The Body Keeps the Score
"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."
— 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.