Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

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

86 reviews

eliosbooks's review against another edition

informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

This book is truly extraordinary, I love it so much as someone recently reliving a trauma through nightmares and flashbacks this book has been so validating and helpful.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Drug abuse, Incest, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Addiction, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Drug use, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Medical trauma, and Self harm

this is an informative trauma book that doesn't shy away from anything so just be aware of that

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

kaylynnlock's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Physical abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Addiction, Child abuse, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Mental illness, Domestic abuse, War, Rape, Medical trauma, Grief, Abandonment, Violence, Suicide, Drug use, and Death

Moderate: Self harm and Car accident

mswarning's review against another edition

emotional informative medium-paced

5.0

I cried so many times, so many interesting chapters. The audiobook made the patients' stories so very powerful. I will be buying this book in print for sure.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Sexual violence, Alcoholism, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, Emotional abuse, Eating disorder, War, Sexual assault, Drug use, Torture, Murder, Incest, Grief, and Addiction

rebb003's review

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring sad tense slow-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Drug abuse, Physical abuse, Eating disorder, Self harm, Drug use, Domestic abuse, Alcoholism, War, Rape, Child abuse, Mental illness, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Emotional abuse, Sexual violence, Incest, and Sexual assault

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

theskyboi's review against another edition

informative slow-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Addiction, Alcoholism, Self harm, Gaslighting, Domestic abuse, Violence, Sexual violence, Abandonment, Sexual assault, Forced institutionalization, Murder, War, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Medical content, Alcohol, Emotional abuse, Drug use, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Rape, Physical abuse, Incest, Drug abuse, Death, Pedophilia, Suicide, Child abuse, and Child death

reneenavarra's review against another edition

informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

5.0

Mental illness is related with society’s ills. I appreciate the highlight of poverty as a cause of trauma, and the call on providing social support in addressing mental illnesses. I also liked the discussion on the diverse forms of treatments. Lastly, I found the annecdotes from actual patients very moving. 

Overall, this was a good read not only on the topic of trauma but on how we as a society should talk about mental illness. Read with a critical lens though and mind the trigger warnings. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Self harm, Domestic abuse, Rape, Drug use, Child abuse, and Sexual violence

purpleowl6's review against another edition

dark emotional informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Incest, Abandonment, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Sexual assault, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Drug abuse, Sexual violence, Alcohol, Drug use, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Rape, and Self harm

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