Reviews tagging 'Eating disorder'

What My Bones Know: A Memoir of Healing from Complex Trauma by Stephanie Foo

13 reviews

gabhopesreads's review against another edition

5.0

This is the best memoir I've ever read. It's so well-written, phenomenal on audio and one of my favorites this year so far. I loved the narration, plus the included audios of her therapy sessions. I loved how she went into details about history, hers and forgotten history, erased history. I loved how it felt like I was put under a microscope and dissected, but in actuality she was explaining her C-PTSD. At the end, the message of hope mirrored my own that I was lucky enough to find years ago. I wish I'd read this sooner, when I'd been drowning in my diagnosis. But the thing with C-PTSD is it's always there, so this will be helpful to read at any point in my life. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Pandemic/Epidemic, Hate crime, Gun violence, Violence, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Racism, Grief, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Genocide, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Dysphoria, Domestic abuse, Cultural appropriation, Child abuse, Car accident, and Bullying

melodyseestrees's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective medium-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Alcoholism, Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, Racism, Self harm, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Gaslighting, Eating disorder, Drug abuse, Domestic abuse, Cursing, Car accident, and Addiction

provo's review

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

Luckily, Stephanie Foo did not just write a memoir - as a journalist, she researches very well and takes the reader on a journey from her childhood to the first real results of her recovery. 
By doing so, she doesn’t try to paint a picture of a miracle healing, but shows, how hard it is to find individual solutions in a dysfunctional medical system where not enough professionals are familiar with this young diagnosis. She elaborates how racism and sexism play a part in c-ptsd and does not shy away from talking about genetics and intergenerational trauma.

At some points in the early chapters the abuse is written quite graphic, so be aware of that, otherwise I’d say it is the perfect book for someone recently diagnosed with c-ptsd or people who are close to someone with this diagnosis. It also has a lot of quotes for follow-up-literature.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Emotional abuse, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Abandonment, Child abuse, and Chronic illness

Moderate: Self harm, Eating disorder, Misogyny, Ableism, Panic attacks/disorders, Classism, Colonisation, Domestic abuse, and Racism

hinatakaname's review

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Violence, Child abuse, Addiction, and Eating disorder

Moderate: Death of parent

ebonyrose's review

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

3.75

 Stephanie Foo's memoir What My Bones Know details her painful, abusive childhood and her eventual understanding of a diagnosis of C-PTSD. This memoir was equal parts vulnerable and informative. I didn't know a lot about C-PTSD prior to reading this book, and Foo's memoir allowed me to learn about the condition in the context of her painful life as a child of abusive and neglectful parents, and an adult struggling to grapple with the effects of that. I appreciated Foo situating her abuse in a very specific cultural context (she is Chinese-American, but was born in Malaysia), and I appreciated the ways she discusses mental health challenges and how they might manifest differently in people of colour.

I am so impressed with Foo's courage and honesty, and how hard she has worked to understand herself, and to begin to heal. A very solid memoir. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment and Child abuse

Minor: Alcohol and Eating disorder

zombiezami's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Panic attacks/disorders, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Abandonment, Self harm, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Torture, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, Grief, Child abuse, Violence, and Eating disorder

Moderate: Sexual violence, Sexual content, Death, Alcohol, Rape, Addiction, Police brutality, Bullying, Drug use, Drug abuse, Sexual harassment, Medical content, Hate crime, Sexual assault, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Kidnapping, Child death, War, Excrement, Gun violence, Infidelity, Murder, and Cancer

asha_m's review

emotional hopeful reflective slow-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Physical abuse, Mental illness, Emotional abuse, Violence, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Eating disorder and Self harm

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders

bi_n_large's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective tense fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Mental illness, Child abuse, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, Suicide, Emotional abuse, and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Racism, Eating disorder, Toxic friendship, and War

Minor: Rape and Death

gabyisafreeelf's review

emotional informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Physical abuse, and Drug use

Moderate: Alcohol, Panic attacks/disorders, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Eating disorder and Body shaming

careinthelibrary's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

4.0

This was really good. It struck me how candid Stephanie was being about her childhood traumas, how those experiences affected her and as a result rippled down to all of Foo's relationships and aspirations.
The descriptions of the childhood abuse was palpable, sickening, and incredibly sad. Major content warnings for these scenes, please take care while reading.

The relationships with her parents in her adulthood was also fascinating. How she manages to maintain some contact with her father despite how much he hurt her. We do what we must to find mental and physical safety but how much we can crave love from our parents even if we fear them. It's a constant balancing act and so emotionally exhausting.

I don't know very much about psychiatry and psychology so this aspect of the memoir was a bit over my head but I still followed along. She made it pretty easy for non-experts to understand the different kinds of treatment she sought. This memoir is so sad, reading about Foo encountering so many hurdles and struggling to find the light at the end of the tunnel. Knowing that she was well enough to write this memoir, reflecting on her life does little to lessen the second-hand blow of her life story to the reader. It's heavy heavy heavy.

I wish her the best in continuing to heal and understand herself before and after the trauma.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Medical content, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Abandonment, Bullying, Medical trauma, Toxic relationship, Physical abuse, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Cursing, Grief, Self harm, Hate crime, Ableism, Alcohol, Suicide attempt, and Alcoholism

Minor: Body shaming, War, Incest, and Infertility

negative self-talk, bad therapy experiences, victim blaming.