This is an interesting an accessible read about trauma in childhood and how to prevent it and heal from it.

This book offers an incredibly powerful insight into the impact of toxic childhood stress, the long term impact, how the repercussions manifest, and steps for moving forwards.

I've only started reading these kind of books recently. I haven't been ready before now but I'm glad I've finally got here. This book really spoke to me and illuminated so many things I hadn't seen before. If you are unsure take the ACE test. I did and then went through the book slowly and at my own pace. It's very well written and has genuinely helped me to understand my own mental health better. I highly recommend it.

Toxic Childhood Stress is a very interesting read that shows how stress and trauma as a child can effect children's health immediately and in the future, The book is written in an easy to understand way that made me not want to put it down and reading all the experiences the doctor has had and what she's learnt is very enlightening as to how much trauma really can effect the body even when it may seem insignificant. A brilliant book.

This book is incredibly interesting, following Dr. Harris's career as a children's doctor and her discovery that Adverse Childhood Experiences or ACEs, can have a profound effect on children's develop, especially at a young age. While I feel like book was incredibly interesting, well written and clearly well researched, it didn't necessarily hold my interest throughout simply because it's a subject I know little to nothing about. It's a nice introduction but I found myself kind of feeling a little lost in places. But overall, a nice and informative read.

This is a fascinating book - its written from the first hand perspective of Dr Nadine Burke-Harris and looks at the impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE's) on development and illness. She starts in the earlier days of her practice with an example of a young bit who has stopped growing with no medical reason.... everything that follows looks at how difficult it now is to separate ACE'S from medicine and how the typical 'underlying health condition' does not typically take account of childhood trauma. ACE's are now shown to have links to physical development, immunity, illness and links to serious conditions that include multiple sclerosis. The impact is truly mind-blowing and the scale needed to reverse this is equally so. Typically psychology has been the way forward for trauma - but this book shows us, the solution is way more complex and requires a multi discipline approach.

Anyone who works with people - children or adults affected by ACE's would benefit from reading this. Any parent would benefit from reading this. Its now clear that ACE's are intergenerational so we need to be aware of how our own upbringing have affected who we are and how we are. Although its written by a doctor, this is easy to read - complex terms are explained and broken down to make them easily accessible. I felt like Dr Nadine was talking to me - you can hear her voice, her passion and compassion throughout. Its well researched but embedded in real life examples. The information about the impact of ACE's needs to be out there.... if this is the first time you read about it, its an excellent place to start.

Looking back as an adult who works within the education sector, I can definitely relate to a vast amount of the information described as Toxic childhood stress.
Dr Nadine Burke Harris gives an insightful look into how ACE's (Adverse Childhood Experiences) and stress affects childhood.
This book has definitely provided me with more tools and knowledge to add to my toolkit. It is very well written, easy to understand and is a must for anyone working in the education sector - especially pertinent for the current climate.

Dr. Harris gives a well measured account of her journey and discoveries of the effect that Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) can have on a person. Written with healthy doses of empathy, humour, introspection and anecdotes, it develops a convincing case for the need to pay more attention to the triggers of toxic stress a child can be exposed to in their formative years and how it can be dealt with at various levels, from the individual up.

Toxic Childhood Stresses is a fascinating book written by Nadine Burke Harris the Surgeon General of California. I was already aware of the impact of ACE’s (Adverse Childhood Experiences) and how our brains and bodies respond to toxic stress in childhood through professional training courses. This book outlines the author’s experiences and research into this issue and how a high ACE score can lead to lifelong physical and mental challenges.

The book is easily accessible to non medical professionals and has many interesting and relevant anecdotes that bring the information to life. It is useful in my professional life working with children who have experienced ACE’s, but would also be helpful to adults who have also experienced childhood trauma. There is also a related TED talk by Nadine Burke Harris that is worth watching, and first piqued my interest in this area.

I was hooked from the very first chapter. The author explained everything so well and made it accessible for everyone to understand and learn more about childhood stress. It read like a novel - stunning writing with bite-size chunks of the authors work around childhood adversity, allowing me to be interested but enthralled by the story too. I really appreciated the author trying to prove a link between childhood adversity and biology - after being told over and over my symptoms are caused by anxiety when in fact I have an illness not related to anxiety. This book helped me feel heard - after years of being told ‘it’s just anxiety, You’ll be fine. Off on your way’.

More doctors need to read this book and realise that childhood trauma can have a massive impact on your future - not just emotionally but physically too, they shouldn’t be so dismissive. 

Overall, I loved this book. It’s packed full of so much information and it was told in an interesting way. The book is accessible for everyone and I learned so much about myself thanks to this book!

I found this book incredibly difficult to get through. It was very dry.
It just seemed to go through different case studies, and felt very repetitive.

It's a topic I find fascinating, but I don't have any training in it, or fully understand the theories.
If you don't have full background info on this topic, I fear you will have the same problems I had with the book, and just won't enjoy it or get enough out of it.

Working with children who have suffered childhood trauma I found this book both fascinating and useful. I will be able to use it in my professional life, but people who have suffered childhood trauma may also find it useful.

This is simply the most fascinating book I have read in a long time. The effects of childhood trauma manifest in so many ways and to read these stories intertwined with research makes great reading.

Toxic Childhood Stress by Dr Nadine Burke Harris is an informative and interesting book about understanding childhood trauma and stress. Very well written.

I really enjoyed this book and I would recommend anyone who has suffered a childhood trauma to read it, I was aware of aces through my work.

With thanks to Pan Macmillan & NetGalley for the arc of this book in exchange for this honest review

I was aware of ACES through my job but this book taught me so much more. It’s got personal anecdotes of the author and the patients that they help interwoven with research backing up her claims. It is written in a really accessible style. This book I think would also be great as an addition to anti- racist literature as it shows that stress effects life outcomes and as people know if you’re not white then your life is additionally stressful under white supremacy. Thank you NetGalley for early access to this book.

I’d say it depends what you want from a book of this nature, as its focus isn’t to offer practical guidance for an individual on their journey to overcoming trauma. Instead it breaks down the science of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and looks at it more as a wider societal issue.

I tend to read around topics of anxiety and trauma from a self-help perspective, and what I’ve found is that they’re often gentle in tone, in consideration of the audience, and what pace you may need to go at.

Toxic Childhood Stress, although more informative that self-help, was still warm in tone, interspersed with anecdotes, autobiographical sections and case studies. It begins with a case presented to Dr Nadine – a boy named Diego, whose physical growth has been stunted due to experiencing abuse. This prompts Nadine to explore further into the connection between ACEs and long-term physical health.

The science in this book is completely accessible and conversational. I found myself wanting to note take, I was introduced to new terminology but also a new perspective of mental health; Nadine urges us to think on the fact that ACE’s could be mitigated, and the ramifications of this are enormous. This book isn’t simply about explaining the science – which is does impeccably – but about appealing to us to try and transform the world. There is also a brilliant forward by Kerry Hudson (author of ‘Lowborn’) in which she commends the book. I also came away with a point she made – that it is not the symptoms of toxic stress that are necessarily the issue, but not knowing that they are symptoms.

Absolutely loved this book. I couldn’t put it down! The author does a fantastic job of explaining childhood trauma and the effects it can have on later life. I found it to be very informative and it helped me to understand some of the families I work with. This is definitely become a book I regularly refer to. I think it would be beneficial for everyone to read this book either to help yourself heal or to understand others! Fantastic read!