The Body Keeps the Score: Difference between revisions

👎 '''Criticism'''. In 2023, ''The Washington Post'' faulted the book for leaning on “uncertain science” and over-extending claims (for example, around mirror neurons and empathy), urging more careful distinctions between animal and human findings.<ref>{{cite news |last=Martin |first=Kristen |title='The Body Keeps the Score' offers uncertain science in the name of self-help. It's not alone. |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/2023/08/02/body-keeps-score-grieving-brain-bessel-van-der-kolk-neuroscience-self-help/ |work=The Washington Post |date=2 August 2023 |access-date=21 October 2025}}</ref> A 2023 ''New York Magazine'' profile situated the book within a wider “trauma” boom and questioned the evidentiary status of some popular practices associated with it.<ref>{{cite news |last=Carr |first=Danielle |title=How Trauma Became America’s Favorite Diagnosis |url=https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/trauma-bessel-van-der-kolk-the-body-keeps-the-score-profile.html |work=New York Magazine (Intelligencer) |date=31 July 2023 |access-date=21 October 2025}}</ref> Memory researchers have also pushed back against claims of widespread traumatic amnesia; Richard J. McNally’s review in the *''Canadian Journal of Psychiatry*'' argued the evidence for “repressed” traumatic memories is weak and often misinterpreted.<ref>{{cite web |title=Debunking myths about trauma and memory |url=https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16483114/ |website=PubMed |publisher=U.S. National Library of Medicine |date=2005 |access-date=21 October 2025}}</ref> In 2024, the ''Financial Times'' published a letter praising the book’s impact while warning that an ever-broader use of the word “trauma” can trivialize serious harm and obscure its intended message about healing.<ref>{{cite news |last=Hearn |first=Kelly |title=Debt of gratitude due for raising trauma awareness |url=https://www.ft.com/content/e110e492-a0c6-44dc-9e71-9e1397e612c6 |work=Financial Times |date=28 June 2024 |access-date=21 October 2025}}</ref>

🌍 '''Impact & adoption'''. A 2024 *''Time*'' profile credited the book with shifting mainstream conversation on trauma; it noted that while van der Kolk’s body-focused methods have gained traction among clinicians and in settings like schools and prisons, institutional uptake remains uneven.<ref>{{cite news |title=People Still Misunderstand Trauma, Says 'Body Keeps the Score' Author Bessel van der Kolk |url=https://time.com/6998595/bessel-van-der-kolk-trauma-profile/ |work=Time |date=18 July 2024 |access-date=21 October 2025}}</ref> The publisher also maintains a higher-education adoption page for the title, reflecting course use in psychology-adjacent curricula.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Body Keeps the Score (Higher Education) |url=https://penguinrandomhousehighereducation.com/book/?isbn=9780143127741 |website=Penguin Random House Higher Education |publisher=Penguin Random House Higher Education |access-date=21 October 2025}}</ref> Media coverage during 2021 described it as a pandemic-era hit topping bestseller lists, mirroring its broad cultural reach.<ref>{{cite news |last=Williams |first=Zoe |title=Trauma, trust and triumph: psychiatrist Bessel van der Kolk on how to recover from our deepest pain |url=https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/sep/20/trauma-trust-and-triumph-psychiatrist-bessel-van-der-kolk-on-how-to-recover-from-our-deepest-pain |work=The Guardian |date=20 September 2021 |access-date=21 October 2025}}</ref>