Trauma treatment

Trauma treatment

Experience the emotional and inspiring tales of recovery as All In The Mind zooms in on how deep trauma shapes the brain, body and behaviour. Trauma psychiatrist Bessel van der Kolk joins host Lynne Malcolm to talk about why people affected by war, disaster and abuse can feel as if they’re living on "a different planet" to everyone else.

You’ll hear vivid accounts of trauma symptoms – hypervigilance, numbness, panic, shame, even breaking down over something as ordinary as a rack of lamb at dinner. Van der Kolk explains how brain scans show the speech and reasoning centres switching off when trauma is recalled, while the "survival" parts of the brain flare up. It’s not simply bad memories; it’s a physical shift in how the brain and body respond to everyday life.

Rather than relying on people talking repeatedly about what happened, van der Kolk argues that long-term healing often begins with the body. For abused children, he describes trampoline work, swings, balance beams and heavy blankets to rebuild a basic sense of safety, rhythm and bodily awareness. As kids become calmer in their bodies, they gradually start to see themselves as people with a past and a future, instead of being stuck in terrifying moments.

The conversation ranges from yoga’s impact on heart rate variability in chronic PTSD, to martial arts, mindfulness, neurofeedback and even communal singing and dancing, like he witnessed with Desmond Tutu during South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Medication might take the edge off, he says, but "drugs are not the answer" to trauma. Throughout, van der Kolk stresses self-regulation, community support and body-based practices as key to trauma treatment, while acknowledging the frustration of institutions that still prefer quick fixes.

If trauma has touched your life or the life of someone you care about, could these mind–body approaches offer a different way forward?