Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Oprah Winfrey and renowned brain development and trauma expert, Dr Bruce Perry, discuss the impact of trauma and adverse experiences - and how healing must begin with a shift to asking 'What happened to you?' rather than 'What's wrong with you?'.

Through wide-ranging and often deeply personal conversation, Oprah Winfrey and Dr Perry explore how what happens to us in early childhood - both good and bad - influences the people we become.

A simple change in perspective can open up a new and hopeful understanding about why we do the things we do, why we are the way we are - and provide a road map for repairing relationships, overcoming what seems insurmountable, and ultimately living better and more fulfilling lives.

Many of us experience adversity and trauma during childhood that has lasting impact on our physical and emotional health. And as we're beginning to understand, we are more sensitive to developmental trauma as children than we are as adults. 'What happened to us' in childhood is a powerful predictor of our risk for physical and mental health problems down the road, and offers scientific insights into the patterns of behaviours so many struggle to understand.

A survivor of multiple childhood challenges herself, Oprah Winfrey shares portions of her own harrowing experiences because she understands the vulnerability that comes from facing trauma at a young age.

Throughout her career, Oprah has teamed up with Dr Bruce Perry, one of the world's leading experts on childhood trauma. He has treated thousands of children, youth, and adults and has been called on for decades to support individuals and communities following high-profile traumatic events.

Now, Oprah joins with Dr Perry to marry the power of storytelling with the science and clinical experience to better understand and overcome the effects of trauma.

Grounded in the latest brain science and brought to life through compelling narratives, this book shines a light on a much-needed path to recovery - showing us our incredible capacity to transform after adversity.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Kirkus Book Review

A collaborative look at brain trauma and methods to alleviate the potentially lifelong effects. Child psychiatrist and neuroscientist Perry teams with Winfrey to examine traumatic injury caused by an abusive childhood. The book is formatted in a conversational interview format, with Perry sharing his insights on stress, brain biology, and physiological response, offering new approaches to emotional and psychological pain. Using medical models, Winfrey's personal experience, and Perry's years of research, the authors demonstrate the brain's resilience and ability to adapt to traumatic situations, particularly when paired with psychopharmacological remedies, natural interventions, and behavioral treatments. This process of neural recalibration works wonders in instances of deeply embedded trauma and abuse, allowing people to live better lives through newly invigorated self-worth. Winfrey candidly shares difficult memories of a childhood where regular whippings (as early as age 3) were "accepted practice" and there were expectations of silence and a smile in their aftermath. In addition to this early trauma, she recounts her difficult adult relationship with her mother, which culminates in a powerful scene in a nursing home when Winfrey froze at her mother's bedside, unable to address her. She admits that while collectively these events manifested into her adult relationships and behavior, she eventually processed and embraced the trauma as an opportunity for healing and a way to move forward. With proactive conviction, the authors help readers to recognize their own internalized trauma and encourage the reshaping of personal paths toward wellness and "to excavate the roots that were put down long before we had the words to articulate what was happening to us." Through therapeutic frameworks and the curative power of community, belonging, human connection, and mindfulness, the authors show how renewal of mind and spirit is attainable. Though many of these issues have been addressed before, Perry and Winfrey's partnership is notable, and their book is worthy of attention. A candid guidebook to exorcising mental trauma. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Author notes provided by Syndetics

Over the course of her esteemed career, Oprah Winfrey has created an unparalleled connection with people around the world. As host and supervising producer of the top-rated, award-winning The Oprah Winfrey Show, she entertained, enlightened and uplifted millions of viewers for twenty-five years. Her accomplishments as a global media leader and philanthropist have established her as one of the most influential and admired public figures in the world today. Some of her previously published works include O's Little Guide to Starting Over, Food, Health and Happiness, What I Know for Sure, The Wisdom of Sundays and The Path Made Clear.

Dr Bruce Perry is the Senior Fellow of The ChildTrauma Academy a Community of Practice based in Houston, TX and Professor (Adjunct) in the Departments of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University in Chicago and the College of Science, Health and Engineering, La Trobe University, Australia. He is the author, with Maia Szalavitz, of The Boy Who Was Raised As A Dog , Born For Love: Why Empathy is Essential and Endangered and BRIEF: Reflections on Childhood, Trauma and Society. Over the last thirty years, Dr Perry has been an active teacher, clinician and researcher in children's mental health and the neurosciences holding a variety of academic positions.