Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Good Morning Monster: Five Heroic Journeys to Recovery by Catherine Gildiner

16 reviews

tessazwaan's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective fast-paced

3.0

Okay tbh I loved this book for its readability - easy to read (tbf very intense traumatic stories so look at the trigger warnings first), very interesting and the cases so extreme that you want to  keep reading. However, to me it was problematic too, which is why I give this only three stars. 

First and foremost, I hate the emphasis on being “strong” (read: cope with excessive working, shutting off feelings and function “normally” in a kapitalist society). The sentence “She had to be tough, otherwise she would have formed a disorder” perfectly describes the tone of the book. 

Secondly, as a therapist, I feel like you should refrain from labelling people’s feeling as “whiny” or “needy”, especially since the people being called whiny and needy were severely abused. Sentences along the lines of “I wish people could hear this story when they are in my office complaining about insignificant childhood events” just don’t sit right with me. It’s disrespectful and lacks empathy, especially coming from a clinical psychologist. 

Third, there is some transphobia in this book. There’s deadnaming someone, only referring to her as a her after her surgeries and seeing a transgender woman explicitly as someone who could fulfill both a male and female role. I could have really done without that part, it also felt super unnecessary to add, since she wasn’t even a main character. 

Last but not least, how do you get consent to publish a life story from a dead man? Especially one from an Indigenous culture where keeping low profile is key? And this story was detailled as fuck? It felt just like she picked the most extreme stories to put in her book so her book could get as much shock effect as possible. 

So yeah, for me those issues took this from a five star review to three. I would recommend to read Maybe You Should Talk To Someone by Lori Gottlieb over this book any day. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Child abuse, Deadnaming, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Mental illness, Grief, Death of parent, and Abandonment

florapants84's review against another edition

dark emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal death, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

botanicalprofanity's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Confinement, Deadnaming, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Incest, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Kidnapping, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Colonisation

megbooks02's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

“Therapy is a matter of getting your unconscious to stop controlling your conscious mind. Effective therapy is about lowering your defenses so that you can deal with the issues that arise in your life.”

This was a really great read! Although I found Good Morning, Monster lacking a little at times because it primarily focuses on psychoanalytic/psychodynamic approaches, it was still very well done! Dr. Gild is incredibly insightful, and there are so many good reminders about therapy in this unputdownable book!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Police brutality, Grief, Suicide attempt, and Death of parent

greatu's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring reflective

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Deadnaming, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Genocide, Incest, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

grannyweatherwax's review against another edition

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal death, Child abuse, Deadnaming, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, Violence, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Abandonment

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Vomit, Abandonment, and Alcohol