Summary

“What’s Love Got to Do with It?” begins with a quote outlining the many reasons a sexually abused child might stay silent. Author van der Kolk then prologues the chapter with consideration of how trauma sufferers tend to be treated by the medical profession, often going through a series of different diagnoses before a treatment professional arrives at the idea of trauma at the root of everything. He also refers to the number of medications that are often prescribed during that process, and how the development of a manual of psychiatric disorders (developed by the American Psychiatric Association) became foundational for the consideration and treatment for such disorders – even though, as the author says, the Association warned against doing so. This, he adds, also relates to issues like access to medical insurance which, he says, tends to need...