Unleashed Speaks on What Happened to You?

 

Audible

Title: What Happened To You? Conversations on Trauma, Resilience, and Healing
Authors: Oprah Winfrey and Bruce D. Perry
Genre: Self-Help
Format: Audiobook
Source: Borrowed from Library (https://libbyapp.com)

Abbreviated Summary

Have you ever wondered "Why did I do that?" or "Why can't I just control my behavior?" Others may judge our reactions and think, "What's wrong with that person? When questioning our emotions, it's easy to place the blame on ourselves; holding ourselves and those around us to an impossible standard. It's time we started asking a different question.

Through deeply personal conversations, Opray Winfrey and renowned brain and trauma expert Dr. Bruce Perry offer a groundbreaking and profound shift from asking "What's wrong with you?" to "What happened to you?"

Here, Winfrey shares stories from her own past, understanding through experience the vulnerability that comes from facing trauma and adversity at a young age. In conversations throughout the audiobook, she and Dr. Perry focus on understanding people, behavior, and ourselves. It's a subtle but profound shift in our approach to trauma, and it's one that allows us to understand our pasts in order to clear a path to our future — opening the door to resilience and healing in a proven, powerful way.

Unleashed Speaks

When listening to this audiobook, it had the ambiance of Oprah Winfrey's show Super Soul Sunday. On Super Soul Sunday, Oprah Winfrey invited a guest to sit and chat with her. The conversation would be an exchange of ideas, experiences, and enlightenment.

This is not a self-help book that focuses on outlining the steps, as Iyanla Vanzant would say, "to do your work". It is more causal than that.

Dr. Bruce Perry shares his knowledge from a scientific perspective and applies it to how trauma impacts us through his experience with patients. Oprah Winfrey implements her own complex stories of abuse. Together, they have conversations where education and enlightenment are reached.

I could relate to Oprah Winfrey's complicated relationship with her mother. Although Oprah's experience dealt with physical abuse, I battled with feelings of abandonment and neglect as well as holding on to a dream of a deep mother-daughter bond that would never come to pass. In the end. like Oprah, I had to accept that there were limits to my mother's capabilities, and like Oprah, I had to be okay with it.

The cadence of Bruce and Oprah's voices made the audiobook easy to work with. Oprah's delivery was more like a storyteller (which I resonate with more) while Bruce's delivery was more matter-of-fact yet still engaging.

Because I've read other self-help books in the past on tackling trauma, I can't say that I've learned anything new in terms of the fundamentals. However, what I learned involved changing my perspective and different ways to assist others around me who are going through traumatic events.

Summary

This is recommended for those who want assistance with how to handle trauma without the heftiness that traditional self-help work can sometimes encompass.

This is also recommended for a loved one who needs tips on how to best be there for someone who is going through trauma.

Although this audiobook did include some exercises in .pdf form, I was unable to utilize them since I borrowed the audio (as opposed to making a purchase).

Rating

#ICanWorkWithThat