India — In an effort to help people hold more empathy for themselves and others, Oprah Winfrey worked with neuroscientist Dr Bruce Perry to come up with a book ‘What Happened to You? Conversations on Trauma, Resilience and Healing’ while we learn to shift from asking “What’s wrong with you?” to “What happened to you?” Spilling the beans on her traumatic childhood and making peace with her past, Oprah and the renowned brain and trauma expert co-authored the book that offers much-needed insight on complex PTSD, trauma bonds and intense stress.
Taking to her social media handle recently, Oprah shared a monochromic childhood pictures and revealed some childhood struggles. “What happened to you? It’s one of the most important questions we can ask someone, especially when they’re going through something,” she expressed in the caption.
Oprah added, “Most of the struggles I endured as a child resulted in trauma that would define many relationships, interactions, and decisions in my life. It took decades of work, conversations, and healing to break those cycles and make peace with my past. That’s why I co-authored a book titled #WhatHappenedToYou with Dr. Bruce Perry, to help us heal and shift from asking “What’s wrong with you?” to “What happened to you?” (sic)”.
The media mogul described loneliness as one of the “most pervasive feeling” of her childhood and revealed how she was born, nine months after a singular encounter between her mother and father who “were together only once, underneath an old oak tree.” Brought up by her grandmother in the first six years of her life, Oprah recalls being shuttled between her mother who had moved to Milwaukee and her father in Nashville after her grandmother died.
“There was no time for nurturing. My mother felt distant, cold to the needs of this little girl,” Oprah recounts in the book since her mother worked as a maid for fifty dollars a week to take care of the three young children. Oprah adds in the book, “All of the energy went to keeping her head above water, surviving. I always felt like a burden, an “extra mouth to feed.” I rarely remember feeling loved, which impacted my ability to experience love as an adult.”
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In a social media post earlier, Oprah had shared about penning the book because, “Most of us have experienced various levels of trauma that have informed how we operate and interact in the world.” A moving, helpful and informative, the book is basically a healing guide about trauma therapy.