Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Group: How One Therapist and a Circle of Strangers Saved My Life by Christie Tate

23 reviews

katylizg's review against another edition

challenging dark funny fast-paced

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Death, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Excrement, Vomit, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Dysphoria

urbanall's review against another edition

emotional inspiring fast-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic relationship

brogan7's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny lighthearted sad medium-paced

2.0

This book chugs along at break-neck speed.  Unfortunately it's equal parts fascinating and horrifying, sort of like watching a train wreck.  I kept waiting for her to ,

leave her terrible therapist, but she never did!

I don't know how she got Lori Gottlieb to do a positive blurb for the cover; I really liked Maybe you should talk to someone and I had respect for Gottlieb as a therapist.  But any therapist should know there were serious problems with Christie Tate's therapy, and not put their name on the front cover of this book!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Violence and Vomit

Minor: Suicidal thoughts

mary_pat's review against another edition

emotional hopeful medium-paced

4.0

Memoir that read like a novel. I read this in two days, could not put it down. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body shaming, Death, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Vomit, and Pregnancy

amandalorianxo's review against another edition

tense slow-paced

2.0

Let me preface this by saying that I have gone to therapy. I didn't do group therapy but I'm familiar with the experience of talking about the deepest, most vulnerable parts of yourself to someone who has no idea what your background / history is like unless you tell them straight up. I came across this book with low expectations and I'm glad I did. The manner in which this therapist did his treatments sounds made me raise my eyebrows. Plus - it seemed as if the author herself had a lot of trauma that needed more than just therapy to sift through the uncomfortable thoughts/ideas / low self-esteem. I also (not to sound mean but) truthfully - I was .... unmoved by some of the background that Tate told us about her life. I listened to this on my commute to work and back & found myself wanting to listen to something else more than half the time. Overal... I don't think this is the best book to choose if you are contemplating therapy. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Eating disorder, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Grief, and Medical trauma

sadhbhdunne's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted reflective medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Eating disorder, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, and Grief

fawns's review against another edition

fast-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Cursing, Death, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, and Grief

giulia's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring slow-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body shaming, Death, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, and Grief

ashleereadsbooks692's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective slow-paced

1.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Body shaming, Eating disorder, and Toxic relationship

kelly_e's review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-paced

3.25

Title: Group: How One Therapist and a Circle of Strangers Saved My Life
Author: Christie Tate
Genre: Nonfiction - Memoir
Rating: 3.25 stars
Pub Date: October 27 2020

Thank you to Simon & Schuster Canada for sending me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

T H R E E • W O R D S

Emotional • Raw • Unconventional

📖 S Y N O P S I S

Having just been named the top student of her law class and having control over her disorder eating, Christie Tate couldn't figure out why she was fantasizing about her own death. Group is Christe's memoir recounting her journey through group therapy and a group of stranger what would change her life forever.

💭 T H O U G H T S

I want to start out by saying I understand there is much controversary surrounding this book, from ethical boundaries to privilege to oversharing, there are certainly issues here that deserve to be recognized and discussed. At times the book left me feeling extremely uncomfortable in some of the therapy practices used and the disclosure of personal information of some of the author's groupmates.

Controversary aside, I have to commend the author for staring vulnerability in the face and sharing her story. I certainly hope the process of writing it was therapeutic in itself. What I personally want to take away from this is the power of connection. When Christie started group, all she wanted was to be 'fixed' but what she will learn is the need to put in hard work, all the time knowing her groupmates will always be there to support her through whatever goes on in her life.

If this book can do anything, I hope it is that it helps normalize therapy and helps remove the stigma surrounding mental health. Therapy, though proven beneficial, remains inaccessible to many for both financial and shame culture reasons.

If you do decide to embark on the journey of reading this book, keep it mind it must be taken with a grain of salt. After reading reviews and more about the author, I've come to question whether the content truthful or not. In no way is this an accurate portrayal of what group therapy always looks like or is like for everyone.

📚 R E C O M M E N D • T O
• book clubs

🔖 F A V O U R I T E • Q U O T E S

"You don't need a cure. You need a witness." 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Eating disorder, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Cursing and Death

bulimia, mental health, witnessing death, privilege