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What Happened to You?

Conversations on Trauma, Resilience, and Healing

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What Happened to You?

By: Oprah Winfrey, Bruce Perry
Narrated by: Bruce Perry, Oprah Winfrey
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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 a 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, What Happened to You? shines a light on a much-needed path to recovery – showing us our incredible capacity to transform after adversity.

Developmental Psychology Mental Health Mental Health Awareness Personal Development Personal Success Post-Traumatic Stress Disorders Psychology Psychology & Mental Health Relationships Career Health Inspiring Feel Better Resilience Emotions
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Critic reviews

An incredible dialogue that bares the fundamental causes of trauma, and rightly turns the question of shame on its head and back to the environment. There is so much more we need to learn and this book is the perfect guide to reframing how we can act – through research, experience and compassion – in tomorrow's world. An essential read (Dr Camilla Pang, biochemist and author of Explaining Humans)
Revealing, intimate, and educational, it’s a testament to the authors’ wish for readers to come to grips with, and let go of, the past – and to move forward into 'post-traumatic wisdom' (Leigh Haber, O Magazine)
All stars
Most relevant
From start to finish I was hooked. It was so interesting to learn about how we carry trauma into our adult lives and no one thinks to ask what happened to you to try and help work this out in order to heal past wounds. 100%recommended. I will definitely listen to this again.

Excellent

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Loved this book. Be nice to have a follow up book/work book to accompany the findings..

Very insightful

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I made so many notes on this audiobook that I don’t know where to begin, so I’ll first say that I truly love this kind of work people do to unravel the complexity of such an important subject as it is trauma.

Breaking the cycle of inherited trauma is more than just going to therapy (which by the way not everyone has the privilege to access to), it involves community, build new associations, collective healing and mainly 2 core elements: awareness coupled with connectedness.

If we truly want to understand how to heal ourselves we need to understand our history, and Dr. Bruce D. Perry does a brilliant job at explaining from the beginning how the “flock-freeze-fight or flight state” works when trauma makes presence in our lives, and how therapy and the previous mentioned core elements work together not to erase the pain and dissociations caused by traume, but I read how they work to build new and healthy associations with our environment, and I think this was beautifully explained.

Maybe sometime in the past I wished I hadn’t lived the things I’ve lived that caused me trauma, nevertheless I recognise I would not have become the evolved human being that I’m still in the process of becoming if I had everything I wanted at the exact moment I wanted it.

Remember, until you heal the wounds of your past you will continue to bleed. The wounds will bleed through and stain your life through overworking, drugs, alcohol, superficial distractions that lead to a vicious cycle.

Forgiveness is giving up the hope that the past could’ve been any different, and when you make peace with that, you open a door of endless possibilities of resilience and getting back your power.

I highly recommend this book to anyone out there whose struggling to overcome what happened to them…

What a breakthrough…

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Style of questions and answers has really worked for this book. Weldone both authors.

Great book

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Very informative information and Trauma and a it’s effects. Good way to start learning further about Trauma and it’s effects.

Very informative

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