Childhood Disrupted

The Angel and the Assassin

The Tiny Brain Cell That Changed the Course of Medicine

Donna Jackson Nakazawa

A thrilling story of scientific detective work and medical potential that illuminates the newly understood role of microglia—an elusive type of brain cell that is vitally relevant to our everyday lives. “The rarest of books: a combination of page-turning discovery and remarkably readable science journalism.”—Mark Hyman, MD, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Food: What the Heck Should I Eat? NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY WIRED Until recently, microglia were thought to be helpful but rather boring: housekeeper cells in the brain. But a recent groundbreaking discovery has revealed that they connect our physical and mental health in surprising ways. When triggered—and anything that stirs up the immune system in the body can activate microglia, including chronic stressors, trauma, and viral infections—they can contribute to memory problems, anxiety, depression, and Alzheimer’s. Under the right circumstances, however, microglia can be coaxed back into being angelic healers, able to make brain repairs in ways that help alleviate symptoms and hold the promise to one day prevent disease. With the compassion born of her own experience, award-winning journalist Donna Jackson Nakazawa illuminates this newly understood science, following practitioners and patients on the front lines of treatments that help to “reboot” microglia. In at least one case, she witnesses a stunning recovery—and in others, significant relief from pressing symptoms, offering new hope to the tens of millions who suffer from mental, cognitive, and physical health issues. Hailed as a “riveting,” “stunning,” and “visionary,” The Angel and the Assassin offers us a radically reconceived picture of human health and promises to change everything we thought we knew about how to heal ourselves.

The Last Best Cure

My Quest to Awaken the Healing Parts of My Brain and Get Back My Body, My Joy, and My Life

Donna Jackson Nakazawa

One day Donna Jackson Nakazawa found herself lying on the floor to recover from climbing the stairs. That’s when it hit her. She was managing the symptoms of the autoimmune disorders that had plagued her for a decade, but she had lost her joy. As a science journalist, she was curious to know what mind-body strategies might help her. As a wife and mother she was determined to get her life back. Over the course of one year, Nakazawa researches and tests a variety of therapies including meditation, yoga, and acupuncture to find out what works. But the discovery of a little-known branch of research into Adverse Childhood Experiences causes her to have an epiphany about her illness that not only stuns her—it turns her life around. Perfect for readers of Gretchen Rubin's The Happiness Project, Nakazawa shares her unexpected discoveries, amazing improvements, and shows readers how they too can find their own last best cure.

The Autoimmune Epidemic

Bodies Gone Haywire in a World Out of Balance--and the Cutting-Edge Science that Promises Hope

Donna Jackson Nakazawa

Hailed by Mark Hyman, MD, as “a ray of light and hope” for autoimmune sufferers, this groundbreaking book provides research and solutions for those affected by autoimmune disorders including Crohn’s disease, type 1 diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, and more. In the first book of its kind, journalist Donna Jackson Nakazawa examines nearly 100 debilitating autoimmune diseases—such as multiple sclerosis, lupus, Crohn’s disease, type 1 diabetes, and rheumatoid arthritis—that cause the body to destroy itself, mistakenly attacking healthy cells as the immune system fights off bacteria, viruses, and other invaders. As Nakazawa share the vivid, heartbreaking stories, including her own, of people living with these mysterious, chronic, and often hard-to-diagnose illnesses, she explores the alarming and unexpected connection between this deadly crisis and the countless environmental triggers we’re exposed to every day: heavy metals, toxins, pesticides, viruses, chemicals in the foods we eat, and more. With the help of leading experts, Nakazawa explores revolutionary preventions, treatments, and cures emerging around the world and offers practical advice for protecting your immune system and reducing your risk of autoimmune disease in the future.

Girls on the Brink

Helping Our Daughters Thrive in an Era of Increased Anxiety, Depression, and Social Media

Donna Jackson Nakazawa

15 “simple but powerful” (The New York Times Book Review) strategies for raising emotionally healthy girls, based on cutting-edge science that explains the modern pressures that make it so difficult for adolescent girls to thrive “This is a brave and important book; the challenging stories—both personal and scientific—will make you think, and, hopefully, act.”—Bruce D. Perry, MD, PhD, New York Times bestselling co-author of What Happened to You? ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: The Washington Post, Mashable 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. The question that no one has yet been able to credibly answer is Why? Now we have answers. As award-winning writer Donna Jackson Nakazawa deftly explains in Girls on the Brink, new findings reveal that the crisis facing today’s girls is a biologically rooted phenomenon: the earlier onset of puberty mixes badly with the unchecked bloom of social media and cultural misogyny. 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. But our new understanding of the biology of modern girlhood yields good news, too. Though puberty is a particularly critical and vulnerable period, it is also a time during which the female adolescent brain is highly flexible and responsive to certain kinds of support and scaffolding. Indeed, we know now that a girl’s innate sensitivity to her environment can, with the right conditions, become her superpower. Jackson Nakazawa details the common denominators of such support, shedding new light on the keys to preventing mental health concerns in girls as well as helping those who are already struggling. Drawing on insights from both the latest science and interviews with girls about their adolescent experiences, the author carefully guides adults through fifteen “antidote” strategies to help any teenage girl thrive in the face of stress, including how to nurture the parent-child connection through the rollercoaster of adolescence, core ingredients to building a sense of safety and security for your teenage girl at home, and how to foster the foundations of long-term resilience in our girls so they’re ready to face the world. Neuroprotective and healing, the strategies in Girls on the Brink amount to a new playbook for how we—parents, families, and the human tribe—can secure a healthy emotional inner life for all of our girls.

Mind Drama

The Science of Rumination and How to Outwit Your Inner Defeatist

Donna Jackson Nakazawa

An acclaimed science writer explains why we so often become lost in our most self-defeating thoughts and how to transform this brooding energy into something empowering and productive. “If you’ve ever wondered why your mind sometimes gets the best of you, and you are hungry for science-based tools to stop overthinking, this book is for you.”—Ethan Kross, bestselling author of Shift and Chatter Why’d I do that? He’s such a jerk! I’m such an idiot! What did she mean by that comment? Ideally, our thought spirals help us process difficult situations and emotions. When they become repetitive, however, they can be highly problematic: your brain is ruminating. And science has shown the degree to which we ruminate, perhaps more than any other mental act, determines our life-long well-being. In Mind Drama, veteran science writer Donna Jackson Nakazawa gets inside the strange magnetism of rumination, explains why we're all doing it now more than ever, and shares the new science for decoding, outwitting, and repurposing this dark mental habit. Using her own ruminative mind as a test case, she walks us through the actionable neuro-hacks that can help us escape unhealthy brooding, like: A checklist of questions to pinpoint how your own brain works; this is how to begin to train it in a new direction. How to crack your personal rumination code by assigning names to the images, emotions, and sensations that accompany your downward spirals. Personalizing language this way becomes your portal to escape. Why your patterns of rumination have something profound to tell you: they are signal fires from your past; once you understand the messages they’re sending you, you can use that insight to begin to heal. How to use ballistic interruptions—words with emotional power—to exit your ruminating thoughts and rewire your mind. Why you overthink about relationships, with actionable tools to circumvent that negative thinking and find emotional freedom. How to reverse engineer your ruminative thoughts and spiral up: How to cultivate an "opposite feeling,” and “let fear be your friend” to gain perspective. A deeply helpful roadmap to the anatomy of self-criticism and unproductive worry, Mind Drama shows us that with practice we can tame our thoughts and repurpose our ruminative tendencies to access our mind’s higher potential for creativity, ingenuity, and insight.

Drama mental

Por qué tu mente no se calla y cómo recuperar el control

Donna Jackson Nakazawa

¿Por qué hice eso? ¿Qué quiso decir con ese comentario? ¿Y por qué no puedo dejar de darle vueltas una y otra vez? En teoría, los bucles de pensamiento nos ayudan a procesar situaciones y emociones difíciles. Sin embargo, cuando se vuelven repetitivos, pueden jugar en nuestra contra: tu mente está rumiando. Y la ciencia ha demostrado que, más que casi cualquier otro hábito mental, la rumiación influye directamente en nuestro bienestar. En Drama mental , la reconocida divulgadora científica, Donna Jackson Nakazawa, explora el magnetismo de la rumiación, explica por qué hoy caemos en ella con tanta facilidad y comparte los hallazgos científicos más recientes para comprenderla y superarla. A partir de su propia experiencia, ofrece herramientas prácticas para romper estos patrones y recuperar el control de nuestros pensamientos. El libro incluye una lista para identificar tu nivel de rumiación y estrategias concretas para: Descifrar tu código personal de rumiación al nombrar las emociones y sensaciones que acompañan tus espirales de pensamiento. Comprender qué revelan tus patrones mentales sobre tu historia y proceso de sanación. Interrumpir los pensamientos repetitivos con recursos emocionales que ayudan a reconfigurar la mente. Reorientar tus ideas para transformar el miedo en perspectiva y cambiar el rumbo de la espiral. Una guía reveladora sobre la autocrítica y la preocupación improductiva que demuestra que es posible transformar la rumiación en una fuente de claridad, creatividad e intuición.

Trauma and Recovery

The Aftermath of Violence--From Domestic Abuse to Political Terror

Judith Lewis Herman

Examines how people adapt to traumatic events such as rape, domestic violence, terrorism, and combat, discusses the healing process, and provides a framework for treatment.

Choice Theory

A New Psychology of Personal Freedom

William Glasser, M.D.

Dr. William Glasser offers a new psychology that, if practiced, could reverse our widespread inability to get along with one another, an inability that is the source of almost all unhappiness. For progress in human relationships, he explains that we must give up the punishing, relationship–destroying external control psychology. For example, if you are in an unhappy relationship right now, he proposes that one or both of you could be using external control psychology on the other. He goes further. And suggests that misery is always related to a current unsatisfying relationship. Contrary to what you may believe, your troubles are always now, never in the past. No one can change what happened yesterday.

A Child Called It

One Child's Courage to Survive

David J. Pelzer, Dave Pelzer

An inspirational story; one child's courage to survive.

The History of Childhood

Lloyd deMause

A survey of childhood that reveals startling views of life in Europe and America during the past 2000 years. This book documents the lives of former children who were abused. It places child abuse today into the context of what was routinely inflicted upon

Sexual Abuse of Children

A Human Rights Perspective

Roger J. R. Levesque

This book considers how human rights law can help define what could and should be done to protect children from sexual maltreatment. The volume explores diverse forms of sexual maltreatment, compares societal responses to existing research and policies, uncovers basic themes, and proposes directions for future action. Roger Levesque places particular emphasis on the ways abusive activities in different countries and societies are linked with one another and the way diverse societal views of children place them at risk.

Understanding Child Maltreatment

An Ecological and Developmental Perspective

Maria Scannapieco, Kelli Connell-Carrick

This volume examines the impact of child maltreatment at each stage of a child's development, including infancy, early childhood, middle childhood, and adolescence. This book proposes assessment and intervention strategies based on a deep understanding of each stage of a child's development.

Beat Autoimmune

The 6 Keys to Reverse Your Condition and Reclaim Your Health

Palmer Kippola

Reverse your negative health trajectory and start the journey towards healing and resilient health with Palmer Kippola’s groundbreaking plan to erase the effects of autoimmune disease. “An empowering and actionable guidebook that simplifies the steps back to health. Highly recommended!” —Izabella Wentz, PharmD, FASCP and #1 New York Times bestselling author of Hashimoto's Protocol Palmer Kippola is on a mission to make autoimmune disease history. When she was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis at age 19, she began a journey toward healing that resulted in a complete reversal of her symptoms. Now, with the help of leading medical experts, including renowned specialists in immunology and longevity from UCLA and Stanford medical schools, as well as leading practitioners in the field of autoimmunity and functional medicine, Kippola wants to help you find freedom from disease too. This comprehensive book is the first to explore all six of the critical lifestyle factors that are the root causes of autoimmune conditions—and the sources of regaining health: * Discover the foods that can trigger disease as well as healthy solutions to fit your personal nutritional profile *Explore the impact of common, often-undiagnosed infections and ways to optimize your immunity naturally *Learn how gut health is the key to recovery *Gain insight on how hormone imbalances can disrupt healing and how to assess your hormone levels *Eliminate environmental toxins in your home and body, and learn how to live a detox lifestyle *Reduce stress and build resilience Drawing on her own inspiring return to resilient health, as well as the healing stories of a dozen medical doctors and practitioners, plus years of research with autoimmune experts, Palmer Kippola gives readers the tools to beat autoimmune disease—and the hope that relief and healing are possible. “An excellent resource for those who want to use an integrative and functional medicine approach to support their healing journey!” —Terry Wahls, MD, author of The Wahls Protocol: A Radical New Way to Treat All Chronic Autoimmune Conditions Using Paleo Principles

Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Health and Aging

Cecilia Hardacker, Kelly Ducheny, Magda Houlberg

This text addresses the specific lack of clinical educational support for transgender and gender nonconforming (TGNC) individuals as they age. Chapters are written by multidisciplinary healthcare experts who present topical discussions in five critical areas: essential foundational information needed to understand the life experience of older TGNC people; mental and behavioral health issues; social service considerations; specific concerns for nurses; and unique long-term medical concerns for providers. In addition, special attention is placed on providing care for TGNC veteran populations, including strategies to access social services and Social Security, and developing support networks. Transgender Health and Aging is an excellent resource for clinical and research professionals from a variety of medical disciplines, including geriatricians, primary care physicians, psychiatrists, public health officials, social workers, nurses as wellas nonprofessional audiences interested in transgender healthcare in older adults.

The Enlightened Marriage

The 5 Transformative Stages of Relationships and Why the Best Is Still to Come

Jed Diamond

Love and marriage are two of the greatest gifts life has to offer, yet too many marriages fail because couples don't fully understand the five stages of relationships. Because most of us have had hurtful experiences in past relationships, often going back to childhood, we develop an inaccurate love map that causes us to get off track when the stresses of life increase.For more than 40 years, Jed Diamond has been helping couples repair even the most damaged relationships and reweave the broken strands of marriage. In The Enlightened Marriage, Dr. Diamond will help you:Get through Stage Three—Disillusionment without losing your love.Understand that when your partner says, "I love you, but I'm not in love with you anymore," it is not the end, but the beginning of Stage Four—Real Lasting Love.Learn why healing childhood wounds is the greatest gift of love you can give and receive from your partner.Recognize and address the mid-life stresses of "manopause," irritable male syndrome, and male-type depression.Follow your calling in Stage Five to make a real difference in the world.

Caring for Kids from Hard Places

How to Help Children and Teens with a Traumatic Past

Jayne E. Schooler, David L. Schooler, Th.D.

Why doesn’t he act his age? Why does she behave so impulsively? Why does he have meltdowns so often? There is always meaning behind behavior in all of us. It might be a behavioral reaction from something as simple as hunger or exhaustion. Or something far more serious – a triggered reaction to a traumatic, frightening experience. Children who have experienced early childhood neglect or trauma are often greatly impacted in developmental ways. Children in foster care or who are given up for adoption often deal with these kinds of negative early experiences and it can be difficult to know how to help. People who teach–either in school or children’s ministry often see these youngsters’ behavior as confusing and don’t understand why. In Caring for Kids from Hard Places, Jayne and David Schooler discuss the reasons behind why children and teens sometimes exhibit potentially disruptive behavior. Together, they offer practical strategies on training, equipping and resourcing staff and volunteers to provide a responsive environment for children with behavioral challenges. Caring for Kids from Hard Places includes: Insights on how to understand adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) Principles for creating a trauma-informed environment Strategies for facilitating healing Tips on how to create a sensory-smart classroom Discover how to better love children from difficult backgrounds and pave their way for a better life.

The Leader's Playlist

Unleash the Power of Music and Neuroscience to Transform Your Leadership and Your Life

Susan Drumm

Is your internal playlist holding you back from being the leader you could be? ​In The Leader’s Playlist, leadership coach Susan Drumm unveils a groundbreaking process that outlines how our childhood wounds influence our ability to lead others and how music can heal those wounds. Maybe you’re having a hard time retaining or engaging your people. Or perhaps you’re feeling burnout or that you can’t delegate or trust your team to deliver. These problems and other leadership challenges can be addressed by shifting how you show up as a leader, and music is the catalyst. Drawing on neuroscience and leadership research, Drumm’s process uses the power of music to, first, help you recognize when an old, detrimental neural pathway (the old playlist, established by childhood wounds) is activated and, second, guide you to strengthen a new neural pathway (a new playlist). This book will help you: • Make better decisions instead of defaulting to old neural pathways • Attract others who are as committed as you are to a mission • Scale your business more efficiently and effectively by influencing and inspiring instead of defending and controlling With newfound freedom from the weight of the old playlist, you will unleash energy to focus on a meaningful mission, find more joy, and lead in a way that brings out the best in others.

The African American National Biography: Uggams-Zuber

Henry Louis Gates (Jr.), Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham

An 8-volume reference set containing over 4,000 entries written by distinguished scholars, 'The African American National Biography' is the most significant and expansive compilation of black lives in print today.