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A review by lilcookie
The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma by Bessel van der Kolk
5.0
My first finished book of 2019 and it was incredible. I highly recommend reading the incredibly thorough review from my friend Thomas for a holistic picture of this book. Here, I'd like to briefly highlight my own main takeaways.
As a psychology student trainee who will give therapy in the future, psychiatrist Dr. van Der Kolk's perspective and experience as a psychiatrist was intellectually nourishing. The complexity of "treating" trauma warrants interdisciplinary approaches and this book is worth reading just to see how this holistic treatment can be implemented with trauma. Though it now feels like common sense, it is still worth screaming from the mountaintops that body and mind are inextricably linked and solutions focused on restoring them both within the individual are necessities. Along this vein, I have long viewed the expressive arts (theater in particular) as an effective mechanism to address the lasting effects of trauma directly and indirectly. In this book there's a whole CHAPTER was dedicated to this practice, so I was over the moon reading it. I also echo his sentiments that it's possible and productive to engage with artistic expression and rigorous scientific methods in tandem. Other notable highlights are the way Dr. van Der Kolk describes developmental trauma, its impact, and the necessity of social connections at length. While every page or treatment discussed (e.g., EMDR) did not align with my own developing orientation to treatment, there is much merit in reading the entirety of this book.
Highly this read for anyone interested in further understanding how trauma manifests, how its effects can be addressed, and most importantly, that individuals who have experienced significant harm have the agency to survive and thrive.
As a psychology student trainee who will give therapy in the future, psychiatrist Dr. van Der Kolk's perspective and experience as a psychiatrist was intellectually nourishing. The complexity of "treating" trauma warrants interdisciplinary approaches and this book is worth reading just to see how this holistic treatment can be implemented with trauma. Though it now feels like common sense, it is still worth screaming from the mountaintops that body and mind are inextricably linked and solutions focused on restoring them both within the individual are necessities. Along this vein, I have long viewed the expressive arts (theater in particular) as an effective mechanism to address the lasting effects of trauma directly and indirectly. In this book there's a whole CHAPTER was dedicated to this practice, so I was over the moon reading it. I also echo his sentiments that it's possible and productive to engage with artistic expression and rigorous scientific methods in tandem. Other notable highlights are the way Dr. van Der Kolk describes developmental trauma, its impact, and the necessity of social connections at length. While every page or treatment discussed (e.g., EMDR) did not align with my own developing orientation to treatment, there is much merit in reading the entirety of this book.
Highly this read for anyone interested in further understanding how trauma manifests, how its effects can be addressed, and most importantly, that individuals who have experienced significant harm have the agency to survive and thrive.