Review: The Healing Journey by Caroline Bakker

The Healing Journey: Navigating Adult ADHD and PMDD
Caroline Bakker

My Rating: 4 stars
Genre: Non-fiction Self-Help

Blurb:
The Healing Journey
Navigate, Transform, Thrive

Living with ADHD and PMDD can feel like navigating a storm—overwhelming, unpredictable, and exhausting. In The Healing Journey—Navigating Adult ADHD and PMDD, Caroline Bakker shares her deeply personal and transformative story of finding clarity and balance amidst the chaos.

At thirty-five, after self-diagnosing ADHD, Caroline discovered the powerful connection between ADHD and PMDD—and how their symptoms amplify each other, creating a perfect storm. Determined to regain control, she embarked on a holistic healing journey that not only changed her life but inspired her to help countless other women facing similar struggles.

Why This Book?
– Practical Tools for Real-Life Challenges: Learn mindfulness techniques, breathwork practices, dietary adjustments, and ADHD-friendly strategies to take control of your life.
– Holistic Healing Approaches: Explore therapies like meditation, visualization, and self-care routines that nurture both body and mind.
– Relatable and Inspiring: Caroline combines heartfelt personal stories with research-backed methods to create a guide that’s both empowering and deeply compassionate.

Who Is This Book For?
Whether you’re newly exploring ADHD or PMDD, a caregiver, or a professional seeking to support others, The Healing Journey offers invaluable insights and strategies to help you thrive.

Take Control of Your Journey
Each chapter is filled with actionable advice, relatable experiences, and the encouragement you need to transform challenges into opportunities for growth. This book is more than a guide—it’s a call to reclaim your life and live with intention.

Don’t let ADHD and PMDD define your story. The Healing Journey will show you how to navigate life’s chaos, embrace your strengths, and thrive with purpose.

Start your healing journey today.

My Review

I received a copy through Netgalley and voluntarily reviewed it.

When I saw this book on Netgalley I had recently listened to a podcast episode about ADHD and PMDD and I was curious to learn more about the topic. So when I saw this one on Netgalley I decided to request it and was glad I got approved for a copy. The Healing Journey is about living with ADHD and PMDD and how to manage your symptoms trough a holistic approach.

I wasn’t quite sure what to think of The Healing Journey at first as the first few chapters dealt with the basic explanations of PMDD and ADHD, as I already know a lot about ADHD there wasn’t much new there for me and I hoped that wouldn’t be the case for the rest of the book. Luckily that wasn’t the case and the rest of the book had plenty of new to me information.

The parts about PMDD were almost completely new to me as I didn’t know a lot about the condition. As someone who struggles with my periods with both physical and mental symptoms I was curious to learn more about PMDD and while I don’t think I have PMDD this book still had a lot of helpful tips for managing my symptoms during and around my period. And I liked the idea of tracking symptoms to see how they progress throughout my cycle. It also was good to see some strategies I already have in place being mentioned.

This book has a lot of practical tips and it touches upon a wide variety of strategies, supplements and life style changes you can implement to help manage your symptoms. I liked the practical nature of the book and the uplifting and encouraging tone of the book. This book was much longer than I had expected and that was a good thing as there was a lot of good information and tips in it.

I did feel the book could be a bit repetitive at times, especially early on there were multiple sentences that kept being reused as well as information that showed up in multiple chapters again and again. This did seem to get less the further I got in the book. The summaries at the end of the chapters were great, but I did feel that for some of the shorter chapters they were less helpful and I started skimming those as I literally just read that already. I also was surprised the author never mentioned ADHD medication, not sure if that’s because she never tried that herself or whether it didn’t fit in her approach, but I would’ve liked to at least see it being mentioned as for a lot of people with ADHD that is something they try or use.

While this book has a lot of practical tips I did notice that it mostly focuses on what the author herself uses to manage her symptoms, she rarely addresses anything outside of it, except for later on with one thing she hasn’t tried yet, but wants to. And then in another chapter something she tried and didn’t work for her. This does mean it doesn’t give you a completely overview of all the options, but merely what worked for her. I still think this is very valuable, but I did want to mention that as sometimes I would’ve liked a broader scope or know some of the other possible options she hasn’t personally experienced.

Not all the tips and advice felt applicable to me or resonated with me, but I think that is part of the appeal of this book as well. There is so much you can try that there likely is something for everyone to try or resonate with. It does feel a bit overwhelming at times when I consider all the varying things this author does to manage her symptoms on a weekly and daily basis, but you don’t have to try everything or at the same time. I assume it will costs a fair bit of money to take all those vitamins and supplements the author does and that won’t be feasible for everyone, but luckily there are enough tips that don’t require money as well.

To summarize: This was an informative read about managing ADHD and PMDD. I liked the practical tips and the encouraging tone. This book includes a wide variety of strategies to manage both, but the author does mostly limit her tips to things she uses and has success with herself. I think the wide variety makes it so there is something to try for almost everyone, not everything resonated with me and that’s okay, but there were things I already do or want to try. The book could be a bit repetitive at times, but this did get less later in the book. The end of chapter summaries are great, but with some of the shorter chapters later on I skimmed them as I literally just read the whole chapter. All in all I am glad I read this book, it was an interesting and informative read and I learned more about ADHD and PMDD as well as how to manage the symptoms that come with it.

Links:
– Goodreads
– Amazon

You can also read my review on Goodreads and Bookbub.