Reviews tagging 'Rape'

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

341 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: 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, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Sexual harassment, and War

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

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

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

charley0796's review against another edition

emotional informative medium-paced

4.5

TLTR: An accessible text book about ptsd, designed for clinicians and not suitable for people experiencing ptsd. Some parts are out of date (I.e. criticisms of Cbt). 

As others have said, this is much more of an accessibly written textbook about ptsd, aimed towards clinicians NOT patients. 
The first half covers evidence about ptsd and brain scans, which was hard to grasp at times but helpful.
The second half introduced traditional ptsd treatments and recently researched non-traditional treatments (like neurofeedback and drama therapy). This was really interesting and gave me some ideas for how best to support clients to reclaim their life when working on this in the second half of trauma treatment (I.e. encouraging engagement in hobbies that connect them to their emotions and body, like martial arts or yoga). 

Unfortunately, this book is now 9 years old and it has aged a little. The author describes standard CBT and assumes that this is unhelpful for treating PTSD, before he goes on to explain the amazing successes he has had with EMDR. However, when he then went on to describe the reliving aspect of EMDR, what he was describing was what Trauma Focused CBT involved partly (I.e. reliving and being asked what you notice, if there’s any new knowledge you’ve become aware of etc) which is then followed up with updating the memory and reliving work. 
The author completely dismisses CBT for ptsd, when the research suggests that TF CBT is actually equally effective, if not more effective than EMDR according to meta-analyses conducted in 2020 and 2023. 

Overall, this is a good intro to working with ptsd and thinking of how to support patients. But you will of course need further training and readings to understand how to complete therapies for ptsd. It goes deep into traumas so do not read this if you are experiencing difficulty relating to this 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Rape, Violence, Medical trauma, and War

Moderate: Self harm

amessina3399's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

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

bdupree's review against another edition

informative medium-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Incest, Rape, Sexual violence, Violence, and Alcohol

kitty_golden's review against another edition

challenging dark informative medium-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, and Medical trauma

l1brarygirl's review

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

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

wreathedinviolets's review against another edition

While I found parts of this interesting, particularly about the history of modern psychiatry and mental health diagnoses, there are so many parts that are triggering. It’s probably best left to health care professionals and not the actual patients. I also found myself growing increasingly off put by the author. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, and War

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

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