Deepest Well Healing the Long Term Effects of Childhood Adversity

Adverse childhood experiences--like abuse, neglect, parental addiction, mental illness, and divorce--can have lasting effects on human health. But the stunning news of Nadine Burke Harris's research is how, and how deeply, our bodies can be changed, imprinted for life by these ACEs. From stress responses to growth rates to diabetes, asthma, heart disease, and more, we are all a product of our childhood environments.

Through powerful storytelling and fascinating scientific insight, Burke Harris illuminates her journey of discovery, from research labs nationwide to her own pediatric practice in San Francisco's Bayview-Hunters Point neighborhood. For anyone who has faced a difficult childhood, or who cares about the millions of children who do, the innovative and acclaimed health interventions outlined in The Deepest Well represent vitally important hope for preventing lifelong illness for those we love and for generations to come.

"An extraordinary, eye-opening book."--People

2018 National Health Information Awards, Silver Award

"A rousing wake-up call . . . this highly engaging, provocative book prove s] beyond a reasonable doubt that millions of lives depend on us finally coming to terms with the long-term consequences of childhood adversity and toxic stress."--Michelle Alexander, author of The New Jim Crow

Dr. Nadine Burke Harris was already known as a crusading physician delivering targeted care to vulnerable children. But it was Diego--a boy who had stopped growing after a sexual assault--who galvanized her journey to uncover the connections between toxic stress and lifelong illnesses.
The stunning news of Burke Harris's research is just how deeply our bodies can be imprinted by ACEs--adverse childhood experiences like abuse, neglect, parental addiction, mental illness, and divorce. Childhood adversity changes our biological systems, and lasts a lifetime. For anyone who has faced a difficult childhood, or who cares about the millions of children who do, the fascinating scientific insight and innovative, acclaimed health interventions in The Deepest Well represent vitally important hope for preventing lifelong illness for those we love and for generations to come​.

"Nadine Burke Harris . . . offers a new set of tools, based in science, that can help each of us heal ourselves, our children, and our world."--Paul Tough, author of How Children Succeed

"A powerful--even indispensable--frame to both understand and respond more effectively to our most serious social ills."--New York Times