Reviews tagging 'Medical trauma'

Hidden Valley Road: Inside the Mind of an American Family by Robert Kolker

50 reviews

samarakroeger's review

challenging dark informative reflective sad slow-paced

4.0

kind of a wild ride. not the best narrative nonfiction I have ever read (it drags a bit in parts), but a very engaging and horrific subject. I still don’t feel like I understand schizophrenia. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Incest, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Medical trauma, Murder, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

aeriecircus's review

informative sad tense medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Forced institutionalization, Medical trauma, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, Incest, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, and Abandonment

Minor: Confinement, Gun violence, and Physical abuse

novelteareader's review

challenging dark informative sad slow-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness and Medical trauma

Moderate: Incest, Pedophilia, and Rape

aliteracja's review

challenging dark informative reflective sad medium-paced

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Medical content, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Chronic illness, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Rape, Medical content, and Medical trauma

librarymouse's review

challenging emotional informative reflective fast-paced

4.0

This was really interesting, though I often had trouble keeping track of the brothers because there was so many of them. I believe I've seen Margaret Galvin Johnson's art before, which I wasn't expecting when I started reading the book. Some of the research being done seems to be almost a positive spin on previous methods that had been used by the eugenics movement. This is very interesting take on reflecting on both the impact of mental illness and its treatments, and the human side of living through and coming out on the other side of trauma.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Rape, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, and Murder

ashlieed's review

challenging informative reflective slow-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Incest, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual violence, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

jmbz38's review against another edition

informative slow-paced

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Incest, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Forced institutionalization, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Rape, Suicide, and Murder

Minor: Suicide attempt

realpteradactyl's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Incest, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

erinloneill's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Incest, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual violence, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Medical trauma, Murder, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

nothingforpomegranted's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective fast-paced

5.0

Mimi and Don Galvin married and moved to Colorado after World War II, giving birth to twelve children in a twenty-year span and watching their lives unravel as six of those children were diagnosed with schizophrenia. Alternating between a family portrait and interviews with the family's youngest daughter, Mary, this book was impossible to put down and felt like the craziest dinner party story of all time. The Galvin family history is tragic and horrifying but utterly fascinating. Kolker perfectly balanced the interviews and recollections of the family as they grew up and grew apart with the tremendous medical research and development that has taken place over the decades that the family has been experiencing the horrors of schizophrenia. 

This book was phenomenal. I loved every aspect of the story and was equal parts horrified and intrigued by this entire family. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Chronic illness, Gun violence, Mental illness, and Medical trauma