Book Review: The Body Keeps the Score

I attempted to read this book a year ago. A friend had raved about it on Facebook. However, only a few pages in (though I cannot remember why), I returned it to the library unread. Now, I'm quite sure the stars were not yet aligned for the best absorption. Sometimes that's how it goes. You try and nothing clicks. Then, you try again and wonder why it didn't work out before. For this particular book, I fully understand the timing.

After my traumatic event in early June (followed by PTSD intrusive thoughts), I was ripe for this book. In The Body Keeps the Score, author Dr. Bessel van der Kolk shows how unhealed trauma wreaks havoc on the mind and body. Oh, how I wish this book had not resonated with me. But it did. The trauma stories are hard to read, yet fascinating. Whether trauma comes in war or in childhood, it does not leave the body unscarred. The marks are there. So often, they simply need the right person to interpret them and the right therapy to heal them. 

Doctors have long thrown pills at the aftereffects of trauma. This covers the wound but may not allow it to heal. Thankfully, a new method, EMDR, using rapid eye movement may hold promise to help individuals put the trauma from the front of the brain to the back of the brain. This book thoroughly explains why our bodies respond the way they do when experiencing trauma. Anyone who has been affected by trauma would benefit from reading this book.