The Body Keeps the Score
Trauma is not just an event that took place sometime in the past; it is also the imprint left by that experience on mind, brain and body. Drawing on more than three decades of work with combat veterans, abused children, and survivors of assault and disaster, Dr. Bessel van der Kolk shows how trauma literally reshapes both body and brain, compromising sufferers' capacities for pleasure, engagement, self-control and trust.
Blending clinical case studies with cutting-edge neuroscience, van der Kolk explains why traumatized people are haunted by intolerable sensations and emotions long after the danger has passed, and why talk therapy alone is often not enough. He then explores a range of treatments — from EMDR and neurofeedback to yoga, theatre, and mindfulness — that can help the brain to "rewire" itself and reactivate the innate capacity for healing.
The Body Keeps the Score is a landmark work on the science of trauma and recovery, arguing with clarity and compassion that by understanding how trauma lives in the body, we can find genuine paths back to wholeness.
Psychiatrist Bessel van der Kolk draws on more than three decades of clinical work with combat veterans, abused children, and survivors of assault to explain how traumatic experience reshapes the brain and body. He surveys treatments beyond traditional talk therapy — including EMDR, neurofeedback, yoga, and theatre — that can help survivors recover.
Yes. While it became a #1 New York Times bestseller and spent hundreds of weeks on the list, later scholarly reviews — including a 2025 evaluation in BJPsych Bulletin — have questioned whether some of the book's core claims are supported by current research, and noted that it can undersell established treatments such as cognitive behavioral therapy.
