Talk:The Body Keeps the Score

Criticism and how the content fairs academically
New to this hope I'm doing this right — I think the article should probably include some mention of how the content in this book has faired scientifically and been received in the scientific community. I got the chance to discuss this book with a decently established researcher on trauma, and she said that while the Van Der Kolk does have some decent points there is a lack of empiric data backing up his claims and recommendations for healing. Further she said that there are established treatments for trauma which have had superior results in empiric studies — but Van Der Kolk pretends he's not aware of this in this book and some of his talks.

Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment
This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 26 August 2019 and 14 December 2019. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Dhern296.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 04:08, 18 January 2022 (UTC)

Feedback from New Page Review process
I left the following feedback for the creator/future reviewers while reviewing this article: Thank you for this new article. Note that other editors have already raised an issue about a shortage of inline citations. This could be resolved by simply adding more footnotes, or by reducing the level of detail in the text. Try to avoid spoilers for anyone who might be interested in the book but has not yet read it..

---  DOOMSDAYER 520 (Talk&#124;Contribs) 16:13, 16 April 2020 (UTC)

Not described as a book about PTSD
See publisher description and subtitle of book. It is about all forms of psychological trauma, and the broader impacts of traumatic stress, and his suggestions on healing it. It is not limited to a single mental disorder. Trauma and Stressor-related Disorders are a section in the DSM-5, but the book also mentions effects that do not or may not result in mental illness, Complex PTSD, and Dissociative Disorders. Complex PTSD (ICD-11 diagnosis not in the DSM) is what van der Kolk is best known for. Amousey (they/them pronouns) (talk) 21:04, 20 June 2020 (UTC)


 * This book should not be confused with a prior article from the 1990s by van der Kolk published in a previous book which is titled The Body Keeps the Score: Approaches to the Psychobiology of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. The book is not about "PTSD" but about the brain, body and impact of traumatic stress - it is a serious error to assume that all cases in it have PTSD. Reviewers referring to as a PTSD book are not sufficient sources given the book's actual content. Dissociative disorders, borderline personality disorder, revictimization, self-injury, suicidality, substance abuse, complex PTSD, PTSD and many others are featured. Often psychological difficulties are described without naming the psychiatric diagnosis (I suspect many patients have multiple diagnoses).


 * It would be helpful for someone with a copy of the book to update this page, if not I suggest cutting it down to only what is verifiable or sourcing medical summaries from peer-reviewed medical research only. Amousey (they/them pronouns) (talk) 21:46, 20 June 2020 (UTC)

Trauma and Causation
Discuss the research found in ‘The Body Keeps Score’ with that of ‘The Myth of Normal’ by Gabor Mate - the latter makes far broader claims but with a less than clear model of cause and effect (IMHO) Davidjclarke23 (talk) 00:23, 20 November 2022 (UTC)