The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma by Bessel van der Kolk

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

by Bessel van der Kolk

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Psychology & Mind

In Bessel van der Kolk's account, abuse and violence build a hyperactive alarm system that keeps your body in fight-or-flight, and medication alone won't undo it. His answer is treatment that helps survivors feel safe in their bodies. How firm is the brain science underneath, given how hard critics have pushed on it?

Core ideas
  • Stuck on alarm: Survivors live with anxiety, numbness and rage, and struggle with concentration, memory, trust and feeling safe in their bodies.
  • Many routes: EMDR, neurofeedback, yoga, meditation, Internal Family Systems, theater and play all get discussed as ways to recover.
  • Relationships cut both ways: Relationships can harm and can heal, and the book gives attachment and social environment real weight as protection.
Published2014
Pages464
ISBN9780670785933
ReadFeb 2022

Connected to 9 other books

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