Reviews tagging 'Child death'

Strangers to Ourselves: Unsettled Minds and the Stories That Make Us by Rachel Aviv

11 reviews

bloomingpear's review

informative reflective sad medium-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Mental illness, Confinement, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Child death, Racism, Alcoholism, Suicide attempt, Child abuse, and Self harm

kellyisntcool's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative inspiring sad fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Eating disorder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Medical content

Moderate: Addiction, Suicide, Vomit, Ableism, and Chronic illness

Minor: Child death and Racism

melissa_l_mcabee's review

challenging emotional informative reflective slow-paced

4.75

This book may be the most impactful view on mental illness I have ever read. The lives and minds of the people she included spoke to the part of me that wonders if I'm the only one that feels the way I do. It was validating to see others perspectives and experiences. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abortion, Addiction, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Alcoholism, Self harm, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Child death, Death, Eating disorder, and Mental illness

This is a book about the impacts of mental illness on four very real people. If you don't want to read about the traumas that come with it, then this is not the book for you.

brogan7's review

hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.75

A remarkable book about how we construct mental illness, how we conceive of it and therefore how it manifests and how people suffer ...
A tough read, in many ways, yet always insightful and questioning all received truths.

I was particularly riveted by Naomi's story, it was so compelling and her struggles were so layered and complex, and I felt like raging sometimes, she's not mentally ill she has been socially and politically and economically done over!  And she knows it!

Very thought provoking, including the less detailed but salient issue of the author herself and her decade of anti-depressants...what a crazy social experiment we are all a part of.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Mental illness, Child death, and Murder

productioneer's review

challenging emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness

Moderate: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicide attempt, Racism, Pregnancy, Eating disorder, Confinement, and Child death

Minor: Death and Grief

wildflower37's review

informative medium-paced

4.0

The stories of this book - including the one about the author herself - were written with such compassion. I loved the exploration of the personal, cultural, biological, and psychiatric explanations for mental illness.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Racism, and Child death

teerah's review

informative reflective sad slow-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Child death, Grief, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Racism, and Suicidal thoughts

kellyofcali's review

2.25

While I found a lot of the content interesting, I found myself confused about the purpose of this book, beyond a strange sense of fear and awe about what the mind can go through. The author seemed to send mixed messages about treatment and medication. I preferred her personal anecdotes to her philosophizing, and in the end came away a bit unsatisfied.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Chronic illness

Moderate: Self harm, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Child death, Suicidal thoughts, Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, and Death

Minor: Pregnancy, Medical trauma, and Medical content

erint's review

challenging informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

A really excellent book. I appreciated how much time Aviv spent on each story, and the compassionate lens she brings to the subject. I really appreciated her focus on the way that the categorization and diagnosis of mental illness can impact how individuals experience it. I also appreciated the diverse lens and the focus on the impacts of social, cultural, and economic factors like poverty and racism impact both the development and experience of mental illness and the level of understanding and care that people receive. I also appreciated the sensitivity and care with which she discussed the idea of "recovery."

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide attempt, Racism, Eating disorder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Death, Self harm, Child death, Mental illness, and Chronic illness

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders

lowbrowhighart's review

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Eating disorder, Forced institutionalization, and Mental illness

Moderate: Self harm, Suicide, Grief, Sexism, Confinement, Dysphoria, Suicidal thoughts, Classism, Fatphobia, Racism, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Child death, Death, Body shaming, Medical content, and Pregnancy