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

The Body Keeps the Score sets out how trauma changes the brain and the body, drawing on Bessel van der Kolk's three decades with survivors.

He looks at approaches beyond medication and talk therapy, among them neurofeedback, mindfulness, play and yoga.

Who reads it

Clinicians and survivors alike. Reviewers without a professional background say the writing stays accessible, and several describe it as a turning point in their own healing.

Content notes

It discusses abuse, combat trauma and violence in detail.

From the publisher

A pioneering researcher and one of the world's foremost experts on traumatic stress offers a bold new paradigm for healing 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 have engaged in physical violence.

Such experiences inevitably leave traces on minds, emotions, and even on biology. Sadly, trauma sufferers frequently pass on their stress to their partners and children. Renowned trauma expert Bessel van der Kolk has spent over three decades working with survivors.

In The Body Keeps the Score, he transforms our understanding of traumatic stress, revealing how it literally rearranges the brain's wiring--specifically areas dedicated to pleasure, engagement, control, and trust. He shows how these areas can be reactivated through innovative treatments including neurofeedback, mindfulness techniques, play, yoga, and other therapies.

Based on Dr. van der Kolk's own research and that of other leading specialists, The Body Keeps the Score offers proven alternatives to drugs and talk therapy--and a way to reclaim lives.

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