Dr. Bessel Van Der Kolk
The main character of the story by virtue of being the doctor commenting on his patients and cases is the author of the book. The author is a psychiatrist who is considered one of the leading experts in the specific field of treating traumatic stress disorders. He does not exploit the opportunity afforded by writing the book insert himself unnecessarily into the narrative nor take on the role of providing heroic miracle cures. He can be considered the most significant character in the novel simply because he is providing information about actual research conducted in treatment of authentic cases.
Tom
Tom’s experiences in Vietnam had left him with an extreme reaction to fireworks, making New Year’s Eve and the 4th of July living nightmares for not just him, but his family as a result of reactive behavior causing him to “behave like a monster.” It is through treating Tom and other patients with similar problems caused by flashbacks to the war that the author comes to a stunning revelation: treatment itself often triggers a flashback which is every bit as traumatic as a flashback that originates in stimuli such as the fireworks in Tom’s specific case.
Julia
The story of Julia is one of the most disturbing cases in the book while also being one of the most illuminating into the everyday behavior of hundreds of millions. This may seem unlikely as the specifics of Julia’s case originates with rape at gunpoint while still just a teenager. This event leads her to relentlessly pursue a lifestyle that effectively leads her to seek out ways to recreate the originating trauma rather than try to escape it. She becomes a prostitute, gets involved with an endless series of abusive boyfriends, and engages in continually more risky sexual activity while rejecting potential relationships with males deemed too “boring.” Although Julia is at the extreme end of the spectrum, the underlying pattern of her life is replicated daily by people who seem to actually seek out opportunities—consciously or not—to recreate the emotional circumstances which have been traumatic in their own past.
Jean-Martin Charcot
Not all characters of interest in the book are patients whose stories provide insight into the nature of trauma, however. Jean-Martin Charcot, for instance, is a pioneering figure in psychiatry who is often termed the “father of neurology.” He is considered especially essential by the author for his landmark research into the connection between traumatic episodes which occur early in life and the later onset of hysteria.
Pierre Janet
Janet is intricately connected to the research conducted by Charcot but is identified by the author as actually being the “real hero” of the discovery of this essential link which effectively was the first identification of post-traumatic disorder. Janet worked with Charcot to found a research laboratory that was devoted to learning as much information as possible about how traumatic events can later manifest as symptoms of hysteria. In addition, the specific contributions of Janet also trace a line directly to Julia and those like her with findings that mapped out a tendency among emotionally traumatized individuals to continually seek opportunities to replicate emotions and sensations connected to the originating trauma.
