The Body Keeps the Score: Mind, Brain and Body in the Transformation of Trauma

Description

A world expert presents a sympathetic exploration of the causes of trauma and the new treatments making it possible for sufferers to reclaim their lives What causes people to continually relive what they most want to forget, and what treatments could help restore them to a life with purpose and joy? Here, Dr Bessel van der Kolk offers a new paradigm for effectively treating traumatic stress. Neither talking nor drug therapies have proven entirely satisfactory. With stories of his own work and those of specialists around the globe, The Body Keeps the Score sheds new light on the routes away from trauma - which lie in the regulation and syncing of body and mind, using sport, drama, yoga, mindfulness, meditation and other routes to equilibrium.

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.

An astonishing and important book. The trauma Bible. I cannot recommend it enough for anyone struggling with...well...anything -- Tara Westover 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 A gripping bestseller about where trauma goes, and its disastrous effects on both individuals and societies. Deeply interesting. * The Times * Nobody can stop talking about this book right now . . . you might want to listen -- Maddie Bender * Men's Health * 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, M.D., author of Trauma and Recovery Everyone should read this book -- Nigella Lawson A seminal book that outlines the author's pioneering work -- Thea Jane May * Vogue * Draws on 30 years of experience to argue powerfully that trauma is one of the West's most urgent public health issues... Packed with science and human stories ... van der Kolk has a lot to say, and the struggle and resilience of his patients is very moving * New Scientist * Fundamental in understanding how our physical self is connected to all the things we go through and beyond -- Gemma Cairney A masterpiece of powerful understanding and brave heartedness, one of the most intelligent and helpful works on trauma I have ever read. . . a brilliant synthesis of clinical cases, neuroscience, powerful tools and caring humanity, offering a whole new level of healing -- Jack Kornfied, author of A Path With Heart Incredible -- William Leith, 'Books of the Year' * Evening Standard *