Reviews tagging 'Self harm'

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

52 reviews

asha_m's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective slow-paced

5.0

---

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

margaretrose's review against another edition

dark emotional informative inspiring sad tense medium-paced

5.0

This book was absolutely amazing. Foo does something I haven't come across in a memoir about childhood trauma; the majority is about her navigating her adulthood. There's much more closure for the author AND the reader at the end. 

---

Content Warnings

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

gay's review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-paced

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Self harm

careinthelibrary's review

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.

---

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.

stephalopuff's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

As someone with CPTSD and dealt with my own awful mix of emotional/psychological/mental abuse with some physical sprinked in and a lack of empathetic, emotionally intelligent nurturing (phew!), this book felt particularly important for me to read. I appreciate Foo's viewpoint and journey as she navigates her diagnosis. I completely relate to feeling unlovable, unworthy of love and the really awful cycle of negative self-talk, guilt and shame. Her story isn't necessarily an easy one to listen to and I definitely had moments of sadness or anxiety as I could relate or grieved what could've been too, but it brings me comfort knowing there are people who understand how it feels moving through the world as an adult with C-PTSD. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, Suicidal thoughts, Physical abuse, Mental illness, Emotional abuse, and Abandonment

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders and Self harm

katsmedialibrary's review against another edition

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Suicide, and Mental illness

Minor: Self harm

faduma's review

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Violence, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Self harm, Gaslighting, Alcoholism, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, and Abandonment

lauramonas's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Abandonment, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, and Violence

rjansen282's review

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

4.5

---

Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Self harm

hangdazhang's review against another edition

dark emotional funny inspiring fast-paced

5.0

Informative yet personal. Nuanced yet easy to read. I indeed had to take a break when reading the chapters about the detail of her childhood abuse but as the writer noted in the beginning, everything will be fine.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Abandonment, Child abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Misogyny, Eating disorder, and Emotional abuse