Reviews tagging 'Sexual harassment'

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

65 reviews

rami_reads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

Bessel van der Kolk is a pioneer in the evidence-based treatment of trauma, especially complex trauma. It was a difficult book to get through, given the descriptions of severe abuse, but well worth it. Ultimately, the tone of the book is hopeful, as it shows that PTSD is a treatable condition.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Abandonment, Addiction, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Medical content, Domestic abuse, Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, Trafficking, and Violence

ungles's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective tense slow-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Classism, Confinement, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Body shaming, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Misogyny, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual assault, Addiction, Gun violence, Hate crime, Incest, Infidelity, Medical trauma, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Sexual violence, Death of parent, Toxic relationship, Violence, Child death, Medical content, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, War, Genocide, Homophobia, Self harm, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Bullying, Car accident, Domestic abuse, Forced institutionalization, and Grief

vigil's review against another edition

informative reflective sad slow-paced

the body keeps the score is a dense text; small font on big pages full of scientific jargon and material. however, if you allow the book to be what it is it’s much more accessible than you’d think. 

bessel van der kolk has spent thirty years in practice which gives the book a somewhat academic, frank edge. it’s very insightful into traumatized individuals across the board, but i wouldn’t recommend it to any traumatized person off the bat due to kolk’s unrestrained tone throughout the book.

i have seen some question the ideas and theories he speaks of in here, but i’m (and probably them as well, if we’re being honest) not qualified to dissect that fully. nevertheless, i think everything in here is worth giving some thought to.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Drug use, Car accident, Child death, Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Cancer, Suicide attempt, Medical trauma, Abandonment, Abortion, Blood, Classism, Death, Medical content, Sexual assault, Incest, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Death of parent, Rape, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Animal death, Child abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, War, Chronic illness, Cursing, Suicidal thoughts, Domestic abuse, Grief, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Eating disorder, Genocide, Gun violence, and Toxic friendship

wrackcity's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad slow-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Drug abuse, Abandonment, War, Torture, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Child abuse, Suicide, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Trafficking, Toxic relationship, Violence, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Drug use, and Domestic abuse

katiebartmess's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

5.0

This book was very hard to read. It took me about 8 months to read a few chapters at a time and sit with them. Not because of a lack in quality writing or teaching (which was excellent) or because of poor content. The content is unfortunately very interesting, but also very, very real. It was an incredible source of information and perspective. The book is very academic and so hugely informative, I could easily see this being used as educational material or a selected work for university classes, etc., but it did a great job of explaining things in simple terms that individuals who are not psychology scholars could still understand. It was also deeply compassionate, encouraging, and hopeful, and it could certainly be considered "a self-help" book too. Certainly, this book is not for everyone, and it was not ~written~ for everyone. The topics covered are uncomfortable, scary, dark, and unsettling, but to the 70% of adults who have experience with trauma, it can be a step towards a lifeline. Hopefully, the title alone is enough to warn of trigger warnings in this book. Plenty of the content is deeply upsetting (It is a book that is explicitly about physical, emotional, and sexual trauma and abuse), so be sure to pace yourself and look up trigger summaries if you are worried about something like that. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual violence, Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Physical abuse, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Police brutality, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Drug abuse, and Mental illness

readingwithkelsey's review against another edition

reflective slow-paced

3.0

For full disclosure purposes, this book was suggested to me by my therapist with the idea that I would learn more information about how to deal with my own trauma. It was really fascinating to read about Dr. van der Kolk's research and the early research done on PTSD. The stories told in here were also really interesting (but sometimes triggering) and it was interesting to see how different schools of therapy were used. A critique I have however is that sometimes, depending the story, Dr. van der Kolk had a bit of a voyeuristic tone to them, which sometimes left me feeling underwhelmed by the narration. And while I did identify with some of the points expressed and learned a lot of generalized information about PTSD, the structure and voice of the novel left much to be desired. Maybe this is a mistake on my part, but the novel sometimes felt very academic to me and while that is okay for me personally, I think some of the jargon might be off putting to those looking to discover help for what they are experiencing.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Grief, Incest, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, and War

mariamorrone's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative tense slow-paced

3.0

This book was very interesting and I learned a lot about myself. However, I found it incredibly hard to get through as the content is very dense. It reminded me of my psychology textbooks from when I was in university. I recommended this book to those willing to put in the work and time to read it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Abandonment, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Body horror, Car accident, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Dementia, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Grief, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Trafficking, Violence, and War

words_for_nerds's review against another edition

challenging hopeful informative inspiring medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse

Moderate: Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Car accident, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Violence, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, and War

maaryaam's review against another edition

informative reflective slow-paced

5.0

Such a good book.

Honestly, thoroughly enjoyed reading it.
It's so accessible and easy to read. Minimal jargon if at all. The personal anecdotes and the stories he shared of clients made the reading experience just so much more enjoyable and breezy. I was entertained the whole way. I feel like I learnt a lot.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm

Minor: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, and Sexual violence

fruzsina_'s review against another edition

challenging emotional informative

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Physical abuse, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, War, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Addiction, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, and Emotional abuse