Reviews tagging 'Medical trauma'

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

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

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

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

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

evalunny's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

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

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

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

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

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

brookerobbo's review against another edition

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Content Warnings

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

s_lorenz's review against another edition

hopeful informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

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

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

averagereadin's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative inspiring slow-paced

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Chronic illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, War, Drug abuse, Medical content, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Medical trauma, Addiction, Bullying, Mental illness, Rape, Torture, Alcoholism, Death, Incest, Sexual assault, Suicide, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, and Suicide attempt

bookfriend8's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective slow-paced

4.75

Really appreciate this book. I was worried about it being too medical and difficult to understand, but the author provides thorough and accessible explanations on what happens to the human body and mind after trauma, and also offers his opinion on how conditions such as (C)PTSD can effectively be cured. He supports his scientific descriptions with personal and patient anecdotes, and although these were often very graphic and distressing (trigger warning for everything), it helped to balance out the scientific information and to see how they manifest in real life. Understanding how distressing experiences can literally change a person forever really explains the origins of people’s behaviours and patterns. Overall, would give it 5/5, but some chapters were also long-winded and repetitive, and there was plenty of US-defaultism.
It was deeply enlightening for me to read this book and I’m glad I decided to pick it up. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Child abuse, Death, Self harm, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, War, Pedophilia, Mental illness, Medical content, Incest, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, and Violence

Moderate: Alcoholism, Car accident, Suicide, Medical trauma, Drug use, Suicide attempt, Eating disorder, Addiction, Abandonment, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Includes virtually all triggering topics, would not recommend to people who aren’t comfortable with difficult or graphic stories, particularly if they relate personally.