The Oprah Podcast: Oprah and Psychiatrist Bruce Perry Give You The Tools to Heal Your Childhood Trauma

In this episode Winfrey and Perry share stories of people impacted by reading their book “What Happened to You?” I (James) would love to see this episode shared widely. Oprah and Bruce first chat with Annie, who talks about a lifetime of feeling unlovable and coming to the “ah ha” that there was a direct link between her parents’ brokenness and her own sense of unworthiness. This insight is freeing but lead to another issue. How could Annie forgive caregivers who didn’t give her the attunement she most needed? Oprah and Bruce help Annie (and myself!) understand forgiveness not as an on and off switch but rather as a liberating process of letting go of the hope that the past could have been different.

David was in utero when his parents tragically lost a four-year-old child. David shares how from as early as he can remember he has felt an altruistic burden that exists to relieve his family’s grief. Does a mother’s stress and sadness leave a lasting impression on the child she is carrying? “Absolutely,” states Dr Perry. The vast majority of brain development happens in utero and the first two years of life, and what happens earliest in a child’s life has the most impact.

US District Judge Esther Salas describes the experience that she and her husband had of seeing their son shot in the foyer of their own home. Salas describes how the book helped them understand what was happening inside their brains after what happened. She realized that when her stress response system got out of balance, she could not talk with her husband. Waiting for her brain to come back into a regulated state before having conversations saved their marriage. The book had far reaching implications for Salas, as it even shifted the way she sees people that come into her courtroom, and the way she relates with them.