What Happened To You?: Conversations on Trauma, Resilience, and Healing

Examine the title of the book. Where does it arise from? What opposing view is the book trying to dispel through the key idea presented in the title?

Perry presents the idea that the brain develops, as well as processes information, in a sequential manner. What important underpinning does this have for the understanding of how trauma can lead to the creation of maladaptive responses?

Comment on the theme of Love and Relationships that emerges throughout the book. How does it connect to a second theme of Revisiting Ancient Wisdom? What ideas of the latter reinforce the former?

According to Perry, what are the different ways in which the modern world contributes toward a lowered threshold for stress? How does it prohibit effective healing from trauma?

Examine the concepts of resilience and malleability. How are they different from each other? Which of these are inherently present in young children, and which of these need to be developed over time? What implications do these have for the kind of necessary healthy experiences in early childhood?

What were some of the important findings presented by the Adverse Childhood Experience (ACE) study? What were some of its gaps or misrepresentations, and how does Perry address them in the book?

Explain the concept of dissociation as a different kind of stress-response. When and why does it occur? What kind of maladaptive habits and tendencies can it lead to later in life? What are the instances in which it can be beneficial?

What is epigenetics? What does this branch of study have to offer to the understanding of the relationship between trauma and physiology?