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

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

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

"Essential reading for anyone interested in understanding and treating traumatic stress and the scope of its impact on society." — Alexander McFarlane, Director of the Centre for Traumatic Stress Studies

Trauma is a fact of life. Veterans and their families deal with the painful aftermath of combat; one in five Americans has been molested; one in four grew up with alcoholics; one in three couples has engaged in physical violence. In The Body Keeps the Score, Dr. Bessel van der Kolk—one of the world’s foremost experts on traumatic stress—uses over three decades of clinical experience and cutting-edge neuroscience to transform our understanding of how trauma impacts the human experience.

Dr. van der Kolk reveals that trauma is not just an event in the past; it literally reshapes both the brain and the body, altering a person's capacity for pleasure, engagement, self-control, and trust.

"Trauma produces actual physiological changes, including recalibrating the brain's alarm system, increasing stress hormone activity, and altering the system that filters relevant information from irrelevant."

Key Pillars of Healing Explored Inside:

• Neuroscience & Brain Rewiring: How traumatic events alter brain structures like the amygdala and hippocampus, keeping sufferers trapped in a perpetual state of hypervigilance or shutdown.

• The Mind-Body Connection: Why traditional talk therapy alone is often insufficient, and how physical sensations and somatic holding patterns retain the memory of trauma.

• Innovative Pathways to Recovery: Exploration of non-traditional treatment modalities—including neurofeedback, yoga, psychodrama, mindfulness, and EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing)—that help reclaim ownership of body and mind.

Understanding Trauma’s Impact on the System:

At a Glance:

Perfect For:

• Trauma Survivors & Loved Ones: Individuals seeking to understand their own responses and find alternative, effective paths toward healing.

• Mental Health Professionals & Caregivers: Therapists, counselors, social workers, and medical personnel looking for modern, body-centered treatment paradigms.

• General Readers Interested in Psychology: Anyone wanting a compassionate, scientifically grounded look at how human beings respond to stress and overcome adversity.