About this item

A groundbreaking book showing the link between Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and adult illnesses such as heart disease, autoimmune disease, and cancer - Childhood Disrupted also explains how to cope with these emotional traumas and even heal from them.Your biography becomes your biology. The emotional trauma we suffer as children not only shapes our emotional lives as adults, it also affects our physical health, longevity, and overall wellbeing. Scientists now know on a bio-chemical 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.



About the Author

Donna Jackson Nakazawa

Donna Jackson Nakazawa is an award-winning journalist and internationally-recognized speaker whose work explores the intersection of neuroscience, immunology, and human emotion. She is the author of six books, including her newest, The Angel and The Assassin: The Tiny Brain Cell That Changed the Course of Medicine (Ballantine, January 2020) , which illuminates the newly-understood role of microglia - an elusive type of brain cell that links our physical and mental health and offers new hope for patients suffering from depression, anxiety, and Alzheimer's. Hailed as "riveting," "stunning," and "visionary," The Angel and the Assassin elucidates the biological basis behind the mind-body connection and offers us a radically reconceived picture of human health. Donna's other books include Childhood Disrupted: How Your Biography Becomes Your Biology, and How You Can Heal (Atria / Simon & Schuster, 2015) , The Last Best Cure (Hudson Street Press / Penguin, 2013) , The Autoimmune Epidemic (Touchstone / Simon & Schuster, 2009) , and Does Anybody Else Look Like Me? A Parent's Guide to Raising Multicultural Children (Perseus, 2003) . Her writing has been published in Wired, The Boston Globe, Stat, The Washington Post, Health Affairs, Aeon, More, Parenting, AARP Magazine, Glamour, and elsewhere. In addition to her work as a science journalist, Donna has been a keynote speaker at numerous universities, conferences and hospitals. Her lectures include the 2020 Harvard Division of Science and the Harvard Cabot Science Library Series; 2019 Care Plus Annual Conference, 2018 Rutgers University Behavioral Health Care Conference, 2018 Golisano Children's Hospital Annual Pediatric Conference, 2017 Royal Society of Medicine SIRPA Conference on Chronic Pain and Emotion, 2017 Learning and the Brain Conference, 2016 Johns Hopkins Conference on Trauma-Informed Healing, and the 2012 International Congress on Autoimmunity. She has appeared on The Today Show, National Public Radio, NBC News, and ABC News. Donna's book, Childhood Disrupted, was a finalist for the 2016 Books for a Better Life Award, and for her written contributions to the field of immunity, she has received the international AESKU Award, as well as the National Health Information Award, which recognizes the nation's best magazine articles on health. Donna received her Bachelor of Arts from Duke University and is a graduate of the Radcliffe Publishing Procedures Program.



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