Donna Jackson Nakazawa, author of six books and longtime friend of PACEs Connection, joins the History. Culture. Trauma. podcast this week in an excerpt from the launch of her sixth book, “Girls on the Brink—Helping our Daughters Thrive in an Era of Increased Anxiety, Depression and Social Media.”
"Anyone caring for girls today knows that our daughters, students, and girls next door are more anxious and more prone to depression and self-harming than ever before,” said Nakazawa. But the question that seemed to have no answer was: “Why?” That’s why Nakazawa wrote the book, which she called a true labor of love.
The podcast comprises excerpts from a recent discussion among Nakazawa and PACEs Connection staff members Carey Sipp and Natalie Audage. Nakazawa noted that this time is especially challenging for girls. She cited the cultural challenges of social media and peer pressure as well as scientific evidence of hormonal and other biological changes in girls that are a cause for concern.
“The earlier onset of puberty mixes badly with the unchecked bloom of social media and cultural misogyny,” Nakazawa explained. “When this toxic clash occurs during the critical neurodevelopmental window of adolescence, it can alter the female stress-immune response in ways that derail healthy emotional development.”
The interview also focused on several of the 15 “antidotes” Nakazawa offers in this highly acclaimed book, as well as which factors in research on positive childhood experiences are most likely to help girls become secure and confident young women. Antidotes fall into three categories and include three on “the building blocks of good parent-child connection, and the importance of family connection,” six antidotes for “making her home a safe space,” and six antidotes to “bring in what the wider community can provide.” The interview honed in on at least one antidote from each of the three categories, including making it a good experience when your daughter turns to you, the importance of “wonder”, and encouraging a sense of mastery.
Nakazawa is an award winning science journalist, public speaker, and author of “The Last Best Cure”, in which she chronicled her year-long journey to health. “Childhood Disrupted” was born from the author’s own search to better understand the role her own childhood adversity played in the chronic health issues she faced as an adult.
Nakazawa lectures nationwide and has appeared on the TODAY Show, National Public Radio, and ABC News. Her work has been featured on the cover of Parade, in Time Magazine, USA Today Weekend, Parenting, and Psychology Today. She has been a regular contributor to More and her research has been covered by The Washington Post, Glamour, Ladies Home Journal, and AARP: the Magazine. Donna blogs regularly for Psychology Today.
The book is the second selection of the PACEs Connection Connecting Communities One Book at a Time book study. The first selection was “What Happened to You?” by Dr. Bruce Perry and Oprah Winfrey. More than 130 book studies formed as the result of the new initiative to communities together around books that help us have critical conversations about positive and adverse childhood experiences, racism, inequity, and how communities can prevent and heal trauma and create resiliency.
Tune into the interview broadcast at 1 p.m. PT; 4 p.m. ET on Thursday, October 27 here.
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