Vulnerable Minds

Every year, at least a billion children worldwide experience adverse childhood experiences, or ACEs, a category that covers physical abuse, racial discrimination, neglect and food deprivation. Because children's brains are so plastic, trauma does particular damage to their mental and physical development. Children who go through ACEs are more likely to leave school early, die younger, misuse substances, and struggle with mental health and behavioral problems. The central question is how to intervene so that they can have a more hopeful future. Neurobiologist and educator Dr. Marc Hauser offers a research-based framework for understanding how an individual child responds to ACEs. It rests on five Ts: the timing in development when the trauma began, its type, its tenure, its toxicity, and the turbulence it has caused in the child's life. With this framework, adults can help children build resilience, recover, and even gain from what they have been through. The book covers targeted community and school interventions, tools for emotional regulation, and newer therapies that work through direct brain stimulation, including neurofeedback and psychedelics. Hauser argues that the plasticity that makes young brains vulnerable also helps them recover the joy, wonder, innocence and curiosity of childhood when they get the right support. The book is a call to action for parents, policymakers, educators and doctors to share responsibility for all children.