Reviews tagging 'Medical content'

While You Were Out: An Intimate Family Portrait of Mental Illness in an Era of Silence by Meg Kissinger

5 reviews

readingpicnic's review against another edition

5.0

This is such a devastating book, but I’m so glad it exists. The compassionate approach that the author takes towards severe mental illness and the honest thought processes of working towards this view is a point of view I don’t see very often. This book really hit hard as someone who has a lot of mental illness in my own family from both sides, but especially my mom’s side since her brother committed s*icide when she was in high school. I beg you to check the trigger warnings for this book, especially if you’ve lost (or almost lost) someone close to you to s*icide or dealt with s*icidal thoughts yourself, but it is so well written and has incredible narration from the author. The advice for living with the grief of losing someone in this way was very helpful I think, as this book was very well researched due to the author being a journalist who wrote extensively on how the mentally ill are treated in the US, but also contains personal advice on living with grief from some of her living siblings and people she connected with during her lifetime of research. I’m so glad I picked this up; thank you for the recommendation @bridgetish, this is why you’re my favorite booktoker.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cancer, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Antisemitism, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism, Bullying, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, Police brutality, Abortion, and Pregnancy

Minor: Eating disorder and Pedophilia

faithcantread's review

emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Self harm, Suicide, Grief, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Alcoholism, Cancer, Cursing, Suicidal thoughts, Antisemitism, Medical content, Abortion, Death of parent, and Alcohol

malalaisee's review

hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

4.5

I wish that there was a bit more balance between traditional memoir and journalism-style coverage of others’ stories, since it throws the pacing off a bit, but otherwise, this is a great, digestible, and beautifully written story. I can’t imagine how hard it must have been to write and share.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Alcohol

Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, Hate crime, Terminal illness, Antisemitism, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

Minor: Sexual assault, Car accident, and War

maxthefish's review

challenging emotional informative sad tense fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Cancer, Death, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Antisemitism, Medical content, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Eating disorder

caseythereader's review

challenging dark emotional informative sad medium-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Cancer, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Forced institutionalization, Vomit, Antisemitism, Medical content, Grief, Car accident, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Abandonment, and Alcohol