Reviews tagging 'Self harm'

The Buddha and the Borderline: My Recovery from Borderline Personality Disorder through Dialectical Behavior Therapy, Buddhism, and Online Dating by Kiera Van Gelder

9 reviews

rat_on_wheels's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

3.75

This is a decent book, and I as someone who has cluster B issues and follows Dharma teachings myself found it insightful. There are definitely elements of privilege and detachment, as well as sexism, but overall I find the emotional perspective to be validating.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Cultural appropriation, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Sexism, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, and Religious bigotry

kplilly's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm

lidia7's review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-paced

i'm conflicted about this one.

very triggering and there's casual fatphobia and ableism, meaning it's unchallenged and it seems like it's the author's opinion but the book was published more than a decade ago so i'm hoping she's educated herself on these topics too.
buddhism as a religion feels uncomfortable for me as do all religions. to me it feels like another way to lose yourself and organized religion without fail scares me. (i often wish i could be religious because it seems easier that way but there's something about organized religion that deeply disturbs me). i was more interested in the philosophy but that aspect was severely lacking in this book. only the last fifth of the book was about buddhism and it wasn't in depth. it also didn't feel respectful...
DBT wasn't explained in depth enough either... i understand it's a memoir and not a recovery guide but i would've preferred it if it was explained better.
kind of surreal to read the prejudice of medical professionals 20 years ago, it feels like we've come far but still have a long way to go.

overall, not a helpful book for me and although it was riveting, it was also very uncomfortable. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Pedophilia, and Medical content

Minor: Ableism, Death, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Forced institutionalization, and Vomit

ellieangel's review

challenging dark emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Suicidal thoughts

beautifuljames's review

emotional informative reflective medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Addiction

Minor: Fatphobia

dylan_mp's review

hopeful informative tense medium-paced

4.0

A very hopeful account of mental healthy acceptance and recovery. Difficult to read at certain points but these passages are necessary. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicide, and Abandonment

madelonpaige's review

dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

empathephant's review

challenging dark emotional informative sad slow-paced

4.0

This book made me start a DBT program and feel comfortable with it, so I'm grateful to it for that. She is a great writer and makes her story engaging and accessible even for those who might not be able to relate to the same mental health concerns. I would highly recommend this for loved ones of people with BPD to be able to better understand the emotional/thought processes that come with BPD. For those who have mental illness themselves, this book can provide a lot of information and hope, but would be too intense for people who have not yet developed sufficient coping mechanisms to deal with the triggering content. Definitely check the content warnings carefully and make sure you have support before reading.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Self harm, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Toxic relationship

The opening chapter contains a very graphic, detailed description of self-harm and the associated emotions. Tread lightly. I was in a fairly stable mental health position when I read this book and I still found the beginning quite disturbing and difficult to manage my reaction to (although it was also validating and I understand why the author needed to include it).

evasiveplant's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide