The Body Keeps the Score: Quotes

"The brain is formed in a 'use-dependent manner.' This is another way of describing neuroplasticity, the relatively recent discovery that neurons that 'fire together, wire together.' When a circuit fires repeatedly, it can become a default setting—the response most likely to occur. If you feel safe and loved, your brain becomes specialized in exploration, play, and cooperation; if you are frightened and unwanted, it specializes in managing feelings of fear and abandonment."

Section: 1, Chapter: 2

"Immobilization is at the root of most traumas. When fight and flight are thwarted, the human organism has a third, even more primitive, way to save itself: total paralysis, like an animal playing dead. This reaction is controlled by the most ancient reptilian part of our brain. When that reptilian brain takes over, the bodies of traumatized people re-enact the dynamics of the original trauma, collapsing, getting stuck in (often maladaptive) patterns of behavior and movement. Feeling 'scared stiff' and 'frozen in fear' (collapsing and going numb) describe precisely what terror and trauma feel like."

Section: 2, Chapter: 4

"Trauma is not just an event that took place sometime in the past; it is also the imprint left by that experience on mind, brain, and body."

Section: 2, Chapter: 5

"If you have a comfortable connection with your inner sensations—if you can trust them to give you accurate information—you will feel in charge of your body, your feelings, and your self."

Section: 3, Chapter: 7

“As long as you keep secrets and suppress information, you are fundamentally at war with yourself…The critical issue is allowing yourself to know what you know. That takes an enormous amount of courage.”

Section: 5, Chapter: 14

"The task of describing most private experiences can be likened to reaching down to a deep well to pick up small fragile crystal figures while you are wearing thick leather mittens." - Jerome Kagan

Section: 5, Chapter: 14