A review by aliciasokol
What Happened To You?: Conversations on Trauma, Resilience, and Healing by Bruce D. Perry, Oprah Winfrey

5.0

The audiobook was engrossing and deeply engaging, more like an ongoing conversation between the two authors (both narrated). There are also select clips from interviews from Oprah’s shows. This book made me think and feel in all the ways. It’s less clinical and more conversational than The Body Keeps the Score. It should be required for any one who deals with humans or is a human (yes, absolutely everyone). Why? We all need other people. The relationships in our lives define the quality of our lives. How we relate to other people is impacted by what happened to them and what happened to us. Something has happened to all of us at some point. We have all experienced varying degrees of trauma at points in our lives. It’s part of being human. Some happens early in life, some later. Some very severe and damaging. The toughest cases were hard to hear about. But it’s not just about PTSD or child abuse or neglect. It’s also about feeling safe and finding belonging. It can be as a result of feeling marginalized. And it’s never too late to find healing through (even small) therapeutic moments, community and being brave enough to answer - and examine - the question “what happened to you?”