The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk Summary

The Body Keeps the Score explores how trauma reshapes the brain, body, and emotional regulation, drawing on decades of clinical research. It details how unresolved trauma manifests as physical symptoms (chronic pain, migraines) and psychological struggles (hypervigilance, emotional numbness), while advocating for therapies like mindfulness, yoga, and body-based interventions to restore safety and control.

This book is essential for trauma survivors, mental health professionals, and educators seeking to understand trauma’s biological and psychological impacts. It’s also valuable for caregivers, veterans, and anyone interested in neuroscience-driven approaches to healing.

Yes—it’s a foundational text for trauma-informed care, blending scientific rigor with compassionate insights. With over 32,000 Amazon reviews, readers praise its transformative perspective on healing PTSD, dissociation, and chronic stress.

Chronic trauma triggers prolonged stress hormones, leading to conditions like fibromyalgia, migraines, and autoimmune disorders. The book explains how trauma “lives” in the nervous system, causing hyperarousal (fight/flight) or shutdown (freeze) responses that hijack present-moment awareness.

Van der Kolk advocates somatic therapies like yoga, EMDR, and neurofeedback to reprocess traumatic memories. He emphasizes reconnecting with the body through mindfulness, rhythmic movement, and expressive arts to regulate the nervous system.

Trauma alters brain regions like the amygdala (fear center) and prefrontal cortex (rational thinking), impairing emotional regulation. Overactive stress hormones keep survivors trapped in past threats, causing dissociation or explosive reactions to minor triggers.

Mindfulness helps trauma survivors observe bodily sensations without judgment, reducing hypervigilance and restoring emotional balance. Practices like meditation and breathwork calm the nervous system, improving resilience to stress.

Yes—childhood abuse or neglect disrupts brain development, increasing lifelong risks for addiction, depression, and chronic illness. Van der Kolk highlights how early trauma shapes attachment styles and self-perception, often requiring relational healing.

Some critics note its dense scientific content may overwhelm general readers. However, its holistic approach—prioritizing body-based over talk-only therapies—is widely praised as groundbreaking.

Born in Nazi-occupied Netherlands and abused as a child, van der Kolk’s personal trauma informed his decades of PTSD research. His work with Vietnam veterans and founding of the Trauma Center ground the book in clinical expertise.

• “Trauma is not just an event that took place in the past; it is a imprint left by that experience on mind, brain, and body.”
• “Being able to feel safe with other people is the single most important aspect of mental health.”

It uniquely integrates neuroscience, case studies, and somatic therapies, avoiding oversimplified solutions. Unlike purely psychological texts, it prioritizes body-awareness as the path to reclaiming agency after trauma.