Van der Kolk shows that those very same systems continue to operate at every age, and that traumatic experiences, especially chronic toxic experience during early development, produce psychic devastation. Without language or symbols infants use every one of their biological systems to make meaning of their self in relation to the world of things and people. They are as much the body as they are of the brain. Praise for the Book: “As an attachment researcher I know that infants are psychobiological beings. van der Kolk’s own research and that of other leading specialists, The Body Keeps the Score exposes the tremendous power of our relationships both to hurt and to heal–and offers new hope for reclaiming lives. He explores innovative treatments–from neurofeedback and meditation to sports, drama, and yoga–that offer new paths to recovery by activating the brain’s natural neuroplasticity. In The Body Keeps the Score, he uses recent scientific advances to show how trauma literally reshapes both body and brain, compromising sufferers’ capacities for pleasure, engagement, self-control, and trust.

Bessel van der Kolk, one of the world’s foremost experts on trauma, has spent over three decades working with survivors. Veterans and their families deal with the painful aftermath of combat one in five Americans has been molested one in four grew up with alcoholics one in three couples have engaged in physical violence. A pioneering researcher transforms our understanding of trauma and offers a bold new paradigm for healing in this New York Times bestseller. From the Publisher: #1 New York Times bestseller.

The body keeps the score book