Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

What Doesn't Kill You: A Life with Chronic Illness - Lessons from a Body in Revolt by Tessa Miller

16 reviews

madeofmatter's review

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

Beatifully written retelling of life with chronic illness. An incredibly useful resource filled with helpful information, tips on how to deal with various situations and tailored humour that hit home. I cannot recommend this book enough.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Excrement, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, and Gaslighting

meliroo's review

informative reflective

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Excrement, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Death of parent

katrinarose's review

emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

Part memoir, part self-help, part political/sociological analysis, this was a wonderfully realistic yet hopeful book. As someone who has her same diagnosis (but has not gone through the level of severity she has) I empathized with her harrowing medical trauma. Her writing style kept me hooked. I imagine the self-help aspects to be invaluable for those with severe chronic illness and are written with such tenderness. She also rounds the book out with many statistics and research articles both to infuriate the reader about the state of healthcare in America but also act as a call to action. Since I am able to forget about my diagnosis 90% of the time, I don’t feel I am the exact target audience, however I loved it and would recommend to anyone chronically ill, anyone who has a chronically ill loved one, or anyone interested in the topic of healthcare in America.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Excrement, Medical trauma, and Death of parent

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, and Grief

laurenkimoto's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful sad slow-paced

4.0

Why isn’t heart wrenching an option for the mood of the book??

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

the_vegan_bookworm's review

challenging emotional informative reflective sad slow-paced

5.0

This was a compelling, honest look at life with chronic illness. I felt seen and heard as a person with a disability while I read Miller's recounts of her life. This book gave me a lot to reflect on in my own experiences and beliefs about (dis)ability and a meaningful life with a chronic condition, while also validating me for the fears and emotions I experience. 

If you are chronically ill or disabled, I especially recommend this book to you.

This being said, please note the trigger warnings as this book may be difficult to read for some people. Miller discusses the abuse she experienced from her alcoholic father and drug-addicted ex-boyfriend, the nitty gritty of Crohn's (including detailed references to excrement, blood and vomit), medical trauma and ableism of many kinds, and sexual assault. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, and Death of parent

Minor: Fatphobia and Racism

gracegeeks's review

emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, and Alcohol

sierrascha's review

emotional informative reflective fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, and Sexual assault

leslie_overbookedsocialworker's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative medium-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, and Sexual assault

imstephtacular's review

dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body shaming, Chronic illness, Excrement, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, and Classism

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Miscarriage, Racism, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Terminal illness, Vomit, Police brutality, and Pregnancy

kelseyland's review

informative reflective medium-paced

4.0

A good guide for newly chronically ill/disabled people and/or their loved ones, since it's mainly focused on practical, day-to-day information along with stories of the author's experience with Crohn's disease. 

Content note, per the author: Hospitalization, sexual assault, physical and emotional abuse, details of bowel disease 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Sexual assault