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The Body Keeps the Score

The Body Keeps the Score

Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma

Summary

THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER - OVER 3 MILLION COPIES SOLD

'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

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.

'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

'An astonishing and important book. The trauma Bible. I cannot recommend it enough for anyone struggling with...well...anything' Tara Westover


The Body Keeps Score has sold over 3 million copies since publication [Circana BookScan, April 2024]
Sunday Times (UK) and New York Times (USA) bestseller, March 2024

Reviews

  • An astonishing and important book. The trauma Bible. I cannot recommend it enough for anyone struggling with...well...anything
    Tara Westover

About the author

Bessel van der Kolk

Dr Bessel van der Kolk is one of the world's foremost experts on traumatic stress. He is the founder and medical director of the Trauma Center in Boston, USA, and the director of the Complex Trauma Treatment Network. A past professor of psychiatry at Boston University Medical School, Dr van der Kolk is the author of several scholarly books and over a hundred scientific articles.
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