Oprah explores childhood trauma with new book ‘What Happened To You?’
"My new book #WhatHappenedToYou is for anyone with a mother, father, partner, or child who may have experienced trauma," Oprah says.
A self-proclaimed book lover herself, Oprah explores her childhood trauma in What Happened To You, a new book that hit the stands on Monday.
Written alongside neuroscientist Dr. Bruce Perry, What Happened To You is said to “provide powerful scientific and emotional insights into the behavioral patterns so many of us struggle to understand.” Promoting the book after it hit the shelves on Monday, the media mogul has already embarked on a press tour alongside Perry, opening up about the inspiration behind it and what she hopes readers can gain from it.
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Opening up on CBS This Morning, Winfrey shared with co-host Tony Dokoupil the basis of her new book. Calling it a “powerful” shift, she details meeting Dr. Perry during a 60 Minutes segment a few years ago, in which Perry told Oprah, “the most important question is what happened to this child,” when covering a story.
In the interview, Oprah goes on to share that people’s “world views” are shaped during childhood. The book emphasizes hope, too, and focuses on how relationships and love in different ways help us unlearn and deprogram from trauma.
Oprah also took to her official Instagram page to break down how personal the book is for her. In a detailed caption, she writes, “My new book #WhatHappenedToYou is for anyone with a mother, father, partner, or child who may have experienced trauma. The earlier the trauma, the harder it is to heal. And if you’ve ever had labels like ‘people pleaser,’ ‘self-sabotager,’ ‘disruptive,’ ‘argumentative,’ ‘checked out,’ ‘can’t hold a job,’ or ‘bad at relationships’ used to describe you or your loved ones, this book is also for you. Or if you simply want to better understand yourself and others.”
She also hints that during her virtual book tour she will continue to share personal details and information on her own trauma. She writes, “I’ll continue to share stories of what happened to me throughout the week and I hope you continue to share yours because together we can break those cycles and resolve that pain. Tap the link in my bio to purchase the book. It’s available now wherever you buy or download your books from.”
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What Happened To You is available to purchase now. For more information on the book, as well as tickets to Oprah’s virtual book tour, head to the book’s official site, here.
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