The Body Keeps the Score Book Summary - The Body Keeps the Score Book explained in key points

The Body Keeps the Score summary

Name: The Body Keeps the Score
Rating: 4.5 (668 reviews)
Author: Bessel van der Kolk

Bessel van der Kolk

Mind, Brain and the Body in the Transformation of Trauma

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What is The Body Keeps the Score about?

The Body Keeps the Score (2014) explains what trauma is and how it can change our lives for the worse. These blinks investigate the wide-ranging effects experienced not only by traumatized people, but also those around them. Nevertheless, while trauma presents a number of challenges, there are ways to heal.

About the Author

Bessel van der Kolk, MD, is a physician, researcher and teacher specializing in post-traumatic stress. His other books include Psychological Trauma and Traumatic Stress: The Effects of Overwhelming Experience on Mind, Body, and Society. Van der Kolk is a professor of psychiatry at the Boston University School of Medicine and directed the Trauma Center at Justice Resource Institute.

Key idea 1 of 8

Trauma is incredibly common in our society.

Trauma isn’t just something faced by war veterans – it’s far more prevalent in our society than we realize. The truth is that trauma can happen to anyone, and it’s time we found out what this really means.

Traumas result from an experience of extreme stress or pain that leaves an individual feeling helpless, or too overwhelmed, to cope with adversity. Experiences involving war typically result in traumas, but violent crimes and accidents cause them too.

Rape and child abuse are terrible events, and they are also unfortunately more common than you might think. Reports reveal that 12 million women were victims of rape in the United States in 2014 alone, and that more than 50 percent of those women were under the age of 15 at the time of the assault. Every year in the United States, there are 3 million cases of child abuse.

These traumatic experiences can change the lives of those affected, as well as the lives of their friends and family. Traumatized people often suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which can lead to depression and substance abuse.

In addition, traumatized people tend to mistrust anyone who hasn’t experienced the same suffering they have, and assume that nobody can understand them. This was illustrated in one of the therapy groups the author set up for Vietnam veterans.

While the group helped the veterans find friends and share their experiences, those who weren’t traumatized by the war were considered outsiders by the group – including the author. It took weeks of listening, empathizing and building trust with the veterans for them to accept him.

Establishing a rapport with someone suffering from PTSD is a challenge on its own, so just imagine trying to maintain a marriage, a close friendship or a stable parent-child relationship. Traumatized people find it difficult to trust even those who love them most, including partners and kids. This can be very tough on friends and families, often leading to estrangement or divorce.

Flashbacks cause people to relive the mental and physical experience of trauma when they’re reminded of it.

Do you ever remember something embarrassing you did and feel yourself squirm or blush? Then you’ve got a tiny insight into how memories of trauma can impact the body.

When a PTSD sufferer is reminded of their trauma, their body and brain enter a high-stress mode, since they experience the memory as if it were real. This is called a flashback, an impact of trauma that the author studied in an experiment he carried out with his patients.

Childhood trauma has negative impacts, not just in a person’s youth but well into adulthood, too.

Traumatic experiences are hard enough to deal with as an adult, but there is nothing more difficult than facing trauma as a young child. With brains that aren’t even fully developed, children who undergo a trauma are at greater risk to experience a wide range of negative consequences. These consequences surface in the years immediately following their experiences and later in adulthood.

Traumatized children often expect bad things to happen. The author demonstrated this in an experiment in which cards with pictures from magazines were shown to children who had experienced trauma, and to those who hadn’t.

While normal memories fade and change, traumatic memories are vivid, unchanging and easily triggered.

When we tell stories, we tend to embellish, exaggerate or omit parts of our experiences. By the fifth time you’ve told a story, chances are it’ll be quite different from the first version. We even remember things differently over time. Why is this?

In general, we don’t tend to memorize the sensory details of events. Most of us remember what we did or how we felt in general, but don’t store vivid memories about the smell of the room we were in or the exact details of someone’s face. But it’s a different story when it comes to traumatic memories – we remember these situations vividly, and the memories don’t change over time.

EMDR allows patients to integrate their memories and restores a sense of agency over their mind and body.

It may sound simple, but one of the most effective techniques the author uses involves only a finger moving back and forth across a patient’s field of vision. While the patient follows the finger with their eyes, they’re guided through a traumatic memory and encouraged to make new associations along the way.

This technique is known as EMDR, or eye movement desensitization and reprocessing.

Yoga offers trauma sufferers a safe way to explore the relationship between their body and mind.

Our body and mind share a close relationship. In order to live a balanced, stable life, we need to understand how our emotions work, and how they impact our bodies. Unfortunately, trauma can make this very difficult.

Trauma often leaves people with a hypersensitive alarm system in their bodies. Those who suffered sexual abuse as children, for example, find that they experience crippling panic in harmless situations, such as cuddling with their partner.

Mindfulness and supportive relationships are essential to trauma recovery.

Mindfulness is a pretty trendy concept right now, but it’s not just a fad – it’s an incredibly effective lifestyle choice. It also constitutes a powerful tool for trauma recovery, but how does it work?

Mindfulness is all about maintaining a conscious awareness of your body and your emotions, rather than denying them. This is especially tough after trauma, as painful memories cause us to repress our emotions rather than address them.

Neurofeedback helps trauma sufferers rewire their brains.

Did you know that electrical signals are responsible for just about everything that goes on in your brain? These brain waves govern our thought processes, so they’re quite important. Unfortunately, they can also be damaged by trauma. Let’s find out how.

There are many different types of brain waves, one of these being alpha waves, which are triggered when we feel calm and relaxed. A recent study at the University of Adelaide in Australia examined soldiers who served in Iraq or Afghanistan, and revealed that the longer they spent in the war zone, the fewer alpha waves their brains produced. Instead, soldiers produced brain waves similar to those of children diagnosed with ADHD, hampering their ability to relax, stay calm and focus.

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Who should read The Body Keeps the Score

People struggling with chronic pain, anxiety or depression
Family and friends of PTSD sufferers
Students of psychology and medicine

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The Body Keeps the Score summary

Listen to the first key idea

What is The Body Keeps the Score about?

About the Author

Trauma is incredibly common in our society.

Flashbacks cause people to relive the mental and physical experience of trauma when they’re reminded of it.

Childhood trauma has negative impacts, not just in a person’s youth but well into adulthood, too.

While normal memories fade and change, traumatic memories are vivid, unchanging and easily triggered.

EMDR allows patients to integrate their memories and restores a sense of agency over their mind and body.

Yoga offers trauma sufferers a safe way to explore the relationship between their body and mind.

Mindfulness and supportive relationships are essential to trauma recovery.

Neurofeedback helps trauma sufferers rewire their brains.

Key ideas in The Body Keeps the Score

Trauma is incredibly common in our society.

Flashbacks cause people to relive the mental and physical experience of trauma when they’re reminded of it.

Childhood trauma has negative impacts, not just in a person’s youth but well into adulthood, too.

While normal memories fade and change, traumatic memories are vivid, unchanging and easily triggered.

EMDR allows patients to integrate their memories and restores a sense of agency over their mind and body.

Yoga offers trauma sufferers a safe way to explore the relationship between their body and mind.

Mindfulness and supportive relationships are essential to trauma recovery.

Neurofeedback helps trauma sufferers rewire their brains.

Who should read The Body Keeps the Score

Categories with The Body Keeps the Score

Books like The Body Keeps the Score

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