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

RATINGS

Overall: 4 / 5 stars

Text Level: Difficult

Entertainment: Medium

Self-Help: High

Genres: Nonfiction, Self Help, Psychology, Therapy

Page Count: 464

Is this book right for my inmate and me?

Those suffering from real trauma caused by abuse, molestation, violence and emotional neglect will find techniques in this book to help in recovery. This book is designed to address the PTSD affects that people are hurt by with major life traumas.

Review By: Blackbird (Inmate)

Fixing life traumas through understanding the science of the mind.

Trauma fills the lives of so many people in our society. Whether it is victims of abuse, crime, or veterans coming home from war, trauma exists everywhere. Why do so many of us suffer from trauma, and how can we lure ourselves t live healthy lives? Dr. Van Der Kolk works to solve these questions to provide relief to patients that have become crippled from severe emotional traumas.

Part psychiatry textbook, part self-help manual, Dr. Van Der Kolk explains to readers the science behind mental trauma and how the brain's chemical biology is affected by the impact of stressful life moments. Readers are walked through what constitutes trauma and how it has a lasting effect on the human brain long after the event is over. This physician’s work in emotional trauma is clearly explained to the reader, giving insight into why so many that have experienced severe trauma in life seem to fall back to the moment of pain over and over.

Dr. Van Der Kolk’s work with veterans suffering from PTSD led to a breakthrough understanding that the trauma they encountered on the battlefield is not very different from the trauma that victims of crime, sexual abuse, and incarceration go through. His hope for his work is to first build a better understanding of how trauma fundamentally changes the chemical make-up of the brain and second to teach sufferers of trauma how to properly cope with the wounds through healthy means.

Drugs and alcohol are common coping mechanisms for dealing with trauma that only leads to a further downward spiral of destruction. However, trauma victims can find health through meditation, yoga, and strong relationships of love. Dr. Van Der Kolk offers life lessons and strategy paths for readers to help build a life of true recovery.

This comprehensive book blends science with spiritual and physical therapies to offer multiple paths to health. Anyone that has experienced a major life trauma and wants a chance to work past it towards a better future, can use this book as a first step towards growth.