Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

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

203 reviews

peregrinwho's review

challenging dark emotional reflective medium-paced

4.5

Something I'll be digesting for a while. Everyone deserves a therapist who will call them out on their behaviors, and I was grateful for the inclusion of the actual recordings from chapter 37 onward. It really let us understand what it's like the be vulnerable in those headspaces. I couldn't relate to everything here, especially the ending, but I acknowledge this book would be very helpful and healing to people without my neurotype, and those who haven't done a lot of research. Having more people share their stories is the goal. Just maybe approach with caution if you're on the autism spectrum. Thanks for sharing Stephanie♡.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Mental illness, and Child abuse

Minor: Pandemic/Epidemic

casall64's review

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Drug abuse, Suicide attempt, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Abandonment, Child abuse, and Emotional abuse

marta_gaspar's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Violence, Mental illness, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Gaslighting and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Suicidal thoughts and War

a_novi's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.25

This book was amazing. As someone who grew up in a household with abuse and violence I saw myself in these pages so heavily that I am excited to purchase this book for myself in paper copy so I can annotate it. Foo is so raw in this book that if you have experienced similar feelings and experiences as her you will have no problem understanding just what she is describing. It’s not literary art it’s just incredibly REAL. This book would be helpful for people with CPTSD to better understand themselves but also for loved ones to read to better understand it too. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Child abuse, Mental illness, and Physical abuse

rubellaface's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

Quick caveat: I do not have C-PTSD. I am a second-generation Filipino American who grew up to have high-functioning anxiety & depression due to tiger parenting, growing up Asian American, and being forced to become an alpha daughter. 

Reading this book triggered me and had me questioning my reality and how I’ve often laughed-off or disassociated my personal trauma in order to succeed in life (and therefore be perceived as being okay). Her coping mechanisms were/are my coping mechanisms, and funnily enough, I didn’t even realize they were coping mechanisms. So as Stephanie went down the rabbit hole of finding out what her bones know and how to fix it, I was right beside her– transfixed and checking my own bones for fissures and trauma from similar situations in my family life. 

Cause Stephanie Foo does not pull her punches when recounting her childhood. Every abusive situation is described in a way that is almost clinical and ripe for analyzing. Her book is basically an emotional autopsy of her trauma, and the way she uses her journalism background to thoroughly vet every single c-ptsd-related therapy is both thrilling and heartbreaking. As a reader, you want Stephanie to find a therapy that works for her and that can “cure” her, and I just wanted to hug her each time a practice or therapist failed her. 

Needless to say, I was emotionally invested in Stephanie’s book. I cried towards the end as she found stable ground and the tools to fight for her peace of mind. And I cried again at the similarities in how we approached our weddings and wedding guests. Her healing journey echoed and reaffirmed my own, and I will recommend this book to all my AAPI friends who I know have gone through sh*t and are trying their best.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Drug use, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Addiction, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, and Violence

Moderate: Ableism, Pandemic/Epidemic, Racism, Sexual assault, Colonisation, Misogyny, Sexism, and Classism

Very triggering. Sometimes in a good way.

kenrya's review

challenging emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring sad medium-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Violence, Eating disorder, Pandemic/Epidemic, Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, Gaslighting, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Abandonment, Bullying, Child abuse, and Cursing

alexijai98's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

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

abbywj's review against another edition

dark emotional informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Abandonment, Child abuse, and Mental illness

minnousche's review

challenging emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Child abuse, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, and Suicide attempt

punk_flower_child's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

5.0

I loved this book so much. Deeply personal, realistic, and inspired so much hope in me. Whether you live with CPTSD, anxiety, depression, or none of the above, this is a wonderful and deeply thought provoking book 

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Content Warnings

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