Well -- I am a sucker for a good self-help book. Lately, I have definitely been reading more self-help books that are geared towards emotional and mental health. This book talks about a certain trauma that you may or may not know about. I did not know that CPTSD exists and that it is very difficult to diagnose.

Similar to the author, I live in an Asian household, and growing up, there were definitely some discipline techniques that her parents used that my parents used on me. There were moments where I had to pause the audiobook and return to it a few days later. The author did provide a TW at the beginning, and she mentioned that we should be able to skip some chapters if they do get too uncomfortable. However, the OCD in me didn't allow myself for that, therefore, I took a bit longer in finishing this book up compared to my other self-help books.

I appreciated the vulnerability and the honesty that the author provided in this book. Especially when she talked about certain toxic traits that she has and how those traits make appearances from time to time, especially when having arguments with her partner. I related to it in a way as prior to me going through therapy, I did not even know that I possessed some of that toxicity. When Stephanie mentioned it in this book, it allowed me to provide reasoning behind my "I just want to die" comments to my husband whenever things get hard. After finishing that specific chapter, my husband and I definitely had a sit down and discussion on my toxic habits.

Whether or not you think that you have CPTSD, or actually diagnose this disorder, I think this is a worth read as there's an opportunity for everybody to learn the techniques or even learn from the discussions Stephanie and Dr. Ham had towards the end.