A child's imagination

Brain research cited by Dr. Bessel Van Der Kolk in his book The Body Keeps the Score shows how early childhood abuse physically damages parts of the brain responsible for imagination. As a result, many adults who were traumatized as children find it difficult to imagine a future without emotional pain. Positive relationships, a fulfilling career, or finding religious meaning all seem elusive and unreal, and the book opens to the same chapter every time. Thankfully, it doesn't have to end there. Dr. Van Der Kolk explains how EMDR creates new pathways from the traumatized brain to the adaptive, imaginative, conscious brain. With a trained EMDR therapist, you can finally open a new chapter in your life.