A review by nineinchnails
The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma by Bessel van der Kolk

dark informative reflective slow-paced

4.0

this was a little hard to get through but super interesting! i struggled a little with the centering of veterans but i feel like this is more aimed at therapists (who have to treat all patients with compassion) than potential clients so i understand i don’t need to be comfortable with everything in here. overall this was so insightful and made me reflect a lot so i personally got a lot from this book, however, there is a lot of triggering content so i do advise proceeding with caution. it’s not perfect and there’s a lot of controversy surrounding the author but i still going it worth reading.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Incest, Rape, Violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Child abuse, and Mental illness

Moderate: Abandonment, Suicidal thoughts, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Domestic abuse, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Car accident, Torture, Animal death, Addiction, Suicide, Grief, Gun violence, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, and War

Post traumatic stress disorder, Child sexual abuse, Child neglect, and Prostitution/sex work