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Reviews tagging 'Suicide'
The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma by Bessel van der Kolk
128 reviews
authorbrittanibee's review against another edition
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.
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
3.75
Graphic: Mental illness, Torture, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Sexual violence, Grief, Suicide, Rape, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Physical abuse, and War
mitziatratum's review against another edition
3.75
Graphic: Sexual assault, War, Torture, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Medical content, Racism, Physical abuse, Pedophilia, Violence, Child abuse, Rape, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Mass/school shootings, Domestic abuse, Death, Incest, Gun violence, Grief, Emotional abuse, Eating disorder, Dysphoria, Drug use, Drug abuse, Child death, Car accident, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Ableism, and Abandonment
amyalwaysbooked's review against another edition
2.0
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.
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
3.0
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
bookthia's review against another edition
2.0
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Child death, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Medical content, Medical trauma, War, Self harm, Murder, and Panic attacks/disorders
codyroberts541's review against another edition
3.0
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
ellieburrows2105's review against another edition
4.5
Moderate: Rape, Violence, and War
Minor: Suicide
joey1914's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Drug use, Incest, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Addiction, Bullying, Rape, Abortion, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Cancer, Miscarriage, Body shaming, Cursing, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Drug abuse, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Pedophilia, Terminal illness, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Vomit, and War
_dear_reader_'s review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Sexual assault, War, Violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Suicide, Murder, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Chronic illness, Car accident, Physical abuse, Pedophilia, Gun violence, Grief, Gore, Genocide, Fatphobia, Drug abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Addiction, Drug use, Child death, Bullying, Alcoholism, Rape, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Sexual violence, Self harm, Cancer, Blood, Alcohol, Abandonment, Toxic relationship, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Mental illness, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Incest, and Emotional abuse