Initially when I started visiting my Memory Forest I was compelled to wander down the same path. But as I got more comfortable and felt safer among the memories, I started venturing off the well-worn paths and started making new trails. This has been my experience of neuroplasticity and recovery from interpersonal trauma and ACEs.
Recently I finished J.D. Vance's excellent Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis , a book that's part sociological analysis about poor white Americans, and part memoir about growing up with a drug-addicted mother and all the crappy crap that goes with that. I come from the opposite corner of the socioeconomic spectrum (well, the "socio" part of the poor spectrum). Vance was Hillbilly Poor and I was Hippie Poor, but my experience was about 90% the same as his. When media...
Good morning! Did anyone see this study? https://www.inc.com/dana-severson/after-studying-lives-of-724-men-for-79-years-harvard-reveals-1-biggest-secret-to-success-happiness.html It is more supporting documentation to the Enjoy Life Community® concept that I had developed and would love to work with people of like mind as I have found here in the AcesConnection network to implement. I truly believe it is a solution for any community -- a school community, neighborhood or workplace. The...
Recovery is not a term reserved only for those who choose and maintain the path of complete abstinence. Inside a theatre, a stark visual appears: Each year, only 1% of addicts are able to kick heroin and stay clean. This quickly cuts to images of my former self deliberately counting syringes at the needle exchange site. I see a shadow I recognize as myself in active addiction. I can barely discern my gender, my clothing keenly styled to blend into the streets that I called home. As the...
More people in the United States are on antidepressants , as a percentage of the population, than any other country in the world. And yet the drugs’ efficacy has been hotly debated. Some believe that the short-term benefits are much more modest than widely thought, and that harms may outweigh benefits in the long run. Others believe that they work, and that they can be life-changing. Settling this debate has been much harder than you might think. [For more on this story by Aaron E. Carroll,...
Last June, The Atlantic published “ My Family’s Slave ,” a harrowing reflection by the journalist Alex Tizon on his experience of being raised by Eudocia Tomas Pulido, or, as she was known to Tizon, “Lola.” Pulido wasn’t in chains, Tizon wrote, yet “no other word but slaveencompassed the life she lived.” The story moved millions of readers. Today, as part of our special report about forced work, “ The Unfree ,” and with assistance from the nonprofit National Domestic Workers Alliance (NDWA),...
"It angers me how we keep going down the same path [with respect to policing] expecting a different result. We believe over-incarceration and over-policing leads to less crime, yet we have more crime,” Chokwe Lumumba, the mayor of Jackson, Mississippi, told me recently. Lumumba, elected last June with the endorsement of the political organization Our Revolution, added that his plans for criminal-justice reform are manifold; for instance, he supports a proposed ordinance to reduce penalties...
We’ve all seen it happen: An older friend or family member retires, is diagnosed with a serious illness or loses a spouse. Suddenly, this individual’s world is altered, sometimes seemingly beyond recognition. He has reached a fork in the road; will he get stuck or find a way to regroup and move on? In a new book, “ The End of Old Age ,” Dr. Marc Agronin, a geriatric psychiatrist, calls this moment an “age point” — an event that disrupts an older person’s life and challenges the person’s...
Parenting can be stressful - and this stress may be influencing the DNA methylation of African American mothers, finds a new study led by NYU Rory Meyers College of Nursing published in the Journal of Clinical and Translational Science. Stress can contribute to a range of health problems, including high blood pressure and heart disease - health issues that are particularly pervasive among African American women. The stress that parents feel in their roles adds to overall maternal stress...
Conversations about the juvenile justice system and the way it devastates Black and Brown children too often omit the perspectives of those most impacted. WNYC Studios provided space for several of these kids to speak their truth in “ Caught: The Lives of Juvenile Justice ,” a new podcast that debuted today (March 12). Journalist and podcast host Kai Wright * told Colorlines that the podcast grew out of the Radio Rookies program, which teaches New York teenagers to produce stories about...
Laura Porter and dozens of other friends sent a flurry of emails this week with Oprah in the subject line. This national figurehead carrying our message to a national audience ensures childhood adversity, trauma and resiliency are topics of conversation in households across our country. Talking about ACEs is just one step before taking action on ACEs! Laura Porter writes "This is in advance of the airing of a 60 Minutes airing of a story she successfully pitched for the show. I will be...
Kudos for Oprah, but if the focus doesn't shift from healing, treatment, and recovery to prevention...abandon hope for the future.
Laura Dennis wrote about why so many adoptive parents, as well as teachers, survivors, and advocates, were glued to the TV last night. Here's an excerpt:
A behind the scenes photo of Alisha Fox (far right), Oprah Winfrey, and members of Alisha’s family, courtesy of SaintA __________________________________________________________________ One immediate impact of the Oprah Winfrey’s 60 Minutes segment on childhood trauma is that the website of SaintA, an agency featured in the program, crashed almost immediately. It is still down (but keep checking). A common response to the program is that it is powerful in its storytelling and presentation of...