Childhood Disrupted

How Your Biography Becomes Your Biology, and How You Can Heal

By: Donna Jackson Nakazawa

Narrated by: Callie Beaulieu

The emotional trauma we suffer as children not only shapes our emotional lives as adults but also affects our physical health and overall well-being. Scientists now know on a biochemical level exactly how parents' chronic fights, divorce, death in the family, being bullied or hazed, and growing up with a hypercritical, alcoholic, or mentally ill parent can leave permanent, physical "fingerprints" on our brains.

When we as children encounter sudden or chronic adversity, excessive stress hormones cause powerful changes in the body, altering our body chemistry. The developing immune system and brain react to this chemical barrage by permanently resetting our stress response to "high", which in turn can have a devastating impact on our mental and physical health.

Donna Jackson Nakazawa shares stories from people who have recognized and overcome their adverse experiences, shows why some children are more immune to stress than others, and explains why women are at particular risk. Groundbreaking in its research and inspiring in its clarity, Childhood Disrupted explains how you can reset your biology - and help your loved ones find ways to heal.

©2015 Donna Jackson Nakazawa (P)2015 Tantor

Critic reviews

" Childhood Disrupted helps shift the paradigm in our understanding of health and well-being by unveiling the role that early adversity plays in our physical and emotional adult health." (Amy Myers, author of The Autoimmune Solution)

excellent

people(adults or children) who are chronically depressed, have emotional problems and/or behavioral problems would benefit by first being evaluated with ACE score and resilience score and getting relevant treatments before being put on psychiatric medications.

Important and fantastic book!

Incredibly important book for every single person to read and share with loved ones. Really well written and explained

Enlightening

This book gives a lot of insight to how what happens in childhood not only effects the Psyche but also the physiological health of an adult. For better understanding I recommended this book to anyone who wants to break the cycle of brokenness or stagnation.

This should be mandatory reading for all

Excellently written! The book's clear, concise summaries of the science in layman's terms are tied with human stories that bring the science to life and make it relatable across many walks of life. The book also goes through many valuable tools available to change the effects of past trauma & how to avoid passing our trauma on to the next generation and the science supporting them leaving the reader on a hopeful, motivated high note to work on themselves and the spreading of the awareness of the impact of toxic childhood stress on our communities.

Eye opening and very well written!

This book is so we'll written and understandable! Every person able to read it or even listen to the audible version, can benefit from this book.