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Trauma and the Body: What 'The Body Keeps the Score' Teaches Us About Healing

The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk is one of the most influential and illuminating books I have ever read on trauma, healing, and the mind–body connection. What makes it so powerful is not just the science it presents, but the way it fundamentally changes how we understand human suffering. Rather than framing trauma as something that exists only in memory or thought, the book reveals how deeply it is held in the body: in the nervous system, physiology, and automatic survival responses. Reading it reshaped how I understand anxiety, chronic stress, emotional patterns, and even physical symptoms that seem to have no clear cause. This book offers language for experiences many people feel but struggle to explain, and points toward a more embodied, humane approach to healing which I believe can benefit everyone.


The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk
The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk

For much of modern psychology, trauma was treated as a problem of memory, as if it were a distressing event that lingered in the mind, replayed in thoughts, dreams, or emotions. If someone could remember it differently, talk about it enough, or “reframe” it, healing was expected to follow.


In The Body Keeps the Score, psychiatrist and trauma researcher Bessel van der Kolk argues that this model is incomplete. Drawing on decades of clinical work with war veterans, survivors of abuse, and patients with chronic mental and physical symptoms, he presents a deeper truth: trauma is not just remembered, but it is lived in the body.


Long after danger has passed, the body may continue to react as though it is still under threat. Muscles tense, breathing shortens, heart rate spikes, digestion falters. The nervous system stays on guard. Trauma, in this sense, is not a story about the past, but is a pattern happening in the present.



When the Body Doesn’t Know It’s Over


Dissociation can occur after a traumatic experience.
Dissociation can occur after a traumatic experience.

Van der Kolk opens the book with stories from his early work with Vietnam War veterans. Many of these men were no longer in combat, yet their bodies behaved as if they were still on the battlefield. Sudden noises triggered panic. Sleep was fragmented by nightmares. Emotional numbness alternated with explosive anger.


One veteran described how, when stuck in traffic, his body would suddenly flood with rage and terror. His heart was pounding, his jaw clenched, his vision narrowing, even though he knew he was safe. His rational mind understood the difference between a road jam and an ambush, but his nervous system did not.


This disconnect lies at the heart of trauma. The brain areas responsible for survival react faster than conscious thought. When an experience overwhelms a person’s capacity to cope, the body learns a lesson: stay alert, stay ready, don’t relax. That lesson can persist for years or decades.



How Trauma Reshapes the Brain


Traumatic experiences can alter communication between different parts of the brain.
Traumatic experiences can alter communication between different parts of the brain.

One of the most important contributions of The Body Keeps the Score is its integration of neuroscience into the understanding of trauma.


Van der Kolk explains how traumatic stress alters communication between different parts of the brain:

  • The amygdala, the brain’s alarm system, becomes hypersensitive, constantly scanning for danger

  • The prefrontal cortex, which helps us think, plan, and regulate emotions, becomes less effective under stress

  • The hippocampus, which places experiences in time and context, struggles to distinguish past from present.

This is why trauma memories often feel timeless. A smell, sound, or bodily sensation can trigger a full stress response, even when the person consciously knows they are safe. The body reacts first; thought comes later.



Trauma Without Words


Many struggle to put their traumatic experiences into words. It is important to get help, even if it is difficult.
Many struggle to put their traumatic experiences into words. It is important to get help, even if it is difficult.

Many traumatic experiences occur before language fully develops, or in moments when the brain’s speech centres go offline. This is particularly true for childhood trauma, medical trauma, or experiences involving extreme fear. As a result, trauma is often stored as sensations, images, impulses, or emotional states rather than coherent narratives.


Van der Kolk shares the case of a woman who had no clear memory of childhood abuse, yet experienced extreme emotions, panic during intimacy, and an overwhelming sense of shame. Traditional talk therapy helped her understand why she felt this way, but it did little to change the symptoms. Her body had learned something long before her mind could explain it.


This insight challenges the assumption that understanding alone leads to healing. Trauma is not simply a belief to be corrected, but it is a physiological imprint that must be addressed at the level where it lives.



Why “Talking It Through” Isn’t Always Enough


Talking therapy can help to deal with traumatic experiences, but it's not the only way.
Talking therapy can help to deal with traumatic experiences, but it's not the only way.

This does not mean that talking therapies are useless. Van der Kolk is careful to emphasise that insight, meaning-making, and storytelling matter. But they are often insufficient on their own.


Trauma disrupts the body’s ability to feel safe. Until safety is restored at a nervous-system level, insight may coexist with persistent symptoms: anxiety, dissociation, chronic pain, fatigue, or emotional reactivity.


Many trauma survivors describe a frustrating split between “I know I’m safe, but I don’t feel safe.”


The book argues that effective trauma therapy must help people relearn regulation, not just reinterpret the past.



Reconnecting With the Body


The book teaches us various ways we can reconnect with our bodies, such as mindfulness practice.
The book teaches us various ways we can reconnect with our bodies, such as mindfulness practice.

One of the most hopeful aspects of The Body Keeps the Score is its exploration of body-based approaches to healing.


Van der Kolk documents how practices that gently bring attention to bodily sensations without overwhelm can help restore a sense of agency and presence. These approaches allow individuals to notice internal signals, regulate arousal, and slowly rebuild trust in their own bodies.


Modalities explored in the book include:

  • Mindfulness and somatic awareness, which help people observe sensations without being consumed by them

  • Yoga, shown in clinical studies to reduce trauma symptoms by improving interoception and breath regulation

  • Movement and rhythm, which engage primal regulatory systems tied to safety and connection

  • Neurofeedback, helping the brain learn calmer patterns of activity

  • Safe, attuned relationships, where the nervous system learns that connection does not equal danger


For me personally, I have found that developing a regular mindfulness practice (every morning and every evening, and during various activites such as doing household chores and eating), and practising mindful movement where possible (e.g. practising mindful walking, yoga, and qi gong), have helped me to greatly reduce negative feelings such as stress, anxiety, and overwhelm. I would recommend trying out at least one of these modalities and seeing how it works for you.


In one study described in the book, trauma-affected participants who practised yoga regularly reported improved emotional regulation, reduced dissociation, and a greater sense of inhabiting their bodies, often without explicitly revisiting traumatic memories.

Healing, in this model, is not about reliving the past but about teaching the body that the present is different.



Trauma, Identity, and the Sense of Self


Understanding trauma is the first step to dealing with it safely and effectively.
Understanding trauma is the first step to dealing with it safely and effectively.

Trauma doesn’t only affect symptoms. It shapes identity.


When experiences of fear, neglect, or violation occur early in life, they can interfere with the development of a stable sense of self. Survivors may struggle with boundaries, self-trust, or feeling “real” in their own bodies.


Van der Kolk describes patients who felt fragmented, as if different parts of them were holding different emotional truths. One part might function competently in daily life, while another remained frozen in terror or grief.


Rather than seeing this as pathology, the book reframes it as adaptation. These internal divisions were once survival strategies. Healing involves helping these parts feel safe enough to integrate.



A Shift From “What’s Wrong With You?” to “What Happened to You?”


Trauma responses are not weakness, but challenges that we now have many tools to help us overcome them.
Trauma responses are not weakness, but challenges that we now have many tools to help us overcome them.

Perhaps the most enduring impact of The Body Keeps the Score is its compassionate reframing of mental health.


Trauma responses are not signs of weakness or brokenness. They are intelligent biological adaptations to overwhelming circumstances. The body did exactly what it needed to do to survive.


This shift in perspective changes everything, from how therapy is practised to how individuals relate to their own symptoms. Shame softens. Curiosity replaces self-blame.

Instead of asking, “Why can’t I just get over this?”, a new question emerges: “How did my body learn to protect me, and how can I help it feel safe now?”



Why This Work Matters Now


It is important to understand how we can help each other deal with challenges.
It is important to understand how we can help each other deal with challenges.

In today’s world, many people live with chronic stress, unresolved trauma, and nervous systems stretched beyond their limits. Even without a single dramatic event, prolonged pressure, emotional neglect, or instability can leave similar imprints on the body.


The Body Keeps the Score offers a framework that is both scientifically grounded and deeply humane. It reminds us that healing is not about forcing change, but about restoring connection. That is, connection to the body, connection to others, and connection to the present moment.


For those drawn to embodied practices, trauma-informed mindfulness, or holistic wellbeing, this book provides essential context. It explains why the body matters, and why sustainable healing must include it.


At its core, the message is simple and radical: The body remembers, and through the body, healing becomes possible.


The Body Keeps the Score is not just a book for clinicians or trauma specialists. It is for anyone interested in understanding themselves more deeply. Whether you experience anxiety, chronic stress, emotional reactivity, or simply a sense that your body holds more than your mind can explain, this book offers clarity and compassion. It helps reframe symptoms not as flaws to be fixed, but as signals worth listening to.


Reading this book can change how you relate to your body, your history, and your capacity to heal. I have been recommending it to pretty much everyone I talk to as it was so eye-opening for me, and it is so well-written it's hard to put down. It is definitely at the top of my reading list for books read over the past year. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did, and please feel free to get in touch and let me know what you thought!



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