Reviews tagging 'Fatphobia'

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

17 reviews

riversalem's review against another edition

challenging funny informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

I loved this book. It was informative, entertaining, accessible to read and followed a narrative that made sense. It was a powerful argument for alternative treatments of trauma. It was well-written, and thoroughly researched. I could clearly sense that the author was very passionate about this topic and also very knowledgeable. A must-read for anybody working in mental or physical healthcare. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Physical abuse, Self harm, Incest, Violence, Sexual assault, Addiction, and Adult/minor relationship

Moderate: Drug abuse, Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, Child abuse, Eating disorder, and Forced institutionalization

tangleroot_eli's review against another edition

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Mental illness, Child abuse, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Incest, War, Death of parent, Eating disorder, Rape, Cultural appropriation, Forced institutionalization, Self harm, Ableism, and Fatphobia

erikawynn's review against another edition

challenging informative slow-paced

2.0

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Alcoholism, Fatphobia, Drug abuse, and Suicidal thoughts

rini's review against another edition

challenging dark informative reflective tense slow-paced

4.0

This book was a LOT!!!

I initially started reading the dead tree version a couple of years ago, but was so put off by something described near the start that I just couldn't continue.

CW for war, murder, sexual violence

(The incident in question was about a Vietnam vet with PTSD who recounted that after his best friend was killed in combat, he went on a "revenge" rampage at a local village, murdering children, farmers, and raping a woman. All that detail was utterly unnecessary and, as a survivor of rape, hugely triggering and OMFG I don't give a fuck about this dude's PTSD.)

I'm glad that autistics only came up once in passing tbh (though the link between being autistic and being traumatised is well documented, this author would NOT have handled it well!!). It was bad enough hearing so much (ableist/cringey stuff) about ADHD!

Overall, I think it was a worthwhile read, and gave me more insight on trauma, but yikes it was a LOT!!
The author wasn't wrong when he called himself a trauma voyeur (or maybe he said someone else called him that and he had to agree.)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Car accident, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Forced institutionalization, Gun violence, Incest, Mass/school shootings, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, and War

Moderate: Abandonment, Abortion, and Bullying

Minor: Cancer, Dementia, Homophobia, and Vomit

sarahredacted's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

2.0

Some good antidotal stories and seems clearly well-researched. Read incredibly slowly and could have been about 200 pages shorter.  Objective goal of the piece panned out to be more related to changing the field of psychology rather than informative for individuals outside of the field. Just not my jam.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Fatphobia

fiveredhens's review against another edition

challenging informative reflective slow-paced

3.25

favorite quotes:

A stern schoolteacher may be an intimidating presence to an average kid, but for a child whose stepfather beats him up, she may represent a torturer and precipitate a rage attack or a terrified cowering in the corner.

I remember being surprised to hear this distinguished old Harvard professor confess how comforted he was to feel his wife's bum against him as he fell asleep at night. By disclosing such simple human needs in himself he helped us recognize how basic they were to our lives. Failure to attend to them results in a stunted existence, no matter how lofty our thoughts and worldly accomplishments.

For now I want to emphasize that emotion is not opposed to reason; our emotions assign value to experiences and thus are the foundation of reason.

...traumatized parents, in particular, need help to be attuned to their children's needs. Caregivers often don't realize that they are out of tune. I vividly remember a videotape Beatrice Beebe showed me. It featured a young mother playing with her three-month-old infant. Everything was going well until the baby pulled back and turned his head away, signaling that he needed a break. But the mother did not pick up on his cue, and she intensified her efforts to engage him by bringing her face closer to his and increasing the volume of her voice. When he recoiled even more, she kept bouncing and poking him. Finally he started to scream, at which point the mother put him down and walked away, looking crestfallen. She obviously felt terrible, but she had simply missed the relevant cues. It's easy to imagine how this kind of misattunement, repeated over and over again, can gradually lead to chronic disconnection.

Many of them hold tight to the memory of that one teacher, neighbor, shopkeeper, coach, or minister who showed that he or she cared, and that memory is often the seed of learning to reengage. We are a hopeful species. Working with trauma is as much about remembering how we survived as it is about what is broken.

If Margaret shouts, "I hate you!" in the middle of an argument, Joe probably thinks she despises him—and in that moment Margaret might agree. But in fact only a part of her is angry, and that part temporarily obscures her generous and affectionate feelings, which may well return when she sees the devastation on Joe's face.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Grief, Violence, Incest, Pedophilia, Trafficking, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Rape, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

Minor: Fatphobia

boyish's review against another edition

challenging informative reflective medium-paced

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Fatphobia, Rape, and Child abuse