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A review by charley0796
The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma by Bessel van der Kolk
emotional
informative
medium-paced
4.5
TLTR: An accessible text book about ptsd, designed for clinicians and not suitable for people experiencing ptsd. Some parts are out of date (I.e. criticisms of Cbt).
As others have said, this is much more of an accessibly written textbook about ptsd, aimed towards clinicians NOT patients.
The first half covers evidence about ptsd and brain scans, which was hard to grasp at times but helpful.
The second half introduced traditional ptsd treatments and recently researched non-traditional treatments (like neurofeedback and drama therapy). This was really interesting and gave me some ideas for how best to support clients to reclaim their life when working on this in the second half of trauma treatment (I.e. encouraging engagement in hobbies that connect them to their emotions and body, like martial arts or yoga).
Unfortunately, this book is now 9 years old and it has aged a little. The author describes standard CBT and assumes that this is unhelpful for treating PTSD, before he goes on to explain the amazing successes he has had with EMDR. However, when he then went on to describe the reliving aspect of EMDR, what he was describing was what Trauma Focused CBT involved partly (I.e. reliving and being asked what you notice, if there’s any new knowledge you’ve become aware of etc) which is then followed up with updating the memory and reliving work.
The author completely dismisses CBT for ptsd, when the research suggests that TF CBT is actually equally effective, if not more effective than EMDR according to meta-analyses conducted in 2020 and 2023.
Overall, this is a good intro to working with ptsd and thinking of how to support patients. But you will of course need further training and readings to understand how to complete therapies for ptsd. It goes deep into traumas so do not read this if you are experiencing difficulty relating to this
As others have said, this is much more of an accessibly written textbook about ptsd, aimed towards clinicians NOT patients.
The first half covers evidence about ptsd and brain scans, which was hard to grasp at times but helpful.
The second half introduced traditional ptsd treatments and recently researched non-traditional treatments (like neurofeedback and drama therapy). This was really interesting and gave me some ideas for how best to support clients to reclaim their life when working on this in the second half of trauma treatment (I.e. encouraging engagement in hobbies that connect them to their emotions and body, like martial arts or yoga).
Unfortunately, this book is now 9 years old and it has aged a little. The author describes standard CBT and assumes that this is unhelpful for treating PTSD, before he goes on to explain the amazing successes he has had with EMDR. However, when he then went on to describe the reliving aspect of EMDR, what he was describing was what Trauma Focused CBT involved partly (I.e. reliving and being asked what you notice, if there’s any new knowledge you’ve become aware of etc) which is then followed up with updating the memory and reliving work.
The author completely dismisses CBT for ptsd, when the research suggests that TF CBT is actually equally effective, if not more effective than EMDR according to meta-analyses conducted in 2020 and 2023.
Overall, this is a good intro to working with ptsd and thinking of how to support patients. But you will of course need further training and readings to understand how to complete therapies for ptsd. It goes deep into traumas so do not read this if you are experiencing difficulty relating to this
Content Warnings
Graphic: War, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Violence, and Rape
Moderate: Self harm