“The acknowledgment of one human being by another is what bonds us. Asking 'What happened to you?' expands the human connection.” – Dr. Perry

I read this book based on a recommendation from Episode 9 of the Dressember podcast, Things Survivors Wish You Knew, with guest Suamhirs Piraino-Guzman, and I'm very grateful for that suggestion. I found it really helpful to learn about the neuroscience behind trauma -- what's happening in the brain -- and how it manifests clinically in behavior. The audio production goes back and forth between Oprah and Dr. Perry, and it feels podcast-y. My biggest takeaways were about dissociation, and learning more about it helped illuminate incidents in my past when I definitely coped in that way, and I didn't have the vocabulary to articulate it. There's also a lot of good points here about growing sensitivity (and decreased resiliency) as a society in general, due to lack of connection and investment in nuanced conversation. I think this book would be helpful for anyone because we are all in relationships and hopefully trying to be more compassionate, responsive people in them.