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

informative reflective medium-paced

4.0

Wow! I don’t normally read informational books but I loved every page of this. Great insight into the science and culture around trauma—I think everyone should read it. Learning about the different therapies taught me a lot, and I feel like there’s a lot said in here that could be implemented into anyone’s life. However, he does come off as arrogant and has a very strange difference in the way he talks about veterans and sexual assault victims. Like your really going to be sympathetic to men who have committed war crimes but think rape victims are odd????? Okay. 

I haven’t look too much into his sources but he claims psychiatric meds are a scam. Most scholarly journals state they are effective for severe depression/anxiety/ptsd and not mild/moderate; they are a mixed bag for tons of people. He never really specifies this, so I do think some bias permeates into the evidence for his claims.