Reviews tagging 'Suicide'

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

139 reviews

bronzeageholly's review against another edition

challenging informative reflective medium-paced

4.0

Harrowing and eye-opening, this book addresses some of the most complex and challenging traumatic events that people have been through and the devastating effects they have on their lives. It can be very graphic, upsetting and triggering in parts, but the depth and breadth of valuable information about different therapies and medications as well as ways you can help your body through movement is profound and very significant.

After discussing PTSD in combat veterans, the book turns towards those who have C-PTSD from life experiences that were often overlooked or written off before PTSD became a diagnosable condition. The stories about how he came to understand his patients better through different treatments is some of the most interesting parts of the book for me - he never puts himself on a “I am a complete expert” pedestal, and his curiosity and intrigue really drive home how much we still have to learn about our brains.

I did think it was interesting to consider how PTSD and C-PTSD effect the ways our brains function to quite a high degree, but I didn’t like that bits of the book appeared to be conflating having C-PTSD as a child with having been misdiagnosed with ADHD. (I would see it the other way round - neurodivergent people are more likely to have C-PTSD because of how they are treated for being neurodivergent). I think understanding similarities and differences between PTSD and neurodivergence is incredibly complex, and the throwaway comments about it in the book did not do it justice and could cause confusion.

Overall, I learnt so much from this book about myself and how to help others that have been through trauma - I would recommend it to anyone who wants consider new avenues of treatment, and who feels they would have the safety systems in place to be able to handle the more triggering aspects of the book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Grief, Medical trauma, and Gaslighting

sierrabowers's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.75

I think this book is great for those who are interested in how trauma affects the body. Educators, therapists, psychiatrists, and so many more professions can benefit from reading. The only reason I didn’t give it a five stars is because at about the halfway mark I did start to lose interest but I think that was as a result of audiobook listening and not reading the print version. I am definitely going to reread someday in print and would recommend to everyone. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Incest, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

ella_bibliophile_98's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

3.5

Interesting insight into the effects and treatment of trauma - and how our early childhood really does define us, but how we can also break free from it with learning emotions regulation through movement, meditation as treatment. 

Neurofeedback was especially interesting and I’m eager to explore more - was challenging to read at times as I’m out of practise with academic reading, but the author managed to keep it interesting and informative throughout 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Sexual violence, Suicide, Violence, and War

indianabrown's review

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad slow-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual harassment, and War

hydemandy's review against another edition

dark reflective tense slow-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Incest, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Violence, Trafficking, and War

madisonthacker's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective slow-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Incest, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Medical trauma, Car accident, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Abandonment

jenniegarcian's review

challenging dark emotional informative reflective tense medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Incest, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Suicide attempt, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and War

dancingprince's review

challenging emotional hopeful informative reflective sad slow-paced

4.5

Conforting and informative with the kind of information all people deserve access to. If repetitive and run-on at times, this was a fantastic resource for self reflection and hope.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual violence, and Violence

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Rape, and Suicide

Minor: Self harm, Torture, and Murder

This book is about mental illness and trauma of every kind imaginable. There are case studies including graphic details, but it is not without meaning. Be gentle with yourself as you read <3

cassius_orion's review

dark informative sad slow-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Car accident, and Abandonment

nineinchnails's review

dark informative reflective slow-paced

4.0

this was a little hard to get through but super interesting! i struggled a little with the centering of veterans but i feel like this is more aimed at therapists (who have to treat all patients with compassion) than potential clients so i understand i don’t need to be comfortable with everything in here. overall this was so insightful and made me reflect a lot so i personally got a lot from this book, however, there is a lot of triggering content so i do advise proceeding with caution. it’s not perfect and there’s a lot of controversy surrounding the author but i still going it worth reading.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Incest, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, and Violence

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Abandonment

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Gun violence, Suicide, Torture, Grief, Car accident, and War

Post traumatic stress disorder, Child sexual abuse, Child neglect, and Prostitution/Sex work