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The Body Keeps the Score: Mind, Brain and Body in the Transformation of Trauma Paperback – 24 Sept. 2015
Bessel van der Kolk (Author) See search results for this author |
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THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
'An astonishing and important book. The trauma Bible. I cannot recommend it enough for anyone struggling with...well...anything' Tara Westover
The effects of trauma can be devastating for sufferers, their families and future generations. Here one of the world's experts on traumatic stress offers a bold new paradigm for treatment, moving away from standard talking and drug therapies and towards an alternative approach that heals mind, brain and body.
'Dr. van der Kolk's masterpiece combines the boundless curiosity of the scientist, the erudition of the scholar, and the passion of the truth teller' Judith Herman, author of Trauma and Recovery
- Print length560 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherPenguin
- Publication date24 Sept. 2015
- Dimensions12.9 x 2.4 x 19.8 cm
- ISBN-100141978619
- ISBN-13978-0141978611
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Review
Fascinating, hard to put down, and filled with powerful case histories. . . . the most important series of breakthroughs in mental health in the last thirty years -- Norman Doidge, author of The Brain That Changes Itself
A gripping bestseller about where trauma goes, and its disastrous effects on both individuals and societies. Deeply interesting. ― Times
Dr. van der Kolk's masterpiece combines the boundless curiosity of the scientist, the erudition of the scholar, and the passion of the truth teller -- Judith Herman, M.D., author of Trauma and Recovery
A seminal book that outlines the author's pioneering work -- Thea Jane May ― Vogue
Draws on 30 years of experience to argue powerfully that trauma is one of the West's most urgent public health issues... Packed with science and human stories ... van der Kolk has a lot to say, and the struggle and resilience of his patients is very moving ― New Scientist
Fundamental in understanding how our physical self is connected to all the things we go through and beyond -- Gemma Cairney
A masterpiece of powerful understanding and brave heartedness, one of the most intelligent and helpful works on trauma I have ever read. . . a brilliant synthesis of clinical cases, neuroscience, powerful tools and caring humanity, offering a whole new level of healing -- Jack Kornfied, author of A Path With Heart
Incredible -- William Leith, 'Books of the Year' ― Evening Standard
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Product details
- Publisher : Penguin; 1st edition (24 Sept. 2015)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 560 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0141978619
- ISBN-13 : 978-0141978611
- Dimensions : 12.9 x 2.4 x 19.8 cm
- Best Sellers Rank: 63 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- Customer reviews:
About the authors
Bessel van der Kolk (born 1943) is a Boston based psychiatrist noted for his research in the area of post-traumatic stress since the 1970s. His work focuses on the interaction of attachment, neurobiology, and developmental aspects of trauma’s effects on people. His major publication, the New York Times bestseller, 'The Body keeps the Score', talks about how the role of trauma in psychiatric illness has changed over the past 20 years; what we have learned about the ways the brain is shaped by traumatic experiences; how traumatic stress is a response of the entire organism and how that knowledge needs be integrated into healing practices.
Bio from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read author blogs and more
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Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 27 November 2019
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It is a lifetime of knowledge (and it is clear that it had taken a very long time to write) from a practising clinician who, as far as I can tell, is THE most well-informed person on the subject, all in one book.
It can be applied to you. Therapy like this would cost thousands, and that is even if you have the good fortune to find a therapist who knows anything about it.
It is perfectly written and laid out, starting with explanations about the problem and ending with explanations of how to recover.
At first it was hard to read because I was only just coming to terms with having childhood trauma, and was still feeling very upset about it. However the great thing about a book is that you can take as long as you like to finish it. As I read more I understood more and more and began to feel more and more free, understood, and positive. There is SO MUCH information in here, and it is all extremely useful and interesting. I often read one sentence several times because it made such an impact on me, and after some pages (most of them!) I would think for ten minutes until I read more.
This is the most helpful book I have read on the subject, and I have read a lot. It has taken me a long time to read, but recovery takes a long time. I think that if you have not been traumatised and are just reading it for interest that you would read it quickly, as it is such a great book. I feel like it has transformed me.
When you experience trauma your brain protects you, it literally creates a new personality on top of the one you were born with and transforms you. It increases your senses, it makes you more intelligent, but it changes your brain chemistry and that's the big problem. If your chemistry changes then you're not going to benefit in normal everyday situations because your flight, fight and freeze part of your brain is now on over drive, your hypothalamus is now stuck in hyper drive and your prefrontal cortex becomes neglected and undeveloped and in a contradicting to making you more intelligent now makes you less able to learn by constantly injecting stress hormones into your blood stream.
A lot is crammed into this book, over 30 years of research into trauma and I agree with the author, trauma is so important and so relevant in our society. Most people experience some form of trauma throughout their lives, but it seems the younger and more undeveloped you are the more profound the effect is later on in life. It literally passes down from generation to generation and we still don't discuss or treat trauma as a norm. If everyone was more knowledgeable about trauma and how it affects us then I think our medical advice and how we treat people would be far different from what it is today.
I find it easy to notice when someone has experienced trauma. It affects their persona, but there are visual and acoustic clues as well. It helps to know if someone has trauma because you have to adapt to their reasoning and thinking which can often be off kilter.
This book is brilliant for psychologists and people who want to learn more about themselves and trauma. It has a diverse knowledge or different applications which are proven to work. Obviously CBT is the most common, but two more I find very interesting and fascinating for trauma treatment is EMDR and Yoga. Both I think are brilliant and I was aware of before the book, but this book shows just what impact it has on masses.
I genuinely feel like when it comes to psychology and nutritional sciences, the USA is years ahead of everyone else especially the UK. I really hope a lot of this work makes it over here sooner rather than later.
Knowing more about trauma means we can help heal our society, prevent abuse and even enrich ourselves.
The text is TINY and so I struggled to read it.
I have now ordered a hardback copy from elsewhere in the hope that I will be able to read it more comfortably.
If you are familiar with text sizes, it's looking about size 8 which is way below accessibility requirements today. These are either 11 or 12 on the basic fonts such as Times New Roman, which is what this seems to be.
The photo of the book cover probably illustrates the font size best: the line of text below the italics, beneath the graphic, in block capitals is similar in size to the text within the whole book.
Excluding the Index, the book comprises 421 pages; and I wonder if the reduced font was in order to reduce the number of pages...?
It's a shame, this book has been recommended to me by my counsellor; so I am rather disappointed and shocked, it has to be said, by my inability to see the text comfortably enough to read it.

By Maggie on 27 November 2019
The text is TINY and so I struggled to read it.
I have now ordered a hardback copy from elsewhere in the hope that I will be able to read it more comfortably.
If you are familiar with text sizes, it's looking about size 8 which is way below accessibility requirements today. These are either 11 or 12 on the basic fonts such as Times New Roman, which is what this seems to be.
The photo of the book cover probably illustrates the font size best: the line of text below the italics, beneath the graphic, in block capitals is similar in size to the text within the whole book.
Excluding the Index, the book comprises 421 pages; and I wonder if the reduced font was in order to reduce the number of pages...?
It's a shame, this book has been recommended to me by my counsellor; so I am rather disappointed and shocked, it has to be said, by my inability to see the text comfortably enough to read it.


I am training to be a play therapist and I would recommend this for any child development or neuroscience enthusiast. It has thrown light in my own personal journey and I felt like parts of this book were written for me... absolutely brilliant and proves that we all have the capacity to heal.