Book Quest!: The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk

[wolffyluna]

In my quest to read everything I have on my shelves (in the eventual hope of doing a cull), I have finally got around to reading The Body Keeps the Score, a book about the neuroscience, treatment, and history (of the psychologically study) of trauma.

woof.

It's a lot of book. A lot.

I have a lot of thoughts on it, but it is so much book that I'm not sure I can say many articulate things about it?

It's good. Despite it's density, it was written well enough that I could follow it. The neuroscience, heck, the science in general is fascinating. And van der Kolk's general commitment to evidence means that that Islands of Woo* stand out, which is more than a lot of other psychology books do.

Also, he can articulate why equine therapy and yoga work, which is a lot more than most therapists. (This is minor in the scheme of the book. Still notable though.)

• Again, for most of the treatments he discusses, he has scientific evidence that they work, at least for some people. And psychomotor therapy is, at best, counter intuitive, and but seems kinda off to me. Definitely the sort of thing that needs some non anecdotal evidence behind it. (I'd describe psychomotor therapy, but there is no way to summarise the thing other than 'you get people to pretend to be your parents in a very specific way, while you have a mediator who is acting in a very specific way.')

Comments

[lb_lee]

I've been meaning to read this, just dragging my feet because I've heard very conflicted things on it, ranging from "THE BEST" to "THE WORST." But I should read it.

Trauma psych has WEIRD woo in it at times.

[wolffyluna]

I'm probably not the best person to judge, but the beginning at the very least is reasonable and has a scientific backing. The last third which looks at different treatments is a bit more--let's say 'variable'. But there's still reasonable amount of science backed stuff.

(Inlcuding yoga, of all things. I really appreciate that even as he suggests yoga, he a) has actual scientific studies to back that claim up, and b) acknowledges to yoga can be *dangerous*, both mentally and physically. (I have a bugbear about yoga's status as 'harmless cure-all'.))

[lb_lee]

Oh man, I hate the harmless cure-all thing! It's why I can't meditate.

I'll give it a go, take it with a big grain of salt.