Reviews tagging 'Suicide attempt'

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

112 reviews

emilyb99's review against another edition

challenging informative inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

4.0

he’s a very intelligent man. Unfortunately after reading it I discovered he had allegations against him for creating a hostile work environment among woman 😭 so I would recommend pirating this only lol.

I mean what’s done is done I’ve read the book. I don't need to reject the good he has done to my brain now that l've heard about some of the bad. 

I did think it was odd that the indigo I went to had 10 copies of his book and then suddenly they were all gone as if they had been sent away 😭! 

Anywho, 

This is quite a long read. It is also very descriptive of his patients trauma. I feel like without him stroking his own ego at times or getting too detailed about the brain this book could be 1/3rd shorter. But it’s fine, it’s very well written regardless and it did help me. It was extremely insightful, he has decades of experience in many different places. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Violence, Sexual assault, War, Physical abuse, Trafficking, Sexual violence, Self harm, Rape, Toxic relationship, and Child abuse

crunchycrystals's review against another edition

idk i just wasn't getting a lot out of it and it was getting a little too much for me to handle. i don't feel comfortable giving a rating but i will say i liked the chapter on language i thought that was really cool

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Child abuse, Child death, Grief, Medical content, Medical trauma, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Death, War, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Car accident, Incest, Mental illness, Rape, Death of parent, and Self harm

Moderate: Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Abortion

this is a very heavy book please take all of these warnings to heart and know your limits there are so many descriptions of sexual assault (including of children)

krabinovitz's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative slow-paced

4.0

Overall very informative and interesting book

At times it was repetitive, and towards the end when exploring treatment options he promotes a number of treatments that aren’t evidence-based like EMDR therapy that hasn’t been proven useful with well-researched studies. I still found those sections interesting, but it was lacking an acknowledgement on how limited the research on efficacy of some of these treatments really is 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Suicide, Rape, Violence, Self harm, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Suicide attempt, Child abuse, War, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Sexual violence

mswarning's review against another edition

emotional informative medium-paced

5.0

I cried so many times, so many interesting chapters. The audiobook made the patients' stories so very powerful. I will be buying this book in print for sure.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Sexual violence, Alcoholism, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, Emotional abuse, Eating disorder, War, Sexual assault, Drug use, Torture, Murder, Incest, Grief, and Addiction

itsmelaurenc's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Physical abuse, Abandonment, Domestic abuse, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Forced institutionalization, Torture, Death of parent, Addiction, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Eating disorder, Medical trauma, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Violence, War, Bullying, Gun violence, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Trafficking, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

ahuggingsam's review against another edition

challenging hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Rape, Physical abuse, Hate crime, Grief, Forced institutionalization, Chronic illness, Addiction, Drug abuse, Domestic abuse, Bullying, Medical trauma, Violence, Sexual assault, War, Eating disorder, Toxic relationship, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Emotional abuse, Drug use, Suicide attempt, Medical content, Pedophilia, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, and Incest

theskyboi's review against another edition

informative slow-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Addiction, Alcoholism, Self harm, Gaslighting, Domestic abuse, Violence, Sexual violence, Abandonment, Sexual assault, Forced institutionalization, Murder, War, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Medical content, Alcohol, Emotional abuse, Drug use, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Rape, Physical abuse, Incest, Drug abuse, Death, Pedophilia, Suicide, Child abuse, and Child death

studeronomy's review against another edition

informative medium-paced

3.25

As Charles Darwin wrote in his notebook, "The mind is a function of body." And, as this book convincingly shows, the body keeps a vicious tally of the wounds inflicted on the mind. These physical tallies are most easy to detect in people who suffer from PTSD and its adjacent disorders, but the implications of this book is that all our bodies carry the suffering our spirits have endured in ways that are tangible and quantifiable.

I know "The Body Keeps the Score" has its detractors and, because Bessel van der Kolk wrote it for a popular audience, he necessarily simplified some otherwise complex studies and truncated some otherwise complex research conclusions. But van der Kolk's observations over a fifty-year career demonstrate a couple things to me:

First, the field of psychiatry is (or was, until recently) hopelessly siloed. Psychopharmacologists aren't talking to neuroscientists aren't talking cognitive scientists aren't talking to social workers and therapists. Communication between disciplines and subdisciplines is very poor. And this doesn't begin to address the different methods of treating trauma that van der Kolk describes, most of which developed in disparate subdisciplines without much coordination with other subdisciplines. The whole organization of psychiatry (like the organization of most fields of study) is very messy.

Second, psychiatry still lacks its "germ theory," an explanation for the prevalence and cause of most mental illnesses and mood disorders. And such a theory might be impossible, given the nature of the mind itself. As Darwin also wrote in his notebook, "Experience shows the problem of the mind cannot be solved by attacking the citadel itself." An attack on the "citadel" of the mind cannot be a direct attack. There may be no unifying theory of the varied experiences we associate with "mind," "brain," "cognition," "the soul," whatever. And certainly no single field or discipline or method will unlock the mysteries of those experiences. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Incest, Sexual assault, Chronic illness, Drug abuse, War, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Rape, Eating disorder, Physical abuse, Self harm, Addiction, Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

ppeynetti's review against another edition

challenging informative reflective slow-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Mental illness, Violence, Suicide, Physical abuse, Self harm, Child abuse, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pedophilia, Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, War, Suicide attempt, Medical trauma, and Sexual violence

angelfireeast24's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective tense slow-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Grief, Incest, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Violence, War, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Mental illness, Medical content, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Forced institutionalization, Addiction, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Drug use, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Self harm, and Sexual assault

This book is a must read for anyone dealing with trauma who dealing with people who have truama.