Reviews with content warning for Panic attacks/disorders - What My Bones Know: A Memoir of Healing from Complex Trauma

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Reviews tagging 'Panic attacks/disorders'

What My Bones Know: A Memoir of Healing from Complex Trauma by Stephanie Foo

115 reviews

wildwinger's review

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challenging dark hopeful informative reflective slow-paced

3.5

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entropyseeker's review

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challenging emotional reflective slow-paced

5.0

I've read a number of memoirs this past year. Memoirs and reflection pieces on depression, bi-polar disorder, domestic abuse, and being Asian in America. But What My Bones Know has hit the hardest. Even though I say that about every Asian authored memoir, this one feels more so. After my own diagnosis with cptsd a few months ago, I never really looked too much in to it, but Stephanie's story made me realize that there's still so much work to do and more to learn. Great book, read in one sitting, would read again.

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faithaforman's review

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challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

5.0

Powerful and moving, the author's delving into her own trauma responses were eye-opening. Her exploration of self and path to self-love and self-acceptance gave me hope.

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jourdanicus's review against another edition

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emotional reflective medium-paced

5.0

I had to talk to my therapist about this one... In a good way? 😂

I never know how to review memoirs. And this wasn't totally a memoir... It's like, part memoir, part non-fiction about C-PTSD more generally.

I really appreciated the work and research Stephanie Foo did to connect her personal trauma with cultural and generational trauma, not only within her Malaysian Chinese family but Asian Americans in general. I also have a tendency to draw connections between my personal experiences and broader cultural patterns, so that resonated with me.

I would definitely recommend this book to trauma survivors, but only if you've done enough healing to be able to handle the triggers.

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crybabybea's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

Amazing. I'm learning this year that I really enjoy nonfiction written by journalists, and Stephanie Foo is no exception. Her writing is accessible and engaging, seamlessly blending personal anecdotes, interviews, facts, and studies to support her main thesis. Foo's intelligence and self-reflection shine through her writing. Her clever humor and insightful conclusions were inspiring. The book feels like a journey alongside her, offering lessons in healing from trauma.

This is a must-read if you struggle with C-PTSD, or even if you just struggle with trauma or a different mental illness that affects your daily life. Even if you're familiar with C-PTSD, there's much to learn. The book's sad, hard-to-get-through moments are balanced with heartening and meditative insights, showing that healing is non-linear but ultimately intensely rewarding.

Foo's perspective as an Asian-American adds depth to her memoir, offering compassion for her family's experiences and the broader Asian-American community. She explores her family's past, connecting her trauma with collective experiences, and acknowledges the complexities beyond stereotypes.

I especially liked the penultimate part, which focused on her sessions with Dr. Jacob Ham. She unlocked a lot of self-discovery by having an open, loving, accepting relationship with her therapist. It was so heartfelt and inspiring to see that relationship blossom and ultimately help Stephanie recover and learn to accept love and kindness rather than self-flagellating and sinking into shame spirals. He emphasized the importance of reconnection and repair and revealed to Stephanie (and to me as a reader) that regulating your emotions and triggers is just the first step in a super complicated dance involving complex relationships and the damage and repair that happens in human connection.

The final couple of pages had me a complete sobbing mess. I really appreciated Stephanie's choice to end the book with a self-reflection about accepting her C-PTSD for what it is; not something that makes her broken and unlovable, but something that makes her who she is.

I highly recommend the audiobook, narrated by the author so it feels intimate and personal. She also included the original audio recordings of her sessions with Dr. Ham, which was a really neat addition that made the audio experience feel more transformative.

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