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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is the third option presented to an autonomic nervous system trying to navigate a dangerous situation?

2. In 1982, Van der Kolk accepted a position at a mental health center in what state?

3. What color was the object Noam drew at the bottom of his picture that piqued Van der Kolk's interest?

4. During what period of Darwin's career did he write The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals?

5. What was the name of Van der Kolk's "great teacher" who taught his students to be "skeptical about textbooks" (19)?

Short Essay Questions

1. In what way was summer camp a formative experience in Van der Kolk's trajectory toward his chosen career?

2. What conclusion did Van der Kolk come to after the experiment involving the human gaze?

3. What traumatic event did Noam, the five-year-old discussed in Chapter 4, "Running For Your Life" witness?

4. What major transition in the world of psychiatry did Van der Kolk get to witness, as described in Chapter 2, "Revolutions in Understanding Mind and Brain"?

5. Who developed the Polyvagal Theory and for which academic institution did he work at the time?

6. What relationship does Van der Kolk identify between trauma and sensory experiences?

7. What specific role does the right brain perform in the aftermath of trauma?

8. What development in the early 1990s revolutionized our understanding of the way the human brain processes information?

9. What aspects of Noam's traumatic experience made it unlikely that he would suffer lasting negative effects throughout his life?

10. What is Van der Kolk's purpose for including a story about Tom's refusal to take his prescribed medication?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss Van der Kolk’s use of Aristotle's appeals within the text of The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma. How does Van der Kolk use each of the three appeals to persuade the reader of argumentative points central to the tenets of the work?

Essay Topic 2

Analyze the ways in which the themes of adaptability and resignation appear within Van der Kolk’s book The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma. What message is Van der Kolk sending about these two themes over the course of the text?

Essay Topic 3

How is the topic of memory treated within The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma and how does its treatment relate to the book's depicted messages?

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