Reviews tagging 'Chronic illness'

The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma by Bessel van der Kolk

71 reviews

julesadventurezone's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative inspiring slow-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Child abuse, Pedophilia, Car accident, Incest, and Violence

Moderate: Bullying, Alcohol, Child death, Rape, Medical trauma, Xenophobia, Toxic relationship, Self harm, Pedophilia, Medical content, Alcoholism, Drug use, Addiction, Forced institutionalization, War, Death of parent, Ableism, Domestic abuse, Abandonment, Eating disorder, Injury/Injury detail, Car accident, Mental illness, Grief, Emotional abuse, Drug abuse, Death, and Chronic illness

Minor: Vomit, Suicide attempt, Infidelity, Islamophobia, Racial slurs, Suicidal thoughts, Religious bigotry, and Suicide

takeiteasypolicy's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Chronic illness, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Addiction, Gaslighting, Sexual assault, Rape, Self harm, Sexual violence, Suicide, Trafficking, Violence, Suicide attempt, Pedophilia, Panic attacks/disorders, Grief, Forced institutionalization, Drug abuse, Adult/minor relationship, and Alcoholism

samcsmith's review against another edition

dark hopeful informative reflective sad slow-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Suicide attempt, Abandonment, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, War, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Grief, Incest, Pedophilia, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Alcohol, Forced institutionalization, Gun violence, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Cursing, Chronic illness, and Confinement

themookintosh's review against another edition

challenging informative reflective slow-paced

4.25

Incredibly informative, not much use of academic jargon which helps the lay reader. I feel as though every person who either has or who has worked with trauma in their lives needs to read this book. It expertly highlights how trauma is the biggest issue facing social care throughout Western society and provides several insights into research and treatment options.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Abandonment, Emotional abuse, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Chronic illness, Sexual assault, Medical content, Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Self harm, and Mental illness

meyahp's review against another edition

hopeful informative inspiring reflective tense slow-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Chronic illness, Car accident, Drug abuse, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Child death, Blood, Grief, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Rape, Classism, Child abuse, Medical trauma, Mental illness, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

genstrong's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Child abuse, Gaslighting, Suicidal thoughts, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Grief, Rape, Mental illness, Self harm, Physical abuse, Violence, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and War

itsmelaurenc's review

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Physical abuse, Abandonment, Domestic abuse, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Forced institutionalization, Torture, Death of parent, Addiction, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Eating disorder, Medical trauma, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Violence, War, Bullying, Gun violence, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Trafficking, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

probablytoolate's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Chronic illness, Car accident, Death, War, and Domestic abuse

ahuggingsam's review against another edition

challenging hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Rape, Physical abuse, Hate crime, Grief, Forced institutionalization, Chronic illness, Addiction, Drug abuse, Domestic abuse, Bullying, Medical trauma, Violence, Sexual assault, War, Eating disorder, Toxic relationship, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Emotional abuse, Drug use, Suicide attempt, Medical content, Pedophilia, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, and Incest

studeronomy's review against another edition

informative medium-paced

3.25

As Charles Darwin wrote in his notebook, "The mind is a function of body." And, as this book convincingly shows, the body keeps a vicious tally of the wounds inflicted on the mind. These physical tallies are most easy to detect in people who suffer from PTSD and its adjacent disorders, but the implications of this book is that all our bodies carry the suffering our spirits have endured in ways that are tangible and quantifiable.

I know "The Body Keeps the Score" has its detractors and, because Bessel van der Kolk wrote it for a popular audience, he necessarily simplified some otherwise complex studies and truncated some otherwise complex research conclusions. But van der Kolk's observations over a fifty-year career demonstrate a couple things to me:

First, the field of psychiatry is (or was, until recently) hopelessly siloed. Psychopharmacologists aren't talking to neuroscientists aren't talking cognitive scientists aren't talking to social workers and therapists. Communication between disciplines and subdisciplines is very poor. And this doesn't begin to address the different methods of treating trauma that van der Kolk describes, most of which developed in disparate subdisciplines without much coordination with other subdisciplines. The whole organization of psychiatry (like the organization of most fields of study) is very messy.

Second, psychiatry still lacks its "germ theory," an explanation for the prevalence and cause of most mental illnesses and mood disorders. And such a theory might be impossible, given the nature of the mind itself. As Darwin also wrote in his notebook, "Experience shows the problem of the mind cannot be solved by attacking the citadel itself." An attack on the "citadel" of the mind cannot be a direct attack. There may be no unifying theory of the varied experiences we associate with "mind," "brain," "cognition," "the soul," whatever. And certainly no single field or discipline or method will unlock the mysteries of those experiences. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Incest, Sexual assault, Chronic illness, Drug abuse, War, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Rape, Eating disorder, Physical abuse, Self harm, Addiction, Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt