The Body Keeps the Score.

The book was published twelve years ago. And yet here we are — it’s 2026, and it’s still sitting on bestseller lists week after week. Not just in psychology. Across all categories.

It has become one of the bestselling books of the modern era. And it didn’t just contribute to the trauma conversation — it defined how an entire generation understands it.

Chances are, you’ve encountered it. Maybe you’ve read it. Maybe someone sent you a quote from it. Maybe its language changed how you understand your own story.

Even if you’ve never opened the book, you’ve felt its impact. Trauma is no longer a clinical term. It’s part of everyday conversation.

But something happened along the way.

As trauma entered the mainstream, nuance didn’t always come with it. Complex biology got reduced to slogans. Healing became aesthetic. Language spread faster than understanding. Truth mixed with myth — and for some people, that confusion has kept them stuck.

Which raises a bigger question: what did we get right? What did we get wrong? And what has the science uncovered since the book was first written?

The man behind the book, Dr. Bessel van der Kolk, joins us to revisit these questions.

And he’s not alone.

With him is Dr. Frank Anderson. For two decades, Frank worked inside Bessel’s trauma center — learning, practicing, and refining the science at its source. In many ways, he represents the next chapter of this work. In recent years, his rise has been dramatic, helping bring trauma research into a new generation and a new cultural moment.

Dr. Bessel van der Kolk is not at the beginning of his career. He’s in its final chapter.

As his public appearances have become more selective, conversations like this have become rare. It’s one of the last opportunities to hear him step back and reflect — not just on what trauma is, but where this work must go next.

Alongside Dr. Anderson, they lay out what may amount to a blueprint for the coming age of trauma healing.

And some of what they say may surprise you.

Chapters:
0:00 - Intro
2:22 - Sign Up For The Nine
3:37 - A Typical Story of Trauma
15:04 - Reducing Trauma To Slogans & Myths
26:32 - How Trauma Changes The Brain
40:48 - Trauma Leads To Physical Illness
55:03 - Survival Strategies 
1:15:15 - New 2026 Breakthroughs
1:30:55 - Psychedelics
1:38:14 - EMDR
1:42:58 - Why Talk Therapy Can Fail
1:53:26 - Trauma Caused By Parents & Family
2:06:03 - Bessel’s Final Word on Trauma

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