The Body Keeps the Score by psychiatrist Bessel van der Kolk shows how trauma reshapes both the brain and body, impacting memory, emotions, and even physical health. The book explains the brain–body connection, how trauma can lead to chronic stress and pain, why survivors may feel stuck in the past, and how healing is possible through mindfulness, yoga, neurofeedback, EMDR, and supportive relationships. Our The Body Keeps the Score summary is a practical guide to understanding trauma and the pathways to recovery.

There aren't many books containing dense and scientific material that also manage to top the New York Times best-seller list for 355 weeks, that's almost seven years, and counting. The Body Keeps the Score by psychiatrist and author Bessel van der Kolk is quite possibly one of the most popular mental health books in the last decade. The numbers speak for themselves; it has sold nearly two million copies worldwide!

So what’s all the fuss about? For one thing, The Body Keeps the Score is a hopeful book. Although it emphasizes the broad scope of traumatic experiences and the profound, often devastating impact they can have on an individual, The Body Keeps the Score also makes the case that therapy is effective and that post-traumatic distress need not be a permanent condition.

Furthermore, Bessel van der Kolk summarized his four decades of experience studying the impact of trauma on the brain. He synthesized the most important breakthroughs in neuroscience, psychology, and body-centered therapies and created a coherent blueprint for understanding and treating trauma.

But he also made us realize how common trauma is. According to Dr. Van der Kolk, even if we haven't experienced it first-hand, there's a good chance that we know someone with a history of trauma, such as neglect or abuse. And that’s what makes the knowledge from this book so widely applicable.

The Body Keeps the Score is not only considered a life-changing read for trauma survivors; this book can also help our society become better friends, parents, and partners. It can support us on a journey to becoming kinder and more empathetic versions of ourselves.

According to Dr. Van der Kolk, the journey starts with a deeper understanding of trauma.

Lesson 1: The Brain-Body Connection Is Real

When we experience a real or perceived threat, our brain's alarm system gets triggered. This alarm system involves a region of the brain called the amygdala, which Dr. Van der Kolk refers to as the brain's smoke detector.

When the amygdala senses a threat (for example, a person on the street who looks threatening), it recruits the stress hormones and autonomic nervous system to orchestrate a whole-body response that propels us to run, hide, fight, or, on occasion, freeze in order to confront the threat. In these moments, we might notice a quicker heart rate, shallow breathing, sweating, and an inability to think clearly.

Simultaneously, our frontal lobes, which Dr. Van der Kolk refers to as the "watchtower," offer a view of the scene from above. In many cases, they can help us respond to a false alarm and turn off the brain's smoke detector. According to The Body Keeps the Score, with PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder), however, the balance between the amygdala and the frontal lobes shifts radically, which makes it much harder for the brain to recognize that the alarm is likely unwarranted.

As a result, the parts of our brains that are on the lookout for danger are always on alert, and even the slightest sign of a threat can trigger the amygdala. It’s this overactivity that might keep us trapped in a prolonged state of emotional reactivity that can take its toll on the body. In fact, according to The Body Keeps the Score, there are many examples where trauma is connected to physical symptoms.

Lesson 2: Trauma Causes Physical Symptoms

Being trapped in a prolonged state of emotional reactivity might change the way our body functions. According to The Body Keeps the Score, when we are chronically angry or scared, constant muscle tension might lead to spasms, back pain, migraine headaches, fibromyalgia (widespread musculoskeletal pain), and other forms of chronic pain.

As a remedy, Dr. Van der Kolk mentions that learning to observe and tolerate our physical reactions by practicing mindfulness can calm down our nervous system, making us less likely to be thrown into fight-or-flight mode.

Practicing mindfulness means striving to be present and involved in whatever we are doing at the time. Some of the examples of mindfulness practice described in the book are yoga and meditation.

In yoga, it’s all about paying attention to your breath and noticing tension. For example, holding a pose for ten breaths teaches that discomfort eventually fades. This may help you reconnect to your body and build trust that difficult feelings don’t last forever.

Furthermore, mindfulness practice has been shown to positively affect numerous psychiatric, psychosomatic, and stress-related symptoms, including depression and chronic pain. It broadly impacts physical health, including improvements in immune response, blood pressure, and cortisol levels.

Lesson 3: The Mind Is Not Tending To The Present Moment

Being traumatized is not simply a problem of being stuck in the past; it is also a problem of not being fully present in the here and now.

According to The Body Keeps the Score, as long as we don't resolve the trauma, the stress hormones that the body secretes to protect itself from danger keep circulating, and the defensive movements and emotional responses that belong to the past traumatic event keep getting replayed in the present.

For example, we might react intensely to some minor irritation as if the world were ending. Upon taking a step back, we may realize that these strong emotions are actually stemming from a traumatic event that occurred in the past.

Another reaction to these stress hormones being released is to freeze and numb us down, which might make our day-to-day events less compelling. For instance, we could feel emotionally detached during birthday parties for our kids or in response to the death of a loved one.

As a result of not being able to fully take in what's going on around us, we might feel ashamed, alienated, and disconnected from our community. Dr. Van der Kolk states that the solution to this problem is learning to gain mastery over our internal sensations and emotions, which brings us to the next lesson.

Lesson 4: We Have the Power to Regulate Our Physiology

As The Body Keeps the Score highlights, if our brain activity has been impacted by trauma, our brainwaves are likely less coordinated than they should be. However, dysregulated brainwave patterns are not irreparable: they can be rewired and transformed thanks to a process called neuroplasticity.

Neuroplasticity allows neurons (nerve cells in the brain) and the connections they form with each other to compensate for injury and adjust their activities in response to learning or changes in the environment. Brain training technologies such as neurofeedback can promote neuroplasticity and train our brain to regulate our brainwaves to achieve the desired brainwave state, allowing us to be focused or calm.

When doing neurofeedback training with Myndlift, for example, you would play a video game or watch a video while EEG technology measures your brainwave activity. Every time your brain reaches its optimal brainwave state, you receive positive feedback, and that feedback not only earns you points, but it gives you insight into your brain function – when it’s in its optimal state and when it isn’t.

Eventually, after consistent training, your brain learns to regulate itself and reach its optimal brainwave state without that immediate reward. As a result, you may find it easier to stay calm in stressful situations, like when you're struggling with difficult emotions and traumatic memories.

It’s important to note that this type of brain training doesn't require deliberate control. All you have to do is to be mentally focused and physically relaxed, allowing your brain to follow the feedback.

In addition to neurofeedback, mindfulness, and yoga, The Body Keeps the Score highlights several other body-based approaches for releasing trauma:

• Theater and movement: Survivors often feel the urge to shrink or disappear. Acting requires the opposite: standing tall, projecting your voice, and moving with intention. For example, programs like Shakespeare in the Courts show how performance can improve self-esteem, build community, and give people a sense of strength and belonging.

• EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing): Traumatic memories can feel as if they’re happening right now. EMDR pairs recalling those memories with side-to-side eye movements or tapping, which can lessen their intensity. Over time, the memory may become something that happened in the past rather than something that controls the present.

Lesson 5: Positive Relationships Are Fundamental To Our Well-Being

As Dr. Van der Kolk states in The Body Keeps the Score, our attachment bonds are our greatest protection against threats. Nothing soothes our fear like a soothing voice or a solid hug from a trusted person.

For instance, children who experience a traumatic event and are not immediately soothed by their parents or receive other forms of emotional support may suffer the effects of said trauma long-term.

Indeed, traumatized human beings recover in the context of relationships, which are a cornerstone of trauma-informed care: with families, loved ones, Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, veterans’ organizations, religious communities, or professional therapists.

The purpose of these relationships is to foster the bravery to accept, face, and process the reality of what has happened while also offering physical and psychological protection, especially safety from feeling shamed, admonished, or judged.

According to Dr. Van der Kolk and his best-seller The Body Keeps the Score, our most pressing public health problem today is trauma, and we are well-equipped to deal with it. The choice is ours to act on what we know!

Myndlift provides a personalized expert-guided brain training program that can help you increase calm, as well as alleviate anxiety symptoms and create a generally relaxed state of well-being. Take this 10-second quiz to check if you’re eligible to kick-start your journey for better brain health.

The Body Keeps The Score summary: Audio format

In this video, we shared an audiobook summary of The Body Keeps the Score and summarized the most important lessons we learned on how to cope with PTSD and how to release trauma from the body.

The Body Keeps the Score quotes:

“While we all want to move beyond trauma, the part of our brain that is devoted to ensuring our survival (deep below our rational brain) is not very good at denial. Long after a traumatic experience is over, it may be reactivated at the slightest hint of danger and mobilize disturbed brain circuits and secrete massive amounts of stress hormones.”

“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.”

“In my role as recreation leader I noticed other things: As a group the patients were strikingly clumsy and physically uncoordinated. When we went camping, most of them stood helplessly by as I pitched the tents. We almost capsized once in a squall on the Charles River because they huddled rigidly in the lee, unable to grasp that they needed to shift position to balance the boat. In volleyball games the staff members invariably were much better coordinated than the patients. Another characteristic they shared was that even their most relaxed conversations seemed stilted, lacking the natural flow of gestures and facial expressions that are typical among friends.”

“We have the ability to regulate our own physiology, including some of the so-called involuntary functions of the body and brain.”

“Neuroscience research shows that the only way we can change the way we feel is by becoming aware of our inner experience and learning to befriend what is going inside ourselves.”

“Traumatized people chronically feel unsafe inside their bodies: The past is alive in the form of gnawing interior discomfort. Their bodies are constantly bombarded by visceral warning signs, and, in an attempt to control these processes, they often become expert at ignoring their gut feelings and in numbing awareness of what is played out inside. They learn to hide from their selves.”

“Being traumatized means continuing to organize your life as if the trauma were still going on—unchanged and immutable—as every new encounter or event is contaminated by the past.”

“It takes enormous trust and courage to allow yourself to remember.”

“Being able to feel safe with other people is probably the single most important aspect of mental health; safe connections are fundamental to meaningful and satisfying lives.”

“One reason that traumatic memories become dominant in PTSD is that it’s so difficult to feel truly alive right now. When you can’t be fully here, you go to the places where you did feel alive—even if those places are filled with horror and misery.”

“Once you start approaching your body with curiosity rather than with fear, everything shifts.”