The Body Keeps the Score: Mind, Brain and Body in the Transformation of Trauma

I would certainly recommend this book to professionals who have a specialist interest in PTSD and wish to help people diagnosed with this debilitating psychological problem. However, I would hesitate to suggest this book to sufferers themselves unless they have a keen interest in gaining deeper insight and understanding of their condition. Whilst some understanding is, of course, important one suspects most people are not terribly interested in history and theories of PTSD they simply want to recover and get on with their lives. For those readers looking for more practical advice and self help support a couple of suggestions:
Overcoming Traumatic Stress (Claudia Herbert & Ann Wetmore)
or for a more comprehensive read:
The Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Sourcebook - A Guide to Healing Recovery and Growth (Glen R Schiraldi)

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Despite some personal reservations about the target audience, this book has definitely increased my overall understanding of PTSD and the inclusion of latest insights gained from neuroscience was a fascinating addition. Particularly interesting was the connection between body and mind, how the body remembers what the mind may try to forget, and the difficulty, indeed improbability, of healing without direct reconnection with the body (rather than exclusive focus on avoidance and changing cognitive processes).

In summery, this book is very well written with plenty of case studies which bring the reality of this highly distressing condition to life whilst elucidating, in a relatively jargon free prose, the psychological processes involved. The author is a highly experienced clinician with specialist knowledge in his subject, but he is also a skilled writer, presenting latest research and theoretical understandings of the possible causes of the disorder and potential for misdiagnosis whilst making it read like a good novel. The exploration of PTSD within a historical context was enlightening and his presentation of various treatment methods was useful but as the author lives in USA some of the treatments proposed may not be so available in the UK.

I really wanted to give this book five stars but, whilst some techniques and therapy descriptions are described briefly, I was hoping for more practical ideas and suggestions. Also the inclusion of, for me, slightly gratuitous content in some of the case studies (the level of detailed description of abuse was at times unnecessary) resulted in a less than excellent score. Nonetheless, I would still highly recommend.