The Body Keeps the Score

Outline

The Body Keeps the Score (2014) explains how trauma reshapes the brain and body, affecting memory, emotions, relationships, and health long after the event has passed. Bessel van der Kolk draws on decades of clinical work and research to show why talking alone is often not enough, and explores therapies such as EMDR, yoga, neurofeedback, and theatre that help survivors regain a sense of safety and control.

• Trauma reshapes both the brain and the body, so its effects can last long after the event has passed.
• Trauma can affect memory, emotions, relationships and physical health, not only a person's thoughts.
• Talking alone is often not enough, because trauma is held in the body as well as the mind.
• Therapies such as EMDR, yoga, neurofeedback and theatre can help survivors regain a sense of safety and control.
• Lasting well-being depends on healing the mind and the body together rather than treating one in isolation.

Bessel van der Kolk is a Dutch-born American psychiatrist and one of the world’s leading researchers on trauma. He founded the Trauma Center in Boston and has taught at Boston University School of Medicine. His work on post-traumatic stress has shaped modern understanding of how trauma affects the body and how people can heal.