The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma by Bessel Van Der Kolk, M.D.

The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma by Bessel Van Der Kolk, M.D. felt like being in therapy and studying the therapy technique at the same time. At about the 20% mark, I think, I texted a psychologist friend and arranged a book discussion for when I finished it.  The research Van De Kolk has participated in over his career is fascinating as is the other research he gathered in this book. I repeatedly wished I'd found this research twenty or thirty years ago. That said, there were several times word choices that made me feel uncomfortable and earlier in my life likely would have been triggering for me. I'm certain the research has continued to evolve as research tends to do, but The Body Keeps the Score made me finally realize that all those times I felt like my body was betraying me was it having a normal reaction to trauma. Several of the life techniques discussed in the book, I discovered through a more painstaking and lonely process of trial and error and for different reasons. The Body Keeps the Score is a reminder that nothing happens in a vacuum and that trauma inflicted today will resurface someday, especially if it goes unrecognized and untreated. Overall, I found the research compelling but also noticed there seems to be a glaring hole in the research related to the trauma victims who lived through the wars that affected the soldiers the research concentrated on so much. I would highly recommend The Body Keeps the Score for anyone interested in the research behind how trauma is stored in the body and why the body reacts the way it does to trauma.


Currently Reading:

The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine by Ilan Pappe

The January 6th Report 

The Collected Poems of Lucille Clifton 1965-2010 by Lucille Clifton

The Joy of Writing Journal: Spark Your Creativity in 8 Minutes a Day by Lisa Tener


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