Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

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

328 reviews

akillerhoneybee's review against another edition

challenging informative reflective slow-paced

4.75

Informative. Not necessarily an enjoyable read, but insightful on methods of dealing with trauma. Trigger warnings in various stories told of patients' experiences.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Incest, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Medical content, Suicide attempt, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Abandonment, and War

tamzy6's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective tense medium-paced

4.0

I'm fascinated by how trauma affects the body and as the name suggests, how the body keeps the score of trauma. I found myself wincing at the anecdotes and user stories because their stories were very haunting and the details were horrific. I can't believe they actually experienced such trauma. I also liked the chapters on theatre/performance and its benefits for trauma survivors. As an ex-theatre kid, I can definitely relate. 

However (and this is because I have a personal interest) I do wish that this book delved a bit more into CPTSD and how that affects the body as well and how that compares to other forms of trauma and I would find that useful. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, and Abandonment

Moderate: Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual assault, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

grovesr's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful informative reflective slow-paced

4.5

An informed take on PTSD, trauma, and wellness by an expert in the field. I appreciated the exploration of studies, and how they tied into his work and experiences. The book offers a wide range of proven techniques that the author has witnessed impact his patients. He describes how different therapies and techniques work for different kinds of people with different histories of trauma. Overall, a slow burn, but very interesting and thought provoking. I can see why this is an important read for folks who've dealt with trauma in any form. I found myself identifying how my experiences are reflected in this book, and what techniques may work for me.
As someone who's undergone therapy and addressed my triggers, I was comfortable reading this. I would caution folks with serious triggers to read the trigger warnings as there are descriptions of the violence many of his patients experienced. I found it very important to understand, though. And encourage folks who have responses to what they've read to explore the therapies that worked for the patient he described. 
I really appreciated the nuanced approach to discussing medication. The author described his personal experiences working in the mental health field as drugs were being developed, and how drugs CAN help, but are not a perfect solution for a myriad of reasons. I found that portion very insightful.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Incest, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Suicide attempt, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and War

karensushi's review against another edition

challenging informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Suicide

carpe0noctem's review against another edition

dark informative medium-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Incest, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Car accident, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Abandonment, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria, and Classism

medkip's review against another edition

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape and Sexual assault

bronzeageholly's review against another edition

challenging informative reflective medium-paced

4.0

Harrowing and eye-opening, this book addresses some of the most complex and challenging traumatic events that people have been through and the devastating effects they have on their lives. It can be very graphic, upsetting and triggering in parts, but the depth and breadth of valuable information about different therapies and medications as well as ways you can help your body through movement is profound and very significant.

After discussing PTSD in combat veterans, the book turns towards those who have C-PTSD from life experiences that were often overlooked or written off before PTSD became a diagnosable condition. The stories about how he came to understand his patients better through different treatments is some of the most interesting parts of the book for me - he never puts himself on a “I am a complete expert” pedestal, and his curiosity and intrigue really drive home how much we still have to learn about our brains.

I did think it was interesting to consider how PTSD and C-PTSD effect the ways our brains function to quite a high degree, but I didn’t like that bits of the book appeared to be conflating having C-PTSD as a child with having been misdiagnosed with ADHD. (I would see it the other way round - neurodivergent people are more likely to have C-PTSD because of how they are treated for being neurodivergent). I think understanding similarities and differences between PTSD and neurodivergence is incredibly complex, and the throwaway comments about it in the book did not do it justice and could cause confusion.

Overall, I learnt so much from this book about myself and how to help others that have been through trauma - I would recommend it to anyone who wants consider new avenues of treatment, and who feels they would have the safety systems in place to be able to handle the more triggering aspects of the book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Grief, Medical trauma, and Gaslighting

culown's review against another edition

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Medical trauma

sierrabowers's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.75

I think this book is great for those who are interested in how trauma affects the body. Educators, therapists, psychiatrists, and so many more professions can benefit from reading. The only reason I didn’t give it a five stars is because at about the halfway mark I did start to lose interest but I think that was as a result of audiobook listening and not reading the print version. I am definitely going to reread someday in print and would recommend to everyone. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Incest, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

analia's review against another edition

challenging dark informative slow-paced

3.5

This book has a ton of traumatic /triggering content! It took me a while to finish the audio book because it was so heavy. Apart from that it was also dense, packed with lots of information on studies and personal stories of traumatized individuals. I learned a lot but I also think this is not the best book to read in audio format. I think a lot of the content flew over my head because it required much more concentration than the type of audiobooks I normally listen to. I thought the narrator was a bit dry. Overall it’s a great book for someone wanting to know more about how trauma physically impacts us and ways we can treat it. I do wish there had been more social justice connections. He mentions it briefly in the epilogue but it deserves a whole chapter. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Incest, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, and Car accident