Reviews tagging 'Schizophrenia/Psychosis '

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

87 reviews

mitziatratum's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad medium-paced

3.75

---

Content Warnings

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

challenging dark informative reflective slow-paced

2.0

This one was difficult to review. I found the start of the book to be quite strong. There was some information about the brain and how it functions and how it responds to trauma that I found genuinely interesting. However, the book is repetitive. Van der Kolk would repeat anecdotal stories in different points in the book as if he had not already brought it up before. I found that jarring. And the stories themselves...

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. 

---

Content Warnings

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

joey1914's review against another edition

emotional informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

---

Content Warnings

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

challenging informative reflective medium-paced

4.0

---

Content Warnings

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

delery's review against another edition

dark emotional informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

3.25

this book was... a lot. i don't think i was necessarily in the right headspace to read it at this time. but it covered so many interesting issues, and i liked how it discussed different treatment methods. but also this book made me nauseous so... idk. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Grief, Incest, Medical content, Pedophilia, Ableism, Abortion, Blood, Body horror, Murder, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Addiction, Car accident, Child death, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Chronic illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Violence, Drug use, Abandonment, Alcoholism, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Classism, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Sexual violence, Animal death, Cancer, Child abuse, Medical trauma, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide attempt, Domestic abuse, Body shaming, and Drug abuse

tseth's review against another edition

challenging informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Drug abuse, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Drug use, Eating disorder, Grief, Incest, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Self harm, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Abandonment, Body horror, Bullying, Suicidal thoughts, Emotional abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Domestic abuse, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, and Rape

gabriella_'s review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

5.0

I tried reading this book twice but had to stop because of how emotional it made me. But now that I’ve finally finished it, I wish I read it sooner. It was incredibly informative and absolutely heartbreaking. Some individual patient stories were gutwrenching, so it’s best to take breaks as needed. Listen to your body with this one. Reflect, and be kind to yourself.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Medical trauma, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Pedophilia, Confinement, Body horror, Child abuse, Car accident, Body shaming, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Blood, Incest, Sexual harassment, Medical content, Eating disorder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual assault, Self harm, Physical abuse, Misogyny, Gun violence, Genocide, Death, Bullying, Alcohol, and Alcoholism

novella42's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative sad slow-paced

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Bullying, Cancer, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Self harm, Sexual assault, Addiction, Child death, Chronic illness, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Incest, Medical content, Medical trauma, Grief, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Violence, War, Car accident, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Gun violence, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexism, and Sexual harassment

maddb_96's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Self harm, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual harassment, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Abandonment, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Grief, Incest, Medical trauma, Murder, Bullying, and Domestic abuse

lydiagraceg's review against another edition

challenging informative reflective slow-paced

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, Medical content, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Rape, Violence, Dysphoria, Death, Car accident, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, War, Incest, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual assault, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Abandonment, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis