julesadventurezone's review against another edition

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challenging emotional informative inspiring slow-paced

4.5


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alliehaddad's review against another edition

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dark hopeful informative slow-paced

3.25

If u work with kids or in any social services you should read

Kind of repetitive

Did NOT like the intro to veterans-warm crimes were obviously committed and just kind of brushed over 

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ehmannky's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective slow-paced

3.0

An in depth look at 1- just how common trauma is in the US (and other places but this mostly focuses on a US-Canada context), 2-the treatments being developed to treat trauma more effectively, and 3-the ways in which trauma manifests physically and not just mentally. While you are reading this, you will be confronted with a lot of difficult things, and it does include trauma that comes from people who did the horrific thing, not just experienced them (everything involving every Vietnam veteran in this book seemed to revolve around the horrific things the soldiers did in Vietnam). This book is probably most helpful to those in the field of trauma recovery, as a lot of the treatments discussed aren't really things that the average person can do on their own. 

I think it's also important to know that this author has been accused of mistreating employees, and if you want to avoid that, here you go. https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2018/03/07/allegations-employee-mistreatment-roil-renowned-trauma-center/sWW13agQDY9B9A1rt9eqnK/story.html

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edenfaulkner's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

I think trauma is an important topic for everyone to understand, at least to some extent, especially since our current systems often fail to acknowledge or address its long term effects. Odds are we’ve all either experienced trauma or know someone who has. I found this book helpful because Dr. van der Kolk describes trauma and its effects on the body in a way that’s easy to understand and provides in-depth examples of various treatments methods (other than medication) that have proven effective for many patients. My big takeaway from this book is that the road to recovery and healing isn’t always a straight path. Some things work for some people that don’t work for others. It’s important to find what treatment works for you. I also learned a lot about how trauma can affect behavior, how medication is often overprescribed, and much more. Very fascinating and informative read. 

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samcsmith's review against another edition

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dark hopeful informative reflective sad slow-paced

4.0


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smokeylives's review against another edition

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hopeful informative medium-paced

3.5


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randeerebecca's review against another edition

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informative slow-paced

4.5


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chelina_bobina's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

5.0

A hard read but super inspiring and eye opening about the way trauma affects people and different ways to cope with intense trauma. Not a fix all to problems but a great place to start in order to rebuild your mental health. 

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naff_tm's review against another edition

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challenging emotional informative reflective slow-paced

4.5

a heavy yet necessary read about the effects of trauma, how it envelops a person, and an array of solutions to combat and overcome it

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emilyb99's review against another edition

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challenging informative inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

4.0

he’s a very intelligent man. Unfortunately after reading it I discovered he had allegations against him for creating a hostile work environment among woman 😭 so I would recommend pirating this only lol.
I mean what’s done is done I’ve read the book. I don't need to reject the good he has done to my brain now that l've heard about some of the bad. 

I did think it was odd that the indigo I went to had 10 copies of his book and then suddenly they were all gone as if they had been sent away 😭! 

Anywho, 
This is quite a long read. It is also very descriptive of his patients trauma. I feel like without him stroking his own ego at times or getting too detailed about the brain this book could be 1/3rd shorter. But it’s fine, it’s very well written regardless and it did help me. It was extremely insightful, he has decades of experience in many different places. 

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