- Dr. Benson Munyan, L icensed Clinical Psychologist and Director of Neurocove Behavioral Health, LLC
Progressive muscle relaxation builds upon this mechanism and also works towards systematically relaxing our muscle groups (which are often tense due to panic or anxiety) by systematically tensing and releasing our muscles, which helps override motor control signals which also stem from the sympathetic nervous system.

Remember Anxiety is Normal

Don't condemn yourself. Anxiety cannot be quelled with harshness, strictness, or rigidity; these responses will only escalate it further. Anxiety causes us to live in tomorrow's worries or yesterday's regrets rather than in today's opportunities. Remind yourself of the things that are in your control and the things that aren't and put your focus on the things you can control such as wearing a mask, sanitizing your workspace, washing your hands, etc.

Attend With Curiosity

Where in your body are you experiencing/feeling the anxiety? Practice noticing your body and the signals it is sending you.Do you experience anxiety as racing thoughts? Breathe deeply into that place.

Attune With Compassion

How does what you're feeling make sense? (e.g. it makes sense to have some anxiety over a dangerous virus I can't control.)

Contain With Gentleness

Containment is like a lid that allows emotions to be experienced without becoming unmanageable. Breathing exercises are some of the most helpful containment strategies.

Pick Your Tools

Select one or two tools that will help recenter you and bring you back to the present.Practice them daily to form the habit and get on the preventative side of anxiety. Other great strategies are running, exercise, meditation, prayer, journaling, painting, gardening, cooking, coloring, etc.

- Dr. Jeremy Bedenbaugh,Founder, Mindfulness Expert and Leadership/Performance Coachat ReCreate Solutions

Be Intentional With Mindfulness

Viktor Frankl, an Austrian psychiatrist and psychotherapist, famously said the following: "Between stimulus and response there is space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom."
- Finn Cardiff, CEO and Founder of
In my view, this quote perfectly captures one of the key benefits of mindfulness. When we are not being mindful, our days are consumed by reacting to events occurring around us without being very thoughtful about them. This can cause us to react poorly and to be less-than-ideal colleagues, mothers, fathers, sisters or brothers.

When we practice mindfulness, we open up the space between stimulus and response and give ourselves the opportunity to reflect on the stimulus and choose how we respond, which, on reflection, should be the positive response. When we respond positively, we can diffuse situations and live a more content and happy life.

- Lisa Davis, Mindfulness and Meditation Expert, Manager at Shanti Bowl

Do a Digital Detox

Getting off the grid is something that most employees desire but fail to do because they don't know how. Tech-free experiences can have huge benefits to one's mental health and I've done it many times. From getting a weekend meditation in a secluded beach to spa treatments while being surrounded by nature, the advantages of a digital diet are clear: lessens your anxiety and stress; improves your focus and well-being; helps you achieve sound sleep, and helps achieve work-life balance.

Connect and Be Social

As the head of my firm, I've made it necessary to implement better employee engagement practices among our employees this time around. We often have end-of-the-week team building activities including Pictionary, bucket list challenges, and charades. These don't require close contact so it's better for social distancing observance.

And before the end of each weekly meeting, I also try to ask each staff how they are coping with the "new normal" changes taking place in our society. I've noticed that although times have been tough, we're cooperating in terms of maintaining our positive workplace culture using this new business model.

There's more focus on employees' mental health this time considering the stress that the ongoing pandemic is bringing to our lives.

- Michael Hammelburger, CEO of Expense Reduction Group

Take Action

The opposite of anxiety and depression is action.When our brains feel like we have a response - something we can DO - we are able to override that anxiety.One major action is having a plan to mitigate risks of transmission.

Have a Sense of Control

One of the strongest social threats to our brain is the feeling of not being in control.If things are not predictable, our brains get prepared to go into fight-flight-or-freeze.Find ways to give yourself that sense of control through routine.

- Donna Volpitta,Ed.D., Founder & Education Director of Pathways to Empower

Pick Relaxation Cues

Choose one cue for relaxation that you'll notice at least three times a day. For example, it might be whenever you open a certain drawer in your desk, or return from the restroom, or refill your water bottle or cup of coffee. Each time you notice this cue, take a deep breath, exhale, and say to yourself, "I am calm, clear, and creative." Repeat for one minute.

Choose a second cue to notice for movement. When you finish a call, for example, or stand up, notice that you've noticed your cue, and then take a minute to do some form of movement that energizes you. Depending on our workplace, it could be a plank pose on the floor, squats, jumping jacks, or toe raises - breathing deeply as you move.
-Rebecca Ogle, Licensed Clinical Social Worker and Therapist at
Choose a third cue for fun. Find creative ways to inject joy into your day. For example, whenever you notice the superhero figure on your shelf, pick it up and fly it over your desk, saying, "I am conquering lethargy and vanquishing my to-do list!" or "I am slaying my inbox and destroying all resistance!" Bonus points if you do this with a co-worker and share the moment of lightness.

- Maya Frost, Mindfulness Trainer at MayaFrost.com

Be Prepared

Make sure you have a thorough understanding of how your workplace is taking COVID-19 precautions. If you have concerns, voice them, and suggest possible solutions.

Be Assertive

If others in your workplace are not taking precautions, politely ask them to do so. For instance, "Please put your mask back on." Or, "I'm not comfortable with handshakes right now because of COVID," etc.

How One Dentist Reduced Anxiety in His Staff and Customers

"This global pandemic has created large amounts of anxiety and stress, both to the general public and those of us who have returned to work. This is especially true for healthcare workers like ourselves," explains Dr. J Salim, DMD, Owner and founder of Sutton Place Dental Associates. "The most common symptoms we have encountered is fear of infection and possibly even death as a result of exposure to the virus, and loss of potential income and job security.

As a practicing dentist, we have incorporated several techniques to combat this issue. We were closed for 11 weeks and reopened on June 1. We knew several patents and staff members had fear and anxiety regarding the pandemic, as expressed by their emails and phone calls."

Stay in Communication With Customers and Employees

"By establishing a direct communication channel with our patients and our employees, we have continuously informed them of the latest steps to remedy this issue.

We have increased our appointment lengths by 10 minutes, allowing our staff to properly sanitize the office and treatment rooms before and after each patient. We have covered all surfaces with disposable wrappings that get changed after each patient. We have added air filtration systems to every room and use UV light and fumigators to disinfect the office continuously.

We offer all our patients and staff free masks and hand sanitizers, take the temperature of all patients, and our staff, and screen everyone daily. We have also done this to allow less traffic within the office at a given time, and constantly send patients text messages as to when it is safe to enter the office. We have been open for nearly three months, and so far have not had any COVID-19 infections within our office and our patients."

Remind Employees of Precautions

"The media has undoubtedly contributed to the general level of fear and anxiety by constantly renewing fear and anxiety. We continuously remind our patients and staff that they can reduce the chance of spreading COVID-19 dramatically. To do this, they must observe proper social distancing methods, wash their hands and/or sanitize them frequently, and wear proper masks. If they take all these aforementioned and straightforward steps, the chances of infection from COVID-19 will be less than the common cold and flu.

We keep reminding everyone of these facts throughout the day. This approach has certainly helped the morale of our employees and of our patients. Every staff member has shown up to work, and all patients have kept their appointments. We also send electronic newsletters to both patients and employees, keeping them abreast of the latest developments regarding the global pandemic, effective methods to combat it, what to do, and what not to do."

Offer Full Benefits During Closures

"We offered employees full benefits throughout the office closure and beyond. We have also informed them that any sick-leave as a result of COVID-19, whether it is physical or psychological in nature, will be fully paid. Also, we told them that we would offer assistance towards any potential medical bills due to it.

Thus far, no such thing has happened, but it has brought a sense of assurance to our staff. They know that they will be fully supported and covered in case of the unforeseen.

I have also made myself available beyond office hours, both in-person and through phone or email, to discuss any potential issues or concerns any employee may have as it pertains to COVID-19 and related matters. This has also brought peace of mind to all our staff members and boosted their confidence in job security, financial well-being, and mental and emotional support."

Help Your Employees Learn Anxiety Management Techniques
You may also want to try:
As you can see from the experts' insights from above, right now is the time to enhance your mental health policies, remote work strategies, and expectations for your workforce.

It's also the perfect time to continuously share wellness and mental health resources with them.
How are you keeping anxiety levels low in your workplace? If you're in need of some more powerful anxiety-reducing resources, check out our free guides: and .
As you know, if your employees aren't well - physically or mentally - they won't do their best work. Keeping their mental health a top priority right now will help reassure them that they aren't just a number.

That means giving them mental health resources, being flexible, and connecting often.

Since mid-March the USC Dornsife Center for Economic and Social Research has polled U.S. adults about their mental health status. One in three people reported feeling lonely, up from one in five people feeling that way prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Additionally, many Americans are anxious about getting the virus or a loved one getting it.

Because COVID-19 is impacting the mental well-being of all ages, it's important for employers to encourage self-care, including anxiety management techniques. This roundup of expert advice is one way to share valuable information.

Inviting an expert into your workplace - Consider hosting a lunch and learn either in-person or on a Zoom call with an expert like the ones above. Any topic in the self-care realm - from stress management tips to anxiety management techniques - will help your workers learn how to keep calm.

Daily or weekly check-ins - Find creative ways to check-in with your team. Have a mid-week call or gathering to unwind, reconnect, and just chat. It's good for everyone's mental health to have that interaction and lighthearted conversation.

Having more social events - Because of social distancing and isolation requirements, many workers are feeling the impact of disconnection from their social circles. As often as possible, gather in-person for coffee breaks, happy hours, and team-building exercises - even over Zoom.

Meditating together - There's a growing body of evidence of how helpful meditation is for stress management and anxiety. Whether your team is remote or in-house, considering starting each day with a mindfulness or meditation section.

Sharing well-being and self-care content - Make it a habit to share content - podcasts, videos, blogs, etc. - around wellness and self-care.

Lastly, if one of your employees has a mental health disorder, remember they have certain rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). They may need to request accommodations at work, so it might be worthwhile to reread the ADA information on mental health, especially anxiety and depression.

Design vector created by freepik

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
23 Expert Anxiety Management Techniques to Help Your Employees

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Chances are good your employees are seeking out anxiety management techniques as a way to cope with the challenges of returning to work during a pandemic. Even if they aren't, they may be quietly suffering from extreme anxiety or fear. The COVID-19 pandemic has pushed mental health into the wellness spotlight along with a need to learn self-care.