Reviews tagging 'Rape'

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

341 reviews

bethboo's review against another edition

emotional informative inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

4.5

This book has so much information. It's a lot longer and in depth than a quick personal growth read. This is a book I definitely wouldn't have gotten so much out of had I not been reading it in tandem with the information given to me by my therapist. It is so much more than a simple book on trauma and therapy techniques. It's the history of diagnoses, therapies, techniques, studies, training, patients, doctors, and experiences surrounding trauma. The author must be fucking immortal because he had first hand experience from ages ago and gave stories and examples and information for every single one he spoke of. I got a lot personally from the EMDR section and the structured Family Therapy or whatever and the beginning sections describing the brain and trauma and how it's all connected. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Incest, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

beklovesbooks's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

5.0

An excellent textbook on trauma and the science-backed approaches to healing from it. Also an interesting journey through the author’s professional experiences that led to his outstanding knowledge on the subject. 

Read the trigger warnings and take them seriously. He often gives details about horrific abuse and sensitive information about patients, later illustrating their growth, but I would imagine it would be too much for many people with backgrounds touched by abuse, neglect, suicide etc.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, Dementia, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Medical trauma, and War

Moderate: Biphobia, Confinement, Eating disorder, Pedophilia, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Mass/school shootings, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, Dysphoria, and War

indiana_sorell's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring sad slow-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Incest, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Dysphoria

evalunny's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

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

random_tuga's review against another edition

dark emotional informative reflective slow-paced

4.0

Very interesting and informative. I learn a lot with this one although i felt that the last couple of chapters were a bit repetitive. It mentions a lot of studies conducted either by the author or other scientists and very heavy, graphic descriptions of what the peopl he helped went through. Read the tags for this one, seriously. Don't go into this one expecting a sort of self help book, it very much focus on science snd investigation 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Incest, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, and Abandonment

susannadkm's review against another edition

informative sad medium-paced

3.5

“Social support is not the same as merely being in the presence of others. The critical issue is reciprocity: being truly heard and seen by the people around us, feeling that we are held in someone else’s mind and heart. For our physiology to calm down, heal, and grow we need a visceral feeling of safety. No doctor can write a prescription for friendship and love…” (Chapter 5) 

3.5 stars. This is an absorbing book for anyone curious about trauma therapy and how it’s evolved in recent decades. I like how it’s full of stories, and van der Kolk isn’t afraid to admit when he realized he was wrong (like about eye movement desensitization and reintegration).

I’m not sure it’s the best book to read for those looking for the best treatment methods (so many of the stories are anecdotal) or coming to grips with sexual trauma (so many stories are graphic), though.

I listened to the audiobook.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Medical trauma, Car accident, and War

Moderate: Eating disorder, Panic attacks/disorders, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Infidelity, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, and Murder

kadengrace's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

2.5

i’ve heard the phrase “the body keeps the score” so often that i wanted to read this book to hopefully learn more, but i think i could have learned more about this concept from better resources. this book was dense and heavy, which meant i needed to split up my reading sessions in order to finish it. i’m not fully sure how useful this book will be to me—i think it brought up interesting ideas that i’m looking forward to exploring in other resources, but i wonder how much detail was needed in descriptions of trauma. it felt overly triggering and written from a relatively narrow point of view. i think i will gain more elsewhere, and i’m not sure what i did gain from reading this book was worth the struggle to finish it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Trafficking, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Child death, Death, Drug use, Eating disorder, Grief, Abandonment, and Classism

mesposito827's review against another edition

challenging dark informative inspiring slow-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, and Violence

brookerobbo's review against another edition

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Medical trauma, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, and War

s_lorenz's review against another edition

hopeful informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Emotional abuse, Incest, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Classism

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racism, Self harm, Torture, Police brutality, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Abandonment, Alcohol, and Classism