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What Happened to You?
ONE MILLION COPIES SOLD
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
Our earliest experiences shape our lives far down the road, and What Happened to You? provides powerful scientific and emotional insights into the behavioral patterns so many of us struggle to understand.
“Through this lens we can build a renewed sense of personal self-worth and ultimately recalibrate our responses to circumstances, situations, and relationships. It is, in other words, the key to reshaping our very lives.”—Oprah Winfrey
This book is going to change the way you see your life.
Have you ever wondered "Why did I do that?" or "Why can't I just control my behavior?" Others may judge our reactions and think, "What's wrong with that person?" When questioning our emotions, it's easy to place the blame on ourselves; holding ourselves and those around us to an impossible standard. It's time we started asking a different question.
Through deeply personal conversations, Oprah Winfrey and renowned brain and trauma expert Dr. Bruce Perry offer a groundbreaking and profound shift from asking “What’s wrong with you?” to “What happened to you?”
Here, Winfrey shares stories from her own past, understanding through experience the vulnerability that comes from facing trauma and adversity at a young age. In conversation throughout the book, she and Dr. Perry focus on understanding people, behavior, and ourselves. It’s a subtle but profound shift in our approach to trauma, and it’s one that allows us to understand our pasts in order to clear a path to our future—opening the door to resilience and healing in a proven, powerful way.
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Reviews
if you have been through any kind of trauma in your life & you want to understand yourself more & how your brain works, THIS IS A MUST READ! i’ve learned to much about myself & why the way i am. SO GOOD
By lexusreads
“Strength times strength times strength equals power” is one of my favorite quotes. I’ve learned so much from this book about what it means to be trauma-informed and the ways in which society has failed to help us develop neurologically. This book and the stories within capture so many of my own experiences and gave them meaning that I’d never thought. I never realized the impact growing up without parents would have and as I work with therapists to process much of my own patterns and triggers, I’m forever grateful for the awareness. I’m also grateful for the reminder that sometimes I can show grace to my own mother who was never present, but always asks why I am the way I am instead of what happened to me. This book has helped me open the door to forgiveness and healing damaged relationships, while starting the difficult conversations of “what happened’ and now the “why am I like this.’ Eternally grateful.
By Ultimate soprano
The book does a great job in explaining how our brain reacts to trauma in general. And helps you understand things that can trigger trauma. The blog gives examples of different situations of traumatic events people went through in life and how certain behaviors they have are due to those traumas. I could not relate to the examples of trauma in the book. I personally wanted to see how my past and what happened to me affects my behaviors. Some things from the book I could relate to, but really have to take a deeper search. This book is great for those who want to understand child trauma and how that affects behavior.
By Al3xis7
This book goes into detail about what it is like working with people who have suffered from depression, anxiety disorders and traumatic experiences during their lives and how to support them through therapy and other interventions that can improve their lives and give them a chance to heal, improving their quality of life. This book is also great for anyone working in the mental health field who needs some help in relating more with their clients experience and understanding how they can be more effective at improving treatment options.
By MkZ004
The best book I have ever read! It speaks to me as an individual on all levels of my human existence. I recommend it for personal, social, spiritual, and even political improvements. This content needs to be share and implemented within every human community. It contains the key to the healing and our world needs.
By MRSmithDen