"Childhood Disrupted"

[all4peace]

by Donna Jackson Nakazawa

This is an excellent book! Very readable. Got it finished in 2 days' worth of spare time.

This book is about the ACE studies going on since the 80s, in which people's Adverse Childhood Experiences were counted (0-10 categories) and directly correlated to disease, autoimmune disease and lowered life expectancy.

This book simultaneously gives all the neurobiological reasons for increased disease and death AND so many hopeful methods to counteract and reverse the damage to the brain and body that IS done by ACEs.

I score 6-7/10, which would put me in the category of life expectancy decreased by 20 years. However, because it gives so many hopeful possibilities for rehabilitation (mindfulness exercises, breathing, yoga, self care, hypnosis, talk therapy, etc), I plan to look at that statistic as something that simply is not going to be true to me.

It has sections related to parenting, self healing. Here are the chapter titles:
1. Every adult was once a child
2. Different adversities lead to similar health problems
3. Why do some suffer more than others?
4. The female brain on adversity: The link to autoimmune disease, depression and anxiety
5. The good enough family
6. Beginning your healing journey
7. Seeking professional help to heal from post childhood adversity syndrome
8. Parenting well when you haven't been well parented: 14 strategies to help you help your children

I would highly recommend this book to anyone who faced neglect, abuse, shaming, bullying, addiction...pretty much anyone with trauma and/or raised by a PD parent. Very readable and incredibly helpful!

[GettingOOTF]

Thank you for the recommendation. I bought this after reading your post. I'm finding it an interesting read. It makes a lot of sense to me and explains a lot. I'm only 1/3 of the way done but I'm so glad I started it.

[all4peace]

I'm so glad you're enjoying it! Be prepared to be really triggered if you have children. When I got to the topic of in utero impacts, it hit me very hard. I had way too much stress while pregnant, especially with my DD. If you can ride it out, it gives so much hope in future chapters.