One thing readers know about the work I do and the books I write, including Childhood Disrupted, The Autoimmune Epidemic, and The Last Best Cure, is that I focus on the intersection of neuroscience, immunology and emotion – while shining a spotlight on WOMEN’s experiences. Connecting these dots is always an underlying theme in my work. Women, girls, toxic stress, the female brain and immune system, autoimmune disease and chronic physical and mental illness — if you care about any of these, keep an eye out for my upcoming three-part blog series in which I delve into the scientific links between them all.
I’ve written this upcoming blog, and am offering it up freely, because I think it’s crucial that we address the unique way in which the female brain and immune system respond to environmental influences, including #ACEs, and how, in turn, this unique female brain-immune response contributes to girls being several times more likely to later develop autoimmune diseases, depression, anxiety disorders, and so many other chronic illnesses.
I’m going to break down for you, in a way no one else has, or will, how and WHY Adverse Childhood Experiences and toxic childhood stress are a #metoo issue of the greatest magnitude. For girls and for the adult women they become.
I’m calling this three-part exploration:
Growing Up With Female Adversity: The Female Body and Brain on Toxic Stress.
In it, I’m offering up the term — and hashtag — #FemaleAdversity — to refer to the chronic societal stress girls face growing up. Girls not only come of age with higher rates of #AdverseChildhoodExperiences, including verbal, emotional, sexual and physical abuse, girls also have to find their way to a healthy adulthood and sense of self amidst cripplingly narrow societal expectations regarding what isacceptable female beauty and behavior. All this is intensified, 24/7, by images of effortless female perfection on social media and in media in general. Meanwhile, girls are witnessing the sexual harassment and sexism so many adult women endure. Over time, this #FemaleAdversity can take a toll on girls’ and women’s immune systems, bodies, and brains in unique ways.
So, in this series I’ll be delving into:
Part One: Why Girls Who Face #ToxicStress are More Vulnerable to Adult Illness: The Shocking Relationship Between Being Female, #ACEs, #AutoimmuneDisease and #Depression.
Part Two: Every Woman Was Once a Girl: Why We Need to Talk About the Biological Effects of #FemaleAdversity on Women’s Bodies and Brains.
Part Three: #FemaleAdversity is a Unique Form of #ToxicStress — One We Haven’t Been Paying Enough Attention To — And We’d Better Start Soon.
If this topic interests you personally, because it speaks to your experience, or because you work with, teach, mentor, or are parenting girls, or if you work in #ACEAwareness or #trauma prevention, sign up for my blog and newsletter now.
2. Here, too, is a very brief update about my next book THE ANGEL AND THE ASSASSIN: The Tiny Cell That Changed the Course of Medicine, and Gives us a Radically New Way of Looking at Human Well-Being, which will be out with Ballantine Books (Random House) in Fall 2019. I’m writing as fast as I can! And what I’m researching and reporting on is as promising for human health as it is mind-blowing. I’m happy to say, I’ve already turned in the first 200 pages.
In THE ANGEL AND THE ASSASSIN, I’m on a mission to de-stigmatize brain-related health challenges, and to show how chronic conditions like depression, anxiety, learning disabilities, mood disorders, memory issues, and Alzheimer’s all involve one tiny, overlooked (and all too often, overactive) brain immune cell called microglia, which functions as the “white blood cell of the brain.” These tiny glial cells are in constant dialogue with the body’s immune system, and can be all too easily triggered by physical or emotional trauma, toxic stress, environmental toxins, infections, and inflammation in the body itself. All of these can, in turn, cause microglia to become agitated and destroy brain synapses and circuitry, generating neuroinflammation — in much the same way that rogue immune cells in the body can generate a slow brew inflammatory process that leads to the body attacking itself, as in autoimmune disease.
This truly amazing discovery – and the new understanding that the brain is an immune organ, ruled by these little reactive immune cells called glia — is one of the most revolutionary discoveries in the history of science, and it’s changing everything, including leading to exciting new avenues for treating seemingly intractable life-altering disorders.
Once again, in The Angel and the Assassin, as in all my books, I’ll be examining what this means specifically for women and girls, who suffer disproportionately from trauma, toxic stress, autoimmune disease, depression, and so many chronic illnesses. Stay tuned!
3. Finally, for those who are interested in knowing about my upcoming events, here are a few of the venues where I’ll be lecturing over the next few months. Both of these events offer CME and CPE Credits for professionals who want to be trauma-informed, learn about ACEs Science, and the latest science on resiliency.
Keynote, Rutgers University DIS[RU]PT TRAUMA Conference, Thursday, May 31st, 9 a.m. – 12:00. I’ll also be offering a break out workshop.
Golisano Children’s Hospital 16th Annual Pediatric Conference, Saturday June 9th, 1:30, at the Sanibel Harbour Marriott Resort & Spa.
Hope to see you at one of these events!
You can also find me on Facebook or @DonnaJackNak on Twitter or my website.
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