Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

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

26 reviews

allie_love's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad slow-paced

5.0

Incredible book. At times it was hard to listen to due to how heavy the subject matters were and it was necessary to step away sometimes. I learned a lot about the brain, myself, childhood, and possibilities. As an actor, reading about theatre and the positive work it can do with trauma made my heart sing. The arts can be such a blessing and so many don’t even see it or are so quick to cancel it when funding is tight. Highly recommend this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, Gaslighting, Alcoholism, Trafficking, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Suicide, Addiction, Incest, Mental illness, Emotional abuse, Medical trauma, Drug use, Rape, Violence, Medical content, Child abuse, War, Torture, Grief, Eating disorder, Car accident, and Adult/minor relationship

saskia_ej's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Addiction, Alcohol, Medical content, Grief, Incest, Sexual assault, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Pandemic/Epidemic, Abandonment, Domestic abuse, Car accident, Child abuse, Death, Sexual harassment, Pedophilia, Infidelity, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Rape, Death of parent, Alcoholism, Blood, Drug abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Suicide attempt, and Violence

takeiteasypolicy's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Chronic illness, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Addiction, Gaslighting, Sexual assault, Rape, Self harm, Sexual violence, Suicide, Trafficking, Violence, Suicide attempt, Pedophilia, Panic attacks/disorders, Grief, Forced institutionalization, Drug abuse, Adult/minor relationship, and Alcoholism

genstrong's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Child abuse, Gaslighting, Suicidal thoughts, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Grief, Rape, Mental illness, Self harm, Physical abuse, Violence, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and War

theskyboi's review

informative slow-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Addiction, Alcoholism, Self harm, Gaslighting, Domestic abuse, Violence, Sexual violence, Abandonment, Sexual assault, Forced institutionalization, Murder, War, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Medical content, Alcohol, Emotional abuse, Drug use, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Rape, Physical abuse, Incest, Drug abuse, Death, Pedophilia, Suicide, Child abuse, and Child death

valleysoshady's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring sad tense medium-paced

5.0

I think everyone should read this book. It can inform how techers deal with students, how parents raise their children, how adults reconcile their habits and behviours with past experience. Using the examplesnof vetrans experiencing PTSD and adults with Complex PTSD resulting from childhood or adult trauma, the author uses case studies in symptoms and healing from  trauma and how specific types of  therapies can help.

The book uses extreme experiences to show how people are shaped by their environments and gives hope in the resilience of the brain for overcoming instinctual reactions. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Sexual assault, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicidal thoughts, Gaslighting, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Adult/minor relationship, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Drug abuse, Bullying, Self harm, Abandonment, Addiction, Medical content, Pregnancy, Eating disorder, Incest, Violence, Child abuse, and Drug use

The contents are carefully handled in the context of medical experience to inform understandingbof impact, but can be triggering.

phouka's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective slow-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual content, Bullying, Chronic illness, Classism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Car accident, Child abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicide attempt, Abandonment, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Self harm, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Rape, Alcoholism, Toxic relationship, Incest, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Sexual harassment, and Sexual violence

Minor: Cancer

As this book is about trauma, it gives lots of references and in some cases examples of hard topics.

akvolcano's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad tense fast-paced

4.75

Loved reading this book! Trauma is always spoken in the context of war veterans, but the intricacies are never fully connected. This book well develops the connection. It actually goes further by not separating citizen trauma from war trauma, but speaks of them on the same level. When I began this reading I was skeptical if there would be any new concepts or material. I am happy to say that there was in fact exploration in areas that have not been fed into mainstream media! As a survivor myself, I enjoy that throughout the book there is consistently stories of people being shared. I would like to read a book like this one that takes its central concepts and goes a bit further. Overall, excellent well researched and articulated book!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Incest, Mass/school shootings, Lesbophobia, Medical trauma, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, Abandonment, Addiction, Alcohol, Body shaming, Car accident, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Dysphoria, Fatphobia, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Gore, Infidelity, Medical content, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Pedophilia, Police brutality, Racism, Pregnancy, Rape, Self harm, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, War, and Violence

annerbtw's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad slow-paced

3.75

 3.78/5 ⭐️ - because I want to be difficult with my rating.

I liked it, I found it insightful, but I think I went in with the wrong expectations. I assumed that by the end of the book, you'd have resources that could be "easily" applied to your own mental health journey. Kolk definitely teaches you about them, but they're not easily applied to anything specific you might have going on. It's a very educational read... but don't read it side-by-side with A Little Life, my GOD... do not.

Also, (sorry for long review, anyone reading) there are some negative reviews about Kolk sympathizing with horrible people - I don't necessarily think that's true. The same way that people find documentaries about serial killers interesting, I think the same applies here. I would never excuse the actions some mentally disturbed people do at the beginning of this book, but I think it's important for us to find the source (if there is one), and figure out how to keep it from happening again. There can be a lot of fascination in this topic because of just how complex humans are, how complex the brain is.... that's what the whole book is about. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Panic attacks/disorders, Medical trauma, Incest, Grief, Gaslighting, Eating disorder, Child abuse, Blood, Toxic relationship, Torture, Mental illness, Forced institutionalization, Drug abuse, Death of parent, Chronic illness, Addiction, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Rape, Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, Drug use, Domestic abuse, Child death, Cannibalism, Alcoholism, Suicide attempt, Alcohol, and Death

sugarwookiee's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad slow-paced

4.0

If you're looking for a self-help book that will tell you how to overcome trauma, this is not it. If, like me, you were more interested in the ways that trauma manifests in the body and mind from a more clinical perspective, as well as the various treatments and their efficacy, it's great. There are plenty of books that accomplish the former and that's not what I was looking for here, so overall I enjoyed this. 

It is quite slow paced and the author is a bit pretentious at times. There is a significant amount of detail involving some of his patients' trauma (more than I feel is necessary in my opinion) but this is coming from someone who suffers from CPTSD; those reading from a clinical perspective without that may feel differently.

I found the first half of the book to be the most interesting because it showed me the ways in which I was holding onto trauma that I hadn't realized. The way that trauma can and does seep into every part of your existence and things that you may not realize were related were in fact a direct result. If that seems interesting to you and you're able to deal with some intense descriptions, it's a worthwhile read. If you're looking for self-help and a less medical, more talk-therapy type of book, this isn't it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Incest, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Adult/minor relationship, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Pedophilia, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Mental illness, Medical trauma, and Body shaming

Moderate: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Cursing, Self harm, Rape, and Addiction

Minor: Confinement, Death, and Death of parent