Reviews tagging 'Grief'

The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma by Bessel van der Kolk

75 reviews

annerbtw's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad slow-paced

3.75

 3.78/5 ⭐️ - because I want to be difficult with my rating.

I liked it, I found it insightful, but I think I went in with the wrong expectations. I assumed that by the end of the book, you'd have resources that could be "easily" applied to your own mental health journey. Kolk definitely teaches you about them, but they're not easily applied to anything specific you might have going on. It's a very educational read... but don't read it side-by-side with A Little Life, my GOD... do not.

Also, (sorry for long review, anyone reading) there are some negative reviews about Kolk sympathizing with horrible people - I don't necessarily think that's true. The same way that people find documentaries about serial killers interesting, I think the same applies here. I would never excuse the actions some mentally disturbed people do at the beginning of this book, but I think it's important for us to find the source (if there is one), and figure out how to keep it from happening again. There can be a lot of fascination in this topic because of just how complex humans are, how complex the brain is.... that's what the whole book is about. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Panic attacks/disorders, Medical trauma, Incest, Grief, Gaslighting, Eating disorder, Child abuse, Blood, Toxic relationship, Torture, Mental illness, Forced institutionalization, Drug abuse, Death of parent, Chronic illness, Addiction, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Rape, Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, Drug use, Domestic abuse, Child death, Cannibalism, Alcoholism, Suicide attempt, Alcohol, and Death

yaelm's review against another edition

challenging dark informative reflective sad tense

3.0

מבינה מה הכותב אומר ובסה״כ מדובר בספר עשיר במידע וקולח, אבל השפה בה הוא משתמש מאוד בעייתית (אנשים נורמליים לעומת אנשים עם פוסט טראומה, למשל) ולפעמים כואבת.

יש לו גם כל מיני הבחנות מכאיבות מאוד לגבי הורות עם פוסט טראומה. אני לא הורה בעצמי אבל זה כאב לי בכל הגוף. היו עוד כל מיני כאלו לאורך הספר.

מעבר לזה, מבוסס (בחלקו) על מדע שכבר אינו עדכני ולדעתי גם בתקופת הכתיבה של הספר לא היה מדויק (הצד הימני של המוח הוא היצירתי והשמאלי הוא השכלתני וכו׳).

מלאאא בטריגרים כמובן, כל דבר שיכול לגרום לפוסט טראומה. כמה מהמקרים שהוא מציג כטראומטיים מאוד מקוממים (אדם שביצע פשעים נוראיים כלפי נשים וילדים וחזר מהמלחמה עם טראומה, למשל. אין לי ספק שהוא באמת חזר בטראומה, אבל זה עבר בלי ביקורת בכלל. ברור לי שכפסיכיאטר התפקיד שלו הוא לא להפעיל שיפוט מוסרי, ועדיין אפשר היה לכתוב איזו מילה וחצי כמו שהוא עשה במקרים אחרים ופחות שחורים מוסרית)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Bullying, Car accident, Child abuse, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Genocide, Fire/Fire injury, Alcoholism, Fatphobia, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Medical trauma, Antisemitism, Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, Ableism, Addiction, Grief, and Drug use

danilippert's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative inspiring slow-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Incest, Mental illness, and Self harm

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Mass/school shootings, Hate crime, Bullying, Alcoholism, Abandonment, Addiction, Drug use, and Grief

beklovesbooks's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

5.0

An excellent textbook on trauma and the science-backed approaches to healing from it. Also an interesting journey through the author’s professional experiences that led to his outstanding knowledge on the subject. 

Read the trigger warnings and take them seriously. He often gives details about horrific abuse and sensitive information about patients, later illustrating their growth, but I would imagine it would be too much for many people with backgrounds touched by abuse, neglect, suicide etc.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, Medical content, Medical trauma, Dementia, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Hate crime, Incest, Rape, War, Drug abuse, Mass/school shootings, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Grief, Gun violence, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Blood, Mass/school shootings, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicide attempt, Suicide, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Violence, Confinement, Dysphoria, Torture, War, Biphobia, and Eating disorder

monstrouscosmos's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad slow-paced

1.0

I used to always recommend this book to people, but I'm at a point where I think it's an avoid. it's meant as a professional resource, and while as a non-professional I think there's something to be gained by learning about these topics: there are less triggering, less retraumatizing, and more empowering options out there. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Grief, Homophobia, Mass/school shootings, Eating disorder, Gaslighting, Infidelity, Car accident, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Medical trauma, Ableism, Addiction, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Classism, Colonisation, Death, Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Incest, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, Violence, and War

evalunny's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Sexual violence, Physical abuse, Incest, Medical trauma, Sexual assault, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Blood, Alcoholism, Addiction, Abandonment, Violence, War, Suicide attempt, Torture, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Self harm, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Eating disorder, Drug abuse, Death, Suicide, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pedophilia, Panic attacks/disorders, Medical content, Emotional abuse, Cursing, Death of parent, Child death, Toxic relationship, Rape, Drug use, Adult/minor relationship, and Mental illness

kadengrace's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

2.5

i’ve heard the phrase “the body keeps the score” so often that i wanted to read this book to hopefully learn more, but i think i could have learned more about this concept from better resources. this book was dense and heavy, which meant i needed to split up my reading sessions in order to finish it. i’m not fully sure how useful this book will be to me—i think it brought up interesting ideas that i’m looking forward to exploring in other resources, but i wonder how much detail was needed in descriptions of trauma. it felt overly triggering and written from a relatively narrow point of view. i think i will gain more elsewhere, and i’m not sure what i did gain from reading this book was worth the struggle to finish it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Trafficking, War, Infidelity, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Addiction, Violence, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Eating disorder, Grief, Death, Drug use, Alcoholism, Child death, Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Classism, and Adult/minor relationship

brookerobbo's review against another edition

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Pregnancy, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Addiction, Drug abuse, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Rape, War, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Hate crime, Incest, Murder, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Sexual assault, Violence, Car accident, Genocide, Gun violence, Self harm, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Grief, Infidelity, Mass/school shootings, Medical content, and Medical trauma

s_lorenz's review against another edition

hopeful informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Classism, Emotional abuse, Incest, Murder, Sexual assault, Medical trauma, Pedophilia, Rape, Suicide, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Grief, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, and Car accident

Moderate: Addiction, Child death, Chronic illness, Bullying, Classism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Body shaming, Confinement, Cursing, Death of parent, Racism, Self harm, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Abandonment, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death, Torture, Domestic abuse, Police brutality, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

audriew9's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective slow-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, War, Grief, Self harm, and Death

Moderate: Incest and Rape

Minor: Drug abuse