Bessel van der Kolk
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Bessel van der Kolk is a Dutch-American psychiatrist best known for his work on trauma and memory. His 2014 book The Body Keeps the Score is a best-seller, but has been criticized as being pseudoscientific.
The Body Keeps the Score[edit]
Van der Kolk's de facto magnum opus, The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma, is a book based on his psychiatric research. It focuses on how traumatic events effect the mind and the body. Van der Kolk argues that trauma is "remembered" by the body in particular ways. It features many case studies of those with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) from events such as war and sexual assault. He advocates for treating trauma disorders with things such as Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), yoga, and acupressure.[1] Released in 2014, the book was and is immensely popular, becoming a longtime best-seller and translated into dozens of languages.
However, as you may have picked up based on what he advocates for, the book has been criticized as being pseudoscientific.[2] It has also been criticized for stigmatizing trauma survivors, downplaying the causes of trauma, and victim-blaming; it might even steer people towards feeling stuck in a never-ending fight against their own past.[3]
Allegations[edit]
Ironically, van der Kolk was fired from the Trauma Center in Brookline, Massachusetts that he founded in 2018 for bullying and denigrating others.[4]
References[edit]
- ↑ The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma by Bessel van der Kolk (2014) Penguin. ISBN 9781101608302.
- ↑ Debunking Myths About Trauma and Memory. McNally, Richard J (November 2005). The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry.
- ↑ What the Most Famous Book About Trauma Gets Wrong. Nietfeld, Emi (2025). Mother Jones.
- ↑ Allegations of employee mistreatment roil renowned Brookline trauma center. Kowalczyk, Liz. 7 March 2018. The Boston Globe.
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