The Body Keeps the Score
"We have learned that trauma is not just an event that took place sometime in the past; it is also the imprint left by that experience on mind, brain, and body."
— Bessel van der Kolk, The Body Keeps the Score (2014)
| The Body Keeps the Score | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Full title | The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma |
| Author | Bessel van der Kolk |
| Language | English |
| Subject | Trauma; Post-traumatic stress disorder; Neuroscience; Psychotherapy |
| Genre | Nonfiction; Psychology |
| Publisher | Viking |
Publication date | 25 September 2014 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | Print (hardcover, paperback); e-book; audiobook |
| Pages | 445 |
| ISBN | 978-0-670-78593-3 |
| Goodreads rating | 4.4/5 (as of 21 October 2025) |
| Website | penguinrandomhouse.com |
Chapter summary
This outline follows the Viking hardcover edition (25 September 2014; ISBN 978-0-670-78593-3; xvi + 445 pp.).[1][2]
I – The rediscovery of trauma
🎖️ 1 – Lessons from Vietnam veterans.
🔬 2 – Revolutions in understanding mind and brain.
🧠 3 – Looking into the brain: the neuroscience revolution.
II – This is your brain on trauma
🏃 4 – Running for your life: the anatomy of survival.
🔗 5 – Body-brain connections.
🫥 6 – Losing your body, losing your self.
III – Minds of children
📡 7 – Getting on the same wavelength: attachment and attunement.
🪤 8 – Trapped in relationships: the cost of abuse and neglect.
💞 9 – What's love got to do with it?
🧒 10 – Developmental trauma: the hidden epidemic.
IV – The imprint of trauma
🔎 11 – Uncovering secrets: the problem of traumatic memory.
🪨 12 – The unbearable heaviness of remembering.
V – Paths to recovery
🛠️ 13 – Healing from trauma: owning your self.
🗣️ 14 – Language: miracle and tyranny.
👁️ 15 – Letting go of the past: EMDR.
🧘 16 – Learning to inhabit your body: yoga.
🧩 17 – Putting the pieces together: self-leadership.
🏗️ 18 – Filling in the holes: creating structures.
🖥️ 19 – Applied neuroscience: rewiring the fear-driven mind with brain/computer interface technology.
🎭 20 – Finding your voice: communal rhythms and theater.
⚠️ Prologue – Facing trauma.[3]
🧭 Epilogue – Choices to be made.[3]
📄 Appendix – Consensus proposed criteria for developmental trauma disorder.[3]
Related content & more
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References
- ↑ "The body keeps the score : brain, mind, and body in the healing of trauma". WorldCat. OCLC. Retrieved 21 October 2025.
- ↑ "The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk, M.D." Penguin Random House. Penguin Random House. Retrieved 21 October 2025.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 "Table of Contents: The body keeps the score". Schlow Centre Region Library. Schlow Centre Region Library. Retrieved 21 October 2025.