Most of us understand the connection between childhood trauma and risky behaviors later in life: smoking, poor diet and alcoholism. There’s also the strain such trauma can have on mental health. But that’s not the whole story.

Dr. Nadine Burke Harris is a pediatrician in a low income section of San Francisco who was noticing health problems in many of her young patients and it got her wondering if there is also a connection between childhood adversity and adverse health outcomes, and how they may also resurface much later in adult life.

Harris set out to find the answers to an issue that, for the most part, has been overlooked by the medical community. She details her medical detective work in her book, The Deepest Well: Healing the Long Term Effects of Childhood Adversity, and talks in depth about her work in trying to bring more attention to the issue and find solutions.

GUEST:

Dr. Nadine Burke Harris, pediatrician and author of The Deepest Well