Reviews tagging 'Addiction'

Toxic Childhood Stress: The Legacy of Early Trauma and How to Heal by Nadine Burke Harris

3 reviews

thoughtsfromtheafro's review against another edition

emotional informative inspiring sad medium-paced

5.0

I will likely re-read this. As someone with a moderate ACE score, it was immensely helpful to learn about how it came into being — theory and practice. 

There are countless examples/people whose stories are shared, and the author does a phenomenal job of noting how they manifest across race, age, gender, and generation. I greatly appreciated the way she weaved in data and sparingly used jargon. I highlighted and made note of so much. I can see other folks more proactively sharing their adverse experiences with physicians and caretakers as a way to advocate better for themselves and hopefully be able to obtain more immediately helpful care.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Police brutality, Medical content, and Mental illness

Minor: Abandonment, Addiction, Child abuse, Pregnancy, Bullying, Suicide, Stalking, Sexual assault, and Toxic friendship

ksuazo94's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Abandonment, Addiction, Death, Grief, Toxic relationship, Eating disorder, Sexual content, Child abuse, Drug use, Medical trauma, Sexual assault, and Mental illness

readerette's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative medium-paced

4.0

I believe the concepts in this book are useful; as with most nonfiction, there are areas of depth you don't have to read or understand in order to get the point, so if any of the medical stuff starts to feel over your head, you can safely skim, in my opinion. The anecdotes are compelling and the research and outcomes interesting. For those who have experienced trauma, or who want to empathize better with those who have, this is a helpful book.

However, it is repetitive at times, and most of the anecdotes are a bit long-winded for my taste. There is also a rather visible thread of the author's own frenetic energy underlying the whole thing, like she never gets a moment's rest and can't let go of this mission to save the world from toxic stress. I have to wonder if that should be one of the adverse experiences noted in the author's inventory: sacrificing personal well-being for one's career... Noble, certainly, but hardly sustainable or likely to result in strong and lasting mental health.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Grief and Medical content

Minor: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, and Rape