The Body Keeps
The Score

Let’s talk about something we often ignore.

You go to talk therapy for years. You understand why you are sad. You know your childhood was messy. You can articulate your trauma perfectly. But you still feel panic in your chest when a door slams. You still shut down when your partner raises their voice. You still feel broken.

Why?

Dr. Bessel van der Kolk, one of the world’s leading trauma experts, gives us the answer in The Body Keeps the Score. The answer is simple but revolutionary: Trauma is not just in your head. It lives in your body.

You can’t just “talk” your way out of trauma because the part of your brain that talks (the rational brain) shuts down during stress. This book is a roadmap for anyone struggling with PTSD, Anxiety, or chronic stress.

1. The Anatomy of Trauma (The Smoke Detector)

To understand trauma, you need to understand your brain. Van der Kolk simplifies it into three parts:

• The Reptilian Brain: Controls basic survival (eating, sleeping, breathing).
• The Limbic System (The Mammalian Brain): The seat of emotions and danger detection. This is where the Amygdala lives.
• The Neocortex (The Rational Brain): The youngest part. It handles logic, language, and planning.

The Problem: The Amygdala is like a “Smoke Detector.” Its job is to detect danger. In a healthy brain, the smoke detector goes off, you check it, realize it’s just burnt toast, and relax. In a traumatized brain, the smoke detector is stuck on “ON.” It interprets everything—a frown, a loud noise, a smell—as a life-or-death threat.

2. Why Talk Therapy Isn’t Enough

This is controversial, but critical. For decades, the standard treatment for trauma was Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)—talking about the event to process it. Van der Kolk argues that while talk therapy helps you understand the trauma, it doesn’t necessarily stop the body’s physical reaction to it.

3. The Power of EMDR (Rewiring Memories)

Have you ever heard of a therapy where you move your eyes back and forth? It sounds like voodoo, but it is one of the most scientifically proven treatments for PTSD. It is called EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing).

How it works: When you are traumatized, the memory gets “stuck” in your brain as a vivid, sensory experience. EMDR helps the brain process this stuck memory. By moving your eyes (bilateral stimulation) while recalling the event, you keep your brain grounded in the present. This allows the brain to finally file the memory away as “past.”

4. Yoga and Reclaiming Your Body

Traumatized people often feel disconnected from their bodies. They numb themselves to avoid feeling pain. But when you numb pain, you also numb joy. Van der Kolk found that Yoga is incredibly effective for trauma recovery.

• Interoception: This is the ability to feel what is happening inside your body (“I feel tension in my shoulder”).
• Agency: Yoga teaches you that you are in control of your body. You can move, you can breathe, and you can stop if it hurts.

5. Neurofeedback: Training the Brain

This is the frontier of mental health. Neurofeedback uses real-time displays of brain activity to teach self-regulation. It’s like a video game for your brain. If your brain is stuck in a “High Beta” state (panic/anxiety), Neurofeedback rewards your brain (with music or a visual) when it shifts into a calmer state.

6. The Importance of Social Connection

Humans are social animals. We are biologically wired to co-regulate with others. Trauma isolates us. Healing cannot happen in isolation.