Overcoming Childhood Trauma

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. They challenge us to shift from focusing on, “What’s wrong with you?” or “Why are you behaving that way?,” to asking, “What happened to you?”

I wrote this book because it is the book that I needed when I started my journey to both understanding and overcoming my traumatic past. When I started I never expected what it would become. The short version is this: I come from a dark place, my ACE score is 10, and I attempted to take my own life twice, not to mention being morbidly obese and a drug addict at 12 years old. Today, I am happy, healthy, and driven towards being my best self every day. Why? Because I choose to Think Unbroken.

The devil whispers in my ear, “Your mother can never know about this… it will kill her if she ever finds out.” Fear quakes in my six-year-old body. Shame saturates me like a soggy mist. I draw an X across my heart, cup my hand around his ear and whisper, “Cross my heart and hope to die! I promise I will never tell!” I am VOICELESS.

"Well, if you are not going to help around the house, you might as well get the hell out!" my mother yelled at the top of her lungs. She was throwing me out of the house when I was six years old! She had a frightening, aggressive posture. She was leaning forward and was stiff as a board. The world came to an end for me. I felt and emptiness in my chest; I felt powerless and absolutely forsaken.