The Body Keeps the Score

A therapist ask me to listen to this I stopped 30 minutes in. Not sure exactly what it is I should get out of this. This book has no directions to any kind of treatment for anyone. I believe this is for a therapist not a patient. And boring.

this book really covers it all. there were some realizations I made about myself, some about others and some I simply marvelled that anybody had lived through and recovered from. this book gave me a deeper appreciation for veterans and psychology as a whole. it really opened my eyes to the amount and types of trauma that are experienced. it also addressed many different forms of treatment and how they are beneficial in aiding the mind to let go.

The author uses story telling of his experience to teach through out the book. These detailed examples occur through out each section and chapter. If you have any trauma in your life, this may be a trigger.There are good points here that you could learn for yourself, but I think it would be from a summary of findings rather than this in depth books.

Great book for anyone who has dealt with trauma, anxiety or abuse. We all have issues and many are exacerbated by the culture and by the monetization of pharmaceuticals for profit over proactive healing. A prescription is always easier in the short term but usually is only a mask on the problem.

I heard so many great things about this book and I really wanted to like it.. to me it just seems that this book is trauma p*rn. The author goes into great detail about the traumas of vets and never gives tips on how to heal it. If this book also focused on healing the trauma and not just re-living it then it might be something worth while.

Even though this book is considered by many to be a critical starting point in trauma informed therapy, it can be upsetting for traumatized people who read it due to the graphic details. If the reader would like to skip the pain and get to the scientifically beneficial techniques, I suggest they start with chapter 13.

I listen to this book at the advice of my head shrinker from the VA. Being a veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan it helped me to understand some of what is going on as well as some other factors that were not related to war as far as PTSD goes overall I found it very helpful and informative.

I'm here like most people, probably recommended by a friend or therapist, The information in this book made me feel normal, that my childhood trauma as bad as it was is reversible, and I could live a more wholesome life in my future, that also there's help for me and others around me, that I don't have to be held captive by these triggers and thoughts I have and have had for 30years. I'm on a healing journey in search for peace this is been a giant stepping stone for me.

I couldn’t get more than a few chapters into the book. I’m sure the book is helpful for learning about trauma and ways to heal from it. However, the neuroscience of the book ranged from accurate to blatantly false (“reptile brain”, “mammal brain”). Also, his descriptions of “left brain” and “right brain” were misleading. As a neuroscientist who studies the human brain, this is like reading a book about the Revolutionary War and having the author write, “George Washington emigrated from Eastern Europe and became the king of the British Colonies.” That is not hyperbole. Even if much of the rest of the book is accurate (there were other issues), the early neuroscience misinformation was jarring. It’s difficult to trust the accuracy of a book with such clearly wrong neuroscience.

This book helped me understand why therapies beyond CBT and meds are often more appropriate for people struggling to find their way with the effects of developmental trauma.

the entire book is about the author himself. he is infatuated with his own accomplishments.you won't get anywhere with this book. don't waste your time.

I've long loved this work by Bessel van der Kolk, now I am really glad to own it in audio format - the narrator is great and I really hope it makes this read accessible to more open minds!

Wayyyy too many details on specific traumas with no trigger warnings. It was hard to stomach at times and graphic when the author could have easily alluded to the type of trauma rather than the specifics of the experiences mentioned. I did not leave the book feeling better. It had a lot of good information on types of therapy and and the way trauma effects the brain, which I personally liked.