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)

Childhood disrupted

This book is an eye opener for everyone who has had issues with depression or anxiety that never seems to get resolved. I have been a Registered Nurse for the past 35 years. I have been to different therapists over the years. When I brought up my sexual abuse history as a child,(my first therapy visit was in 1993) every single one of them said that this Hx didn’t have anything to do with my current problems. Boy, were they WRONG!

A must read for everyone

This book is full of wonderful and helpful information. Having survived the death of a parent and having acquired a feeling of abandonment when my father could not assume the responsibility of single parenting I was blessed with living with my maternal grandmother. It's only now 45 years after my mother died of ovarian cancer that the 'stuff ' buried so deep within is surfacing in a more conscious way.
Thank you for all the research in this area. I know I can now begin healing such deep wounds.

captivated me on mental health and disease links

informative and well documented research on the importance of childhood trauma to disease. really provides a fascinating approach to deepening understanding of family cycles of abuse, impact on children and adult health. hard to read at times but the best part is that the author provides healing methods and hope to those who want to break the cycle, help children develop healthy habits and E.Q. to live a more fulfilling and healthier life.

Excellent storyteller. I highly recommend!

This book was very informative and has helped me so much. Excellent Narrator! Must read!

LOVED this book

The content was great and very interesting. At times it did feel the author was repeating herself but that was nothing compared to a chapter of the narrator slipping into a Jersey accent! It was clear the audiobook was not edited perfectly (revelent vs relevant) but I enjoyed the content and info so much that it evened out.

I’ll have to listen again for some of the scientific explanations to sink in.

some disturbing content, overall very imformative

I found some of the content in the stories highly disturbing but overall it has very good information. I loved that the book stresses that these challenges can be overcome and you can form new neural pathways in your brain. Discusses benefits of mindfulness, meditation and other non traditional therapies to assist in creating these new neural pathways . Pretty easy to listen to other than certain content in the stories, not too much brain biology that you need to be a doctor to understand but enough so you understand how the brain works and how past traumas affect you today. You really can't go wrong with this one.

science behind trauma is important

very scientific book with a lot of statistics, good for professionals wanting to help educate other professionals, in school legal system etc. the stories help to understand that we are all in this together no one is immune to ACE

so informative with actionable steps

this helps you take apart your own childhood and see where Adverse Events may have happened. it also helps you think about your own parenting and what you could do to be more effective. There are many helpful tips on how to heal past adverse childhood events. It is actually a very uplifting book.

A book everyone should read.

This book was helpful for me to in a way I never before thought it possible.

This is a must read book

If you are part of the human race, you need to read this book. It will likely help you understand yourself and everyone around you. Written with compassion as well as scientific neurological information this is a very insightful book.