Bessel van der Kolk Quotes
The most important phrases in trauma therapy are “Notice that” and “What happens next?”
Quotes to Explore
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I'm terrified of therapy because I don't want it to mess with my creativity.
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In retrospect, I have devoted my scientific life mainly to the question to what extent infectious agents contribute to human cancer, trusting that this will contribute to novel modes of cancer prevention, diagnosis and, hopefully, later on, also to cancer therapy.
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My ideal relaxation is working on upholstry. I spend hours in junk shops buying furniture. I do all the upholstery work myself, and it's like therapy.
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Psychotherapy works, and some types of therapy have been shown to be much more effective than antidepressants over the long run.
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I think everybody I've seen has come from some other therapy, and almost invariably, it's very much the same thing: the therapist is too disinterested, a little too aloof, a little too inactive. They're not really interested in the person; he doesn't relate to the person.
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I think that therapy is great and can be incredibly helpful.
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I take it that a successful therapy is an oxymoron.
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Children notice things first, people later.
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You notice that he does not ask, Where am I?" says the Mayor's voice, moving out there, somewhere. "His first words are, Where is she? And his Noise says the same. Interesting.
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Show business is the best possible therapy for remorse.
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When you do your best, people notice.
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I can be normal by myself; no one notices me.
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It is irresponsible to set an arbitrary cap on how much therapy a Medicare beneficiary can receive. It ignores the health needs of our senior population - especially the oldest and sickest.
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What is divine escapes men's notice because of their incredulity.
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No notice is taken of a little evil, but when it increases it strikes the eye.
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If you notice, everyone on Deep Space Nine has this weird... I mean well... weird names. It's like they chose us for that. Except Terry Farrell but she makes it in the weirdness anyway. She fits right in with us.
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Non-co-operation is the nation's notice that it is no longer satisfied to be in tutelage.
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So take care of your life and take notice and be observant, for the number of widows is always far greater than the number of widowers.
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History, at its best, always tells us as much indirectly about ourselves as it does directly about our predecessors, and it is often most revealing when it deals with episodes and phenomena that we find repulsive.
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At some point, we have to move away from the pack to take certain journeys on our own.
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You don't see too many atheists on the deathbed. They all start cramming then.
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Semrad taught us that most human suffering is related to love and loss and that the job of therapists is to help people “acknowledge, experience, and bear” the reality of life—with all its pleasures and heartbreak. “The greatest sources of our suffering are the lies we tell ourselves,” he’d say, urging us to be honest with ourselves about every facet of our experience. He often said that people can never get better without knowing what they know and feeling what they feel.
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The most important phrases in trauma therapy are “Notice that” and “What happens next?”
