Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

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

318 reviews

a_novi's review

challenging emotional informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.25

This book was amazing. As someone who grew up in a household with abuse and violence I saw myself in these pages so heavily that I am excited to purchase this book for myself in paper copy so I can annotate it. Foo is so raw in this book that if you have experienced similar feelings and experiences as her you will have no problem understanding just what she is describing. It’s not literary art it’s just incredibly REAL. This book would be helpful for people with CPTSD to better understand themselves but also for loved ones to read to better understand it too. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, and Abandonment

katiegraham00's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, and Abandonment

layley's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Eating disorder, Infertility, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

epiphyte's review

challenging dark hopeful inspiring medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Violence, and Abandonment

Moderate: Colonisation

rubellaface's review

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

Quick caveat: I do not have C-PTSD. I am a second-generation Filipino American who grew up to have high-functioning anxiety & depression due to tiger parenting, growing up Asian American, and being forced to become an alpha daughter. 

Reading this book triggered me and had me questioning my reality and how I’ve often laughed-off or disassociated my personal trauma in order to succeed in life (and therefore be perceived as being okay). Her coping mechanisms were/are my coping mechanisms, and funnily enough, I didn’t even realize they were coping mechanisms. So as Stephanie went down the rabbit hole of finding out what her bones know and how to fix it, I was right beside her– transfixed and checking my own bones for fissures and trauma from similar situations in my family life. 

Cause Stephanie Foo does not pull her punches when recounting her childhood. Every abusive situation is described in a way that is almost clinical and ripe for analyzing. Her book is basically an emotional autopsy of her trauma, and the way she uses her journalism background to thoroughly vet every single c-ptsd-related therapy is both thrilling and heartbreaking. As a reader, you want Stephanie to find a therapy that works for her and that can “cure” her, and I just wanted to hug her each time a practice or therapist failed her. 

Needless to say, I was emotionally invested in Stephanie’s book. I cried towards the end as she found stable ground and the tools to fight for her peace of mind. And I cried again at the similarities in how we approached our weddings and wedding guests. Her healing journey echoed and reaffirmed my own, and I will recommend this book to all my AAPI friends who I know have gone through sh*t and are trying their best.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Colonisation, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Very triggering. Sometimes in a good way.

kenrya's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring sad medium-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Pandemic/Epidemic

alexijai98's review

emotional hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, and Abandonment

abbywj's review

dark emotional informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, and Abandonment

shelf_devoted's review against another edition

dark informative sad tense slow-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, and Physical abuse

punk_flower_child's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

5.0

I loved this book so much. Deeply personal, realistic, and inspired so much hope in me. Whether you live with CPTSD, anxiety, depression, or none of the above, this is a wonderful and deeply thought provoking book 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Suicide attempt, and Abandonment