The body keeps the score ebook free

Reviews for The Body Keeps the Score

Rating: 3.730769230769231 out of 5 stars

3.5/5

26 ratings10 reviews

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• Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

  5/5

  This was in many ways a tough listen for me, but a good one. Van der Kolk is a psychiatrist who has worked extensively with trauma survivors. This book is about the ways traumatic experiences permanently affect us.Trauma isn't just something that happens to our bodies, and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder isn't just something that happens in our brains.It doesn't take combat, terrifying accidents, or obvious child abuse to cause PTSD. Obviously they all can, and do, and are the most easily recognized causes. But other events, that may not even be recognized as trauma, can also be traumatic, and have lasting effects.Among these less obvious traumatic experiences are separating a baby or young child from a primary caregiver. Infants and children need security, trust, confidence that they can rely on the adults responsible for their care. Going from one family or set of caretakers to another is scary and deeply unsettling. That doesn't mean it's never justified. Indeed, sometimes it's absolutely essential. I just deleted an account of events in my own childhood that I've decided it's not appropriate to post.A lot of my own issues come from these events in my early childhood, that I'd long been told didn't happen, and which no one involved intended in a bad way. From the viewpoint of the adults, it had been the sensible thing to do at the time. They were keeping me safe. But I grew up with what seemed like objectively true knowledge, that I had better not annoy the adults in charge of me, because they might decide to send me someplace else.This book let me recognize these fears as not abnormal, not just intellectually (I'd heard the same from therapists prior to the one who said "get this book") but also at least a little bit emotionally, and also feel that maybe I can get past them.I'm not doing justice to this book. It's clear, accessible, revealing. I learned a lot, and not just about my own issues. But it can be upsetting, precisely because it can be useful.Highly recommended.I borrowed this audiobook from my local library.

• Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

  5/5

  Outstanding resource for understanding the effects of trauma on the brain and body and therapies that can aid in recovery.

• Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

  5/5

  This is an amazing book for anyone who has ever suffered trauma. It is giving me so much understanding about the effect that events in my early life had upon my feelings and behaviour. I am so grateful to the author for showing me the source of so many of my behaviours that I have never liked in myself. It has been a real eye-opener for me.

• Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

  5/5

  Another book that everyone needs to read. Trauma is so much a part of so many people's lives, and children experience trauma way more often then they should. van der Kolk provides an excellent overview of the topic and provides lots of hope for ways the effects of trauma can be treated. Read it, you will not regret it!

• Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

  5/5

  The author's journey in researching trauma and how trauma has been treated in America.The author is one of the foremost authorities on trauma and helped to get trauma studies recognized for their importance. He explores the history of how trauma was understood; the misdirections of the end of the 19th and early 20th centuries and how WW1, WW2, and Vietnam compelled a reconsideration of trauma and PTSD; what trauma looks like in the brain; how trauma is expressed; childhood vs. adult trauma; and various methods used to attempt to help people recover from trauma. The author makes a compelling case regarding what trauma is and how it effects growth and development. It would be good to see more done with biofeedback. That so much about trauma has only been ascertained over the past few years should give us all pause about how much more there is to learn, discover, and understand about such things. We do best to live so as to not traumatize others!The author gets a little triumphalist in the account. Nevertheless, it is understandable why so many highly recommend the work. One does well to grapple with it and learn from it.

• Rating: 2 out of 5 stars

  2/5

  The Meat of this Book is in Part Five.

  Here is the Outline of Part Five of the Book:

  1) Owning your own self -- Taking responsibility for our own self

  2) Language -- Speaking it Out

  3) Letting Go -- Exploring the Process

  4) Learning about our Body -- (Yoga)

  5) Self-Leadership -- Knowing Our Internal Landscape

  6) Creating Structures -- New Narratives

  7) Rewiring your Brain --Neuro-Feedback

  8) Finding your Voice -- Theater

  I am not sure, if this would work for non-Western cultures or even everyone among Westerners.

  I am not sure, if I can recommend this work.

  Why? Each Person's Worldview might be different.

  Eg: Secular, Islamic, Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist, Christian.

  There are fundamental differences in values in each of the above.

  Deus Vult,
  Gottfried