The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma

“I think this man is suffering from memories.”So, this book changed my life. No, really. In fact, it’s *saved* it.I have severe PTSD. And despite years of therapy, it seemed to be getting worse instead of better. My flashbacks were occurring more and more often. I was becoming more and more lethargic and frozen in time. And suicide was constantly just *there* in my mind. Constant. I’d even set a date.And then my insurance quit paying for my therapy.As a last, desperate grasp for help, I started to read this book.I have never read anything more validating and more hopeful. To see the brain scan

Psychiatrist, professor, world-class researcher, and traumatologist Bessel van der Kolk MD requires no introduction to trauma psychotherapists. My enduring impressions of him over many years is one of relevance, cogency, frankness, and accessibility - served up with a subtle dash of impishness. He tends to be a bit disruptive - something of a provocateur - and everything of his I have ever read has taught me something, confirmed something important, or pushed my thinking in a new direction. When he has something to say, I want to hear it.However, I almost didn't buy this book: I was put off by

After being struck by trauma – combat, auto accident, assault, abuse – why do the dreams come and come and come? From where does the anxiety, distractedness, or outburst originate? Are there reasons for the gut balling up into a knot and the chest squeezing tight and feeling like it will implode when unwanted memories of the distress invade? Why does the recall come in pieces, chunks, or flashes? And then there’s the inability to communicate, the mental shut-down, the emotional-frigidity; what is that all about? Is there any way to move from the trauma and its aftermath to some sense of genuin

This is unquestionably the finest and most useful book ever written on the subject of trauma. Bessel van der Kolk M.D. has the incredible gift of being able to write a book on the subject of PTSD, and doing so in a way that is useful for clinicians, as well as for the general population. He does so in a matter of fact way, and makes the reader feel as if he/she is sitting by his side listening to him telling a story. He has the extremely rare ability to get through to the masses, and to do so without any pretense whatsoever. He seems like the kind of guy you could become friends with after mee

Wow! The Body Keeps the Score has so much information in it! I’m not great at reading technical books, especially if they are science related. Yeah. I’m more of a language arts and social studies kind of gal! I have gotten better since I taught sixth grade science, but technical brain stuff still confuses me a bit. Thankfully, Bessel Van Der Kolk does his best to explain things so that even I can understand them. I may have needed to reread some paragraphs a couple of times, but I did finally understand it.The Body Keeps the Score is so well written. Like I said, even I was able to understand

"The Body Keeps the Score" by Bessel van der Kolk is not just a book; it's a guiding light through the labyrinth of trauma, offering profound insights and practical tools for healing. As someone who has experienced trauma firsthand, this book has been nothing short of life-changing in my journey towards understanding and processing my experiences.Comprehensive Understanding: One of the most remarkable aspects of this book is its comprehensive exploration of trauma and its effects on the brain, mind, and body. Van der Kolk draws upon decades of research and clinical experience to provide a deep

Like millions of others, I read The Body Keeps the Score and felt seen for the first time in my life. It is a masterpiece of artistic and poetic observation—a heartbreakingly accurate description of what it feels like to live with a hijacked nervous system. But when I got to the solutions section, I felt utterly exhausted. Yoga?! Theater?! Chanting?! These are wonderful "soft therapies", but asking a person with severe PTSD to meditate their way out of a panic attack is like asking someone with a broken leg to run a mile in four minutes.I was left with the question: Okay, the body keeps the sc

This is the best book I have ever read on healing from trauma. I spent decades of my life reacting negatively to circumstances and events that triggered me, all the while desperately wanting to respond more positively. Even though I had counseling for my childhood trauma in the early 1990's, the information on how my body had physically responded when I was victimized as a child and teen was not known to my counselor. As a result, while the talk therapy he gave was helpful, it was limiting. I went on to spend the next three decades of my life not understanding why I kept reacting negatively wh