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.
“Twenty years of medical research has shown that childhood adversity literally gets under our skin, changing people in ways that can endure in their bodies for decades.”
— Dr. Nadine Burke Harris, The Deepest Well: Healing the Long-Term Effects of Childhood Trauma and Adversity
New York Times
“A powerful—even indispensable—frame to both understand and respond more effectively to our most serious social ills.”
Kamala Harris, J.D., Vice President of the United States
“I have known, studied and cited Dr. Nadine Burke Harris’ groundbreaking work for years. There is no question that she is leading what must be a national conversation about nothing less critical than the very future of our children. Dr. Harris’ cutting-edge work on the causes and treatment of childhood trauma have deeply informed my work to keep communities safe and re-path the lives of children and young adults who otherwise end up behind bars. The Deepest Well will be essential reading for every parent and for anyone concerned about children, health or crime. Adults often think children are resilient, but too many of them go to sleep hearing gunfire or in an abusive home. These children are suffering from the effects of long-term stress and adversity, and cannot focus in school while their brains and bodies are reeling. If children aren’t educated in school, they get educated on the streets - I have seen this story play out in courtrooms and prisons across the state. Dr. Harris’s recommendations will spark the national conversation essential to breaking this cycle. Her analysis of the physiological effects of trauma and how to address it will be a lodestar for lawmakers, physicians, educators and parents across the country.”
Michelle Alexander, author of The New Jim Crow
“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.”
People Magazine
“An extraordinary, eye-opening book.”
Paul Tough, author of How Children Succeed