Reviews tagging 'Sexual harassment'

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

64 reviews

mikkidrayton's review against another edition

challenging informative reflective medium-paced

3.0

as a therapist using this to think about interventions and psycho education. however i dont think this should be recommended to clients to read like many of my colleagues do. i dont think its aimed at them nor would be read in the same light. it actually may be triggering and give answers without the means to receive them. very interesting in parts, self indulgent in others and overall a little too long and faffy. but useful to see how far trauma research and intervention has come and where it still has to go

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Rape, Car accident, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Eating disorder, Sexual harassment, Drug abuse, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicide attempt, War, and Sexual assault

lj_sophia's review against another edition

I didn't enjoy how filled up this book is with the author's inflated ego. He also picks and chooses who to provide sympathy to and it's usually the men he treated. It comes off as unfeeling and sometimes predatory. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Rape, Mental illness, War, Pedophilia, Medical trauma, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Chronic illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Panic attacks/disorders, Torture, Violence, Miscarriage, Sexual violence, Physical abuse, Murder, Medical content, Kidnapping, Incest, Addiction, and Alcoholism

amessina3399's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Medical content, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual assault, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Incest, Sexual harassment, Suicide, Drug abuse, Violence, Medical trauma, Addiction, Sexual violence, War, Alcohol, Abandonment, Car accident, Emotional abuse, Grief, Alcoholism, Blood, Mental illness, and Panic attacks/disorders

l1brarygirl's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

4.5

This was such a difficult book to read - all the trigger warnings for various traumas, please be forewarned. It was so very insightful though. There were many different types of therapies included and discussed and it was impactful to see what coping techniques traumatized people exhibit to survive (and may not realize). The power of the pharmaceutical companies and our [American] health care system that wants to prioritize over-medicating and treating symptoms instead of curing what ails us was also discussed.  There's no money to made when you can sell someone a pill  ...

My actual rating: 4.5 stars - I'm rounding up because I think this book is going to stay with me for a long time. I would recommend it to anyone that wants a deeper understanding of trauma and how it effects your physical body as well as the mind.  

I also recently read [book:Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art|48890486], which may be a very good companion read.

Impactful quotes:
“Many of our patients are barely aware of their breath, so learning to focus on the in and out breath, to notice whether the breath was fast or slow, and to count breaths in some poses can be a significant accomplishment.”

“We have learned that trauma is not just an event that took place sometime in the past; it is also the imprint left by that experience on mind, brain, and body. This imprint has ongoing consequences for how the human organism manages to survive in the present. Trauma results in a fundamental reorganization of the way mind and brain manage perceptions. It changes not only how we think and what we think about, but also our very capacity to think.”

“The greatest sources of our suffering are the lies we tell ourselves.”

“Over the years our research team has repeatedly found that chronic emotional abuse and neglect can be just as devastating as physical abuse and sexual molestation.”

“Talking about painful events doesn’t necessarily establish community – often quite the contrary. Families and organizations may reject members who air the dirty laundry; friends and family can lost patience with people who get stuck in their grief or hurt. This is one reason why trauma victims often withdraw and why their stories become rote narratives, edited into a form least likely to provoke rejection.”

“I wish I could separate trauma from politics, but as long as we continue to live in denial and treat only trauma while ignoring its origins, we are bound to fail. In today’s world your ZIP code, even more than your genetic code, determines whether you will lead a safe and healthy life. People’s income, family structure, housing, employment, and educational opportunities affect not only their risk of developing traumatic stress but also their access to effective help to address it. Poverty, unemployment, inferior schools, social isolation, widespread availability of guns, and substandard housing all are breeding grounds for trauma. Trauma breeds further trauma; hurt people hurt other people.”

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Rape, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexual violence, Pedophilia, Drug abuse, Sexual assault, Mental illness, Child abuse, Incest, Addiction, Panic attacks/disorders, and Abandonment

Moderate: Self harm, Eating disorder, Sexual harassment, Genocide, Ableism, Infidelity, War, Gaslighting, Death of parent, Abortion, Suicidal thoughts, and Medical trauma

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

owlribbon's review against another edition

challenging

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Torture, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Sexual violence, Grief, Suicide, Rape, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Physical abuse, and War

amyalwaysbooked's review against another edition

challenging dark informative reflective slow-paced

2.0

This one was difficult to review. I found the start of the book to be quite strong. There was some information about the brain and how it functions and how it responds to trauma that I found genuinely interesting. However, the book is repetitive. Van der Kolk would repeat anecdotal stories in different points in the book as if he had not already brought it up before. I found that jarring. And the stories themselves...

I know this is a book about trauma, but I did not expect him to go into such details of the personal traumas of multiple people. It felt gratuitous to me how often he would delve into the nitty gritty of a person's experienced trauma. I was expecting a book on the science of the brain and body's response to trauma, and while that was part of what I read, it was not the whole. I imagine this book would be especially upsetting for people who have experienced any extensive trauma. I also didn't love the ways in which can der Kolk often wrote about the people whose stories he shared. Women were often described physically, and the men were given a lot of slack for some of the horrible things they did because of their trauma. Except for one exception it often felt like he saw women as only victims of spousal or sexual abuse while men were only victims of military PTSD.

There were some excellent points made about the way the medical system in the US works, or rather, how it doesn't work. I appreciated how the lack of universal health care and better care for veterans and mothers only enables a vicious cycle of trauma. Unfortunately this also meant that a lot of what he was saying was "well here are some great ideas of what we could try, but there's no strong study behind any of it so maybe someday???"

I found the personal stories and van der Kolk's treatment of them to be far too distracting for any of the positives I found to be worthwhile. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Self harm, Sexual violence, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Violence, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Suicide, Pedophilia, Rape, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

emilydaniellew's review against another edition

challenging dark informative inspiring slow-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual harassment, Panic attacks/disorders, Drug abuse, Sexual violence, Chronic illness, Child death, War, Suicide, Self harm, Physical abuse, Medical content, Grief, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Eating disorder, Medical trauma, Terminal illness, Gun violence, Mental illness, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Sexual assault, Death, Cancer, and Alcoholism

modestmargo's review against another edition

Very dense and more like a textbook on Trauma then a “self-help” book. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, and Child abuse

codyroberts541's review against another edition

challenging slow-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Sexual harassment, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, Medical trauma, Violence, Child abuse, Alcoholism, Addiction, Sexual assault, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, Drug abuse, and Death