Reviews tagging 'Medical trauma'

El cuerpo lleva la cuenta: Cerebro, mente y cuerpo en la superación del trauma by Bessel van der Kolk

231 reviews

evalunny's review against another edition

4.0

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Incest, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, War, Injury/Injury detail

susannadkm's review against another edition

3.5

informative sad medium-paced

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“Social support is not the same as merely being in the presence of others. The critical issue is reciprocity: being truly heard and seen by the people around us, feeling that we are held in someone else’s mind and heart. For our physiology to calm down, heal, and grow we need a visceral feeling of safety. No doctor can write a prescription for friendship and love…” (Chapter 5) 

3.5 stars. This is an absorbing book for anyone curious about trauma therapy and how it’s evolved in recent decades. I like how it’s full of stories, and van der Kolk isn’t afraid to admit when he realized he was wrong (like about eye movement desensitization and reintegration).

I’m not sure it’s the best book to read for those looking for the best treatment methods (so many of the stories are anecdotal) or coming to grips with sexual trauma (so many stories are graphic), though.

I listened to the audiobook.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Medical trauma, Car accident, War

Moderate: Eating disorder, Panic attacks/disorders, Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Infidelity, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Murder

kadengrace's review against another edition

2.5

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

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i’ve heard the phrase “the body keeps the score” so often that i wanted to read this book to hopefully learn more, but i think i could have learned more about this concept from better resources. this book was dense and heavy, which meant i needed to split up my reading sessions in order to finish it. i’m not fully sure how useful this book will be to me—i think it brought up interesting ideas that i’m looking forward to exploring in other resources, but i wonder how much detail was needed in descriptions of trauma. it felt overly triggering and written from a relatively narrow point of view. i think i will gain more elsewhere, and i’m not sure what i did gain from reading this book was worth the struggle to finish it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Trafficking, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , War, Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Child death, Death, Drug use, Eating disorder, Grief, Abandonment, Classism

brookerobbo's review against another edition

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Medical trauma, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, War

s_lorenz's review against another edition

5.0

hopeful informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Emotional abuse, Incest, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Murder, Classism

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racism, Self harm, Torture, Police brutality, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Abandonment, Alcohol, Classism

averagereadin's review against another edition

3.25

challenging emotional informative inspiring slow-paced

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual harassment, War

bookfriend8's review against another edition

4.75

emotional informative reflective slow-paced

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Really appreciate this book. I was worried about it being too medical and difficult to understand, but the author provides thorough and accessible explanations on what happens to the human body and mind after trauma, and also offers his opinion on how conditions such as (C)PTSD can effectively be cured. He supports his scientific descriptions with personal and patient anecdotes, and although these were often very graphic and distressing (trigger warning for everything), it helped to balance out the scientific information and to see how they manifest in real life. Understanding how distressing experiences can literally change a person forever really explains the origins of people’s behaviours and patterns. Overall, would give it 5/5, but some chapters were also long-winded and repetitive, and there was plenty of US-defaultism.
It was deeply enlightening for me to read this book and I’m glad I decided to pick it up. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Medical content, Grief, War

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug use, Eating disorder, Suicide, Medical trauma, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Abandonment

Includes virtually all triggering topics, would not recommend to people who aren’t comfortable with difficult or graphic stories, particularly if they relate personally.

sugarwookiee's review against another edition

4.0

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad slow-paced

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

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

Minor: Confinement, Death, Death of parent

egcam's review against another edition

4.0

informative reflective slow-paced

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Medical content, Medical trauma, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , War

lj_sophia's review against another edition

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I didn't enjoy how filled up this book is with the author's inflated ego. He also picks and chooses who to provide sympathy to and it's usually the men he treated. It comes off as unfeeling and sometimes predatory. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Incest, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Medical content, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, War