Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

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

16 reviews

akvolcano's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad tense fast-paced

4.75

Loved reading this book! Trauma is always spoken in the context of war veterans, but the intricacies are never fully connected. This book well develops the connection. It actually goes further by not separating citizen trauma from war trauma, but speaks of them on the same level. When I began this reading I was skeptical if there would be any new concepts or material. I am happy to say that there was in fact exploration in areas that have not been fed into mainstream media! As a survivor myself, I enjoy that throughout the book there is consistently stories of people being shared. I would like to read a book like this one that takes its central concepts and goes a bit further. Overall, excellent well researched and articulated book!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Incest, Mass/school shootings, Lesbophobia, Medical trauma, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, Abandonment, Addiction, Alcohol, Body shaming, Car accident, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Dysphoria, Fatphobia, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Gore, Infidelity, Medical content, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Pedophilia, Police brutality, Racism, Pregnancy, Rape, Self harm, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, War, and Violence

emsemaroo's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative slow-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Incest, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Violence, Death, Domestic abuse, Medical content, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Emotional abuse, Rape, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and War

Moderate: Forced institutionalization, Infidelity, Body shaming, Car accident, Fatphobia, Fire/Fire injury, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Stalking, Trafficking, Vomit, Gore, Terminal illness, Drug abuse, Genocide, Ableism, Blood, Body horror, and Kidnapping

authorbrittanibee's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

I'm honestly not sure how to rate such a read, but I can certainly share my thoughts on it.

Going in, this book immediately caused the trauma I have been working on to resurface in a very strong way. I think I personally should have prepared myself more mentally for the first half of the book as the stories shared immediately upset me. If certain stories of trauma cause you distress, I highly recommend either mentally preparing yourself for them or skipping to the end of the book where it relates more to healing and recovery (there are still mentions of traumatic stories, but the frequency and intensity is less as this area is more focused on the observable benefits of different types of therapy). This is definitely a book that should be read in manageable chunks, with lots of breaks in between, especially if any of the inner stories resonate with you or your past experiences. 

I definitely felt more empowered as I reached the latter chapters of this book when the author discusses the advances and implications of specific therapies as applied to various trauma survivors. I was especially surprised to find that EMDR had such high rates of "cure" for lack of a better term, but that this did not translate to those with history of childhood trauma, such as myself. What I really appreciated was the extensive dive into each form of therapy (EMDR, Yoga, Physchomotor, Neurofeedback, IFS, etc) as I hadn't heard of many of them and they each offered a potential solution. There are even specific resources and websites listed at the back of the book in case you want to further explore options for yourself. 

Overall, this book was wonderful in helping me to feel seen and less upset about the symptoms I have experienced throughout my life. It even helped me to uncover possible explanations as to why I have such a lapse in memory with my childhood years, reasons I may have been acting out, and why I view the world in the ways I do now. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Body horror, Blood, Child abuse, Abandonment, Addiction, and Adult/minor relationship

Moderate: Chronic illness, Drug use, Eating disorder, Suicidal thoughts, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Death, Excrement, Pedophilia, Grief, Gun violence, Mass/school shootings, Self harm, Violence, War, Rape, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, Incest, Suicide, and Toxic relationship

issyd23's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

2.0

Too boring 2🧠

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Sexual violence, Addiction, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Self harm, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Incest, Murder, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gaslighting, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Grief, Rape, Sexual assault, Abandonment, Dysphoria, and Emotional abuse

mariamj's review against another edition

It was extremely triggering. His blunt description of certain traumatic instances made it unbearable to read. If you have trauma or active trauma I DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS BOOK AS A START TO YOUR HEALING JOURNEY. Maybe I'll try again later...

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Child abuse, Violence, and Body horror

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Suicidal thoughts, and Addiction

delery's review against another edition

dark emotional informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

3.25

this book was... a lot. i don't think i was necessarily in the right headspace to read it at this time. but it covered so many interesting issues, and i liked how it discussed different treatment methods. but also this book made me nauseous so... idk. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Grief, Incest, Medical content, Pedophilia, Ableism, Abortion, Blood, Body horror, Murder, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Addiction, Car accident, Child death, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Chronic illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Violence, Drug use, Abandonment, Alcoholism, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Classism, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Sexual violence, Animal death, Cancer, Child abuse, Medical trauma, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide attempt, Domestic abuse, Body shaming, and Drug abuse

tseth's review against another edition

challenging informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Drug abuse, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Drug use, Eating disorder, Grief, Incest, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Self harm, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Abandonment, Body horror, Bullying, Suicidal thoughts, Emotional abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Domestic abuse, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, and Rape

amandareads246's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Addiction, Cancer, Child abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Grief, Chronic illness, Incest, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Car accident, Child death, Death, Abandonment, Domestic abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Drug use, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Drug abuse, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Sexual assault

gabriella_'s review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

5.0

I tried reading this book twice but had to stop because of how emotional it made me. But now that I’ve finally finished it, I wish I read it sooner. It was incredibly informative and absolutely heartbreaking. Some individual patient stories were gutwrenching, so it’s best to take breaks as needed. Listen to your body with this one. Reflect, and be kind to yourself.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Medical trauma, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Pedophilia, Confinement, Body horror, Child abuse, Car accident, Body shaming, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Blood, Incest, Sexual harassment, Medical content, Eating disorder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual assault, Self harm, Physical abuse, Misogyny, Gun violence, Genocide, Death, Bullying, Alcohol, and Alcoholism

stevia333k's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful informative reflective slow-paced

3.0

PS: i've learned since reading this book that the author got fired for harassing his employees. because of the contradictions i noted in this book, with this review, it made sense. i've cut it down to 3 stars instead of 5 because i think maybe he was trying to trigger people instead of relate to traumatized people. it's 3 instead of 1 because it makes me question the family as organizing praxis when incest has historically if not also currently so normalized.

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the book is helpful. it contains several graphic examples of trauma, so be careful & take your time. like this book has advanced my therapy & such a ton, so that's why it's 5 stars because it explains how my body works, how trauma works, suggestions for healing from it, etc. also the discussion of the history of psychiatry & getting recognition for diagnoses was helpful too, including how anti-psychotics got rid of the mental institution as a place of imprisonment.

he also works a shitload with veterans, which personally sucked for me since i associate soldiers (especially usamerican ones) with genociders & war rapists. that being said, i know the military is surprisingly a major component of pop culture. 

so yeah. anyways, I think this centering of USA's military makes him reformist & it shows when he tries to argue things from a budget or cost-savings perspective in ending child abuse while not getting how businesses & employers rely on vertical ethics & abuse.

i'm looking back on my notes & it seems chapter 12 or 13 triggered the hell out of me that i didn't make reading progress for a month. i also stopped taking notes around the 56% mark, like i just wanted to get it done. he cites transphobe germaine greer around that point in the book to talk about how war makes troops sick not sick troops went to war (which like dude couldn't you have cited anybody else!).

so basically get some physical exercise involved that make you conscious of where your body is holding pain. this is important since body contact with certain parts can be related to certain traumas. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Sexual assault, Rape, Bullying, Sexual harassment, Domestic abuse, Body horror, Abandonment, Ableism, Addiction, Sexual violence, and Suicidal thoughts