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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 are the only people in Noam's drawing doing within his picture of the scene of 9/11?

2. How many patients did Van der Kolk get to describe their trauma while having their brains scanned when the technology first became available?

3. What kind of role does Van der Kolk say Noam had been able to take in his own rescue, saving him from deeper trauma?

4. From what location did Noam watch a plane slam into the World Trade Center on the morning of 9/11?

5. Which level of the autonomic nervous system's response to danger is characterized by actions like entering a fugue state?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. In the prologue of the text, Van der Kolk names the three main avenues of treatment available to survivors of trauma. What are they?

3. Which of Tom's symptoms did Van der Kolk decide to actively treat and why?

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

5. What three elements of the body did Charles Darwin assert communicated by using the same nerve?

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

7. What conclusion did Van der Kolk reach about the treatment of trauma after reading Charles Darwin's book The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals?

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

9. What does the cage symbolize within Van der Kolk's story about Steven Meier's experiments?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write a critical essay about The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma while using the critical power theory lens of feminist theory. Use textual evidence to back up your strong, specific claim regarding the book's treatment of gender roles, the objectification of women, female empowerment, misogyny's role within society, or any other issues related to feminist theory that can be found in the book.

Essay Topic 2

Explicate the theme of hope within The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma. What is Van der Kolk’s message regarding hope and how do you know?

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?

(see the answer keys)

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