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The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma
A trauma researcher's argument that trauma changes both brain and body, followed by an account of treatments he discusses; its causal and treatment claims are disputed.
- Author and origin
- Bessel van der Kolk (United States)Original language: English. Hardcover: 25 September 2014, 464 pages (Penguin Random House page); Open Library records give Viking, 2014, year only. Penguin Books paperback: 8 September 2015.
- Genre and form
- Nonfiction (Popular psychology)Memoirs, clinical case collections, popular psychology, self-help, and histories or critiques of psychological science.
- Pairing and evidence
- Contested claimsA work whose claims are disputed in the research literature. Each profile identifies the part of that dispute discussed here.
- Sources inspected
- 1 text/abstract inspected, 2 metadata checked (of 3)1 with the primary text or archive/edition record checked, 0 with an indexed abstract read, 2 with bibliographic metadata checked, 0 not verified.
Published critique or methodological auditPaired academic work
Source independence: Independent of the book’s author.
How it connects: A published critique that names this book as its subject and evaluates two of its central claims. It is a short commentary by one author.
Exact claim scope: Selected commentary sections read; book and underlying treatment studies not independently audited. The commentary is one author’s critical position.
The work and edition history
A 2014 trade book by the physician Bessel van der Kolk. The publisher describes it as the work of a leading trauma researcher who argues that trauma reshapes body and brain, affecting pleasure, engagement, self-control and trust, and who discusses treatments such as neurofeedback, meditation, yoga and drama. That is the publisher's account of the book's thesis, not a verified finding. The book itself was not read.
Psychological reading
Questions to bring: what kind of study could show that trauma causes a brain difference, rather than a brain difference raising the risk of a harmful reaction? How would a researcher compare a body-based method with a standard treatment, and what would count as it working? Which statements in a clinical narrative are observation, which are theory and which are advice?
Why it earns inclusion
A widely discussed trade book on trauma, useful for the course material on trauma- and stressor-related disorders and on stress and the body (sections 15.6 and 14.3 are candidate links, not confirmed). It is also a worked example of how a popular claim and its published critique can be set side by side.
Academic pairing and claim scope
Scheeringa’s 2025 BJPsych Bulletin commentary directly challenges the book’s accounts of neurobiology and body-based treatment. The selected sections question causal conclusions from cross-sectional imaging and claims of treatment superiority. This is an attributed critical commentary, not a systematic review that independently settles the dispute.
Limits and controversies
The publisher description and selected sections of one critique were checked; the book and underlying treatment studies were not independently audited. The commentary does not represent a clinical consensus, and this profile offers no treatment guidance.
Evidence behind the claims
The hardcover was published on 25 September 2014 (464 pages) and a Penguin Books paperback on 8 September 2015; Open Library records name Viking as the 2014 publisher.
The publisher describes the book as a leading trauma researcher's argument that trauma reshapes body and brain, affecting pleasure, engagement, self-control and trust, and says it discusses treatments such as neurofeedback, meditation, yoga and drama.
A 2025 BJPsych Bulletin commentary argues that the evidence does not show that trauma causes lasting neurobiological damage or that body-based treatments are uniquely effective.
Authors and researchers
- Bessel van der Kolk. Physician (M.D.) and trauma researcher; author of the book.
- Michael S. Scheeringa. Researcher at Tulane University School of Medicine; author of the paired 2025 commentary.
In the Psy101 course
- OpenStax Psychology 2e, section 15.6: Trauma- and Stressor-Related DisordersChapter 15, Psychological Disorders. Concept. Suggested conceptual background; a mention of this work in the section has not been verified.Candidate link: trauma- and stressor-related disorders.
- OpenStax Psychology 2e, section 14.3: Stress and IllnessChapter 14, Stress, Lifestyle, and Health. Concept. Suggested conceptual background; a mention of this work in the section has not been verified.Candidate link: stress, the body and illness.
Educational reading guide only, not clinical diagnosis or treatment guidance. This course map indicates introductory curriculum relevance rather than clinical proof.See the full course map.
Sources and inspection
Of 3 cited sources, 1 had primary text or archive/edition records checked, 0 had an indexed abstract read, and 2 had bibliographic metadata checked (0 unverified). Literary works and memoirs are distinguished from empirical research studies.
- [1]House, P. R. (n.d.-i). The body keeps the score (penguin random house product page). Penguin Random House. https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/313183/Publisher or bibliographic record. Work, edition, or catalog record.Bibliographic metadata or reference record checkedProduct page inspected on 2026-10-23 through a model-written page extraction: formats, dates, page counts and the description. The page does not name the hardcover imprint. Book not read.
- [2]Open Library (Internet Archive). (2014). The body keeps the score (open library work and edition records). Open Library. https://openlibrary.org/works/OL18147687WArchive or library record. Work, edition, or catalog record.Bibliographic metadata or reference record checkedOpen Library edition list inspected on 2026-10-23: two Viking 2014 records (year only) and the Penguin paperback of 8 September 2015. catalog metadata only.
- [3]Scheeringa, M. S. (2025). Evaluating evidence behind popular trauma narratives: Neurobiological and treatment claims in the body keeps the score. BJPsych Bulletin, 50(4), 345–347. https://doi.org/10.1192/bjb.2025.10174Consulted sourceJournal article. Published critique.Primary text or passage readCodex independently read the article summary, neurobiology and comparative-efficacy sections, and Against the Stream footnote on October 23, 2026. Underlying references and the book not audited.