Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

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

264 reviews

cgreenstein's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring medium-paced

4.75

This was incredibly powerful and hopeful and honest. I listened to it as an audiobook, which meant I got to hear excerpts from the actual therapy session recordings in the final third of the book, and I thought that was something that really enhanced the book-- you could hear her old self and contrast that with the current self who is now writing about the old self. At any rate, this book is evidence that the author is incredibly strong and incredibly compassionate, and I can see why the buzz around this book was so fervent. It's deserved.

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Pandemic/Epidemic

sarahbeaman's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

finishing this book felt like letting out a lifelong exhale. what a gorgeous, reflective and well-researched memoir about growing up and growing through complex ptsd, and about how love and family always find those who are brave enough to reach for them (despite despite despite).

i saw so much of myself in this book while also learning so much about the unique complexities of c-ptsd for people of colour or anyone from a marginalised group. one that will stay with me, i hope, for a long long time.

quotes that stuck out to me:

“Being healed isn't about fecling nothing. Being healed is about feeling the appropriate emotions at the appropriate times and still being able to come back to yourself.”

"Love is not a finite resource, something you have to mete out carefully like a package of Oreos. Instead, providing love begets more love, which begets more and more love.“

”I decide I'll get to washing up when I get to it. I'll get to everything when I get to it. The world will keep turning. The tacos are delicious, and I take my time eating them. And then I'm marveling: Oh, wow. Maybe this life I’ve got is going to be spectacular, after all.”

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abandonment, Colonisation, Mental illness, Child abuse, Bullying, and Emotional abuse

rai's review

challenging emotional informative reflective medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Child abuse, and Emotional abuse

jazzybelle17's review against another edition

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Racism, Violence, Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, and Genocide

cghegan's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective slow-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

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

alainab113's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative reflective sad medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Racism, Emotional abuse, and Child abuse

pipercurda's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective tense slow-paced

4.25

one of those pieces of media where you’re eternally screaming “get out of there” to the narrator but she just. won’t. and thus her story begins. an incredibly raw and honest look at complex trauma and the things that cause/exacerbate/help/heal it. i found it more difficult to get through than most this length, but i think that mostly had to do with the subject matter and finding it hard to sit down and read about abuse for more than thirty minutes straight. highly recommend to anyone in a space where they are able to digest this type of content. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Suicide, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Cursing, Abandonment, and Suicidal thoughts

demifang21's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective tense fast-paced

5.0

i’ll probably save all of my reflections on this book for therapy and my healing journey, but this is a life-changing book for understanding the way i move through life and what the road ahead for healing might look like. my heart caught in my throat reading the first third of the book which had the most severe violence. re-parenting, inner child work, hypervigilance around those who might leave or betray you, the search for a savior… too many resonant themes to count.

i feel like this book has helped me take leaps forward in understanding my long-standing struggles.

i’m not sure i could handle someone like Dr. Ham, but i’ve been listening to more of his podcast interviews alongside the end of the book as she started to work with him.

the healing work sounds exhausting but it’s heartening to hear what putting in the work might look like, and how committed some can be towards helping you heal.

xmas gift from my brother - thank you.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Violence, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, and Abandonment

kathleenfernandez's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

The author is vulnerable and candid. It's full of painful honesty and heartbreaking revelations about living with C-PTSD. It's remarkable to be on this journey with her and she's figuring out how to exist in this and the aftermath of her trauma 

- not only in terms of it being managable day-to-day by using different tools and strategies, but also in finding that new perspective of how her C-PTSD can serve her well in some moments to. 

I also particularly appreciated the dives into various research surrounding C-PTSD and therapeutic approaches and the revelations she had about each one (both effective and uneffective). 

It's refreshing to read about this journey and process from the perspective of the person who experienced the trauma as opposed to just the academic point of view.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment

Moderate: Emotional abuse and Child abuse

weesecup's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Child abuse, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders and Mental illness