Riada talks to Dr. Bruce D. Perry on ”What Happened to You?” - on Trauma, Resilience, and Healing

Dignified Resilience with Riada Akyol

It‘s been a great pleasure to host Dr. Bruce D. Perry in this episode, for a fascinating conversation on his work and his most recent book, What Happened to You? Conversations on Trauma, Resilience, and Healing (2021), co-authored with Oprah Winfrey, is a #1 New York Times Bestseller. We discussed the meaning behind the title and the shift to asking “What happened to you?” rather than “What’s wrong with you?”. You will learn about the impact of our pasts on our lives, how all experience is processed from the bottom up, meaning, to get to the top, “smart” part of our brain, we have to go through the lower, not-so- smart part, and what that means for our interactions. You can learn why is it crucial to understand both vulnerability and resilience, and how all of us experience stress as an unavoidable and necessary part of life, but that how we experience stress that matters. Is everything bad that we experience trauma, or why not? Does every bad experience lead to PTSD, and why not? What are the best ways to heal? How can we change generational traumas? This has been a beautiful conversation, and I hope it helps you learn how to help yourself and others by acknowledging and respecting ”what happened to them,” instead of asking ”what is wrong with them?”. Dr. Perry is the Principal of the Neurosequential Network, Senior Fellow of The ChildTrauma Academy and a Professor (Adjunct) in the Departments of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University in Chicago and the School of Allied Health, College of Science, Health and Engineering, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Victoria Australia. Over the last thirty years, Dr. Perry has been an active teacher, clinician and researcher in children’s mental health and the neurosciences holding a variety of academic positions. His work on the impact of abuse, neglect and trauma on the developing brain has impacted clinical practice, programs and policy across the world. Dr. Perry is the author, with Maia Szalavitz, of The Boy Who Was Raised As A Dog, a bestselling book based on his work with maltreated children and Born For Love: Why Empathy is Essential and Endangered. Dr. Perry‘s most recent book, What Happened to You? Conversations on Trauma, Resilience, and Healing (2021), co-authored with Oprah Winfrey, is a #1 New York Times Bestseller.