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  • It Didn't Start with You

  • How Inherited Family Trauma Shapes Who We Are and How to End the Cycle
  • By: Mark Wolynn
  • Narrated by: Mark Wolynn
  • Length: 8 hrs and 16 mins
  • 4.4 out of 5 stars (2,449 ratings)

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It Didn't Start with You  By  cover art

It Didn't Start with You

By: Mark Wolynn
Narrated by: Mark Wolynn
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Publisher's summary

A groundbreaking approach to transforming traumatic legacies passed down in families over generations, by an acclaimed expert in the field.

Depression. Anxiety. Chronic Pain. Phobias. Obsessive thoughts. The evidence is compelling: the roots of these difficulties may not reside in our immediate life experiences or in chemical imbalances in our brains - but in the lives of our parents, grandparents, and even great-grandparents. The latest scientific research, now making headlines, supports what many have long intuited: that traumatic experience can be passed down through generations.

It Didn't Start with You builds on the work of leading experts in post-traumatic stress, including Mount Sinai School of Medicine neuroscientist Rachel Yehuda and psychiatrist Bessel van der Kolk, author of The Body Keeps the Score. Even if the person who suffered the original trauma has died or the story has been forgotten or silenced, memory and feelings can live on. These emotional legacies are often hidden, encoded in everything from gene expression to everyday language, and they play a far greater role in our emotional and physical health than has ever before been understood.

As a pioneer in the field of inherited family trauma, Mark Wolynn has worked with individuals and groups on a therapeutic level for over 20 years. It Didn't Start with You offers a pragmatic and prescriptive guide to his method, the Core Language Approach. Diagnostic self-inventories provide a way to uncover the fears and anxieties conveyed through everyday words, behaviors, and physical symptoms. Techniques for developing a genogram or extended family tree create a map of experiences going back through the generations. And visualization, active imagination, and direct dialogue create pathways to reconnection, integration, and reclaiming life and health. It Didn't Start With You is a transformative approach to resolving longstanding difficulties that, in many cases, traditional therapy, drugs, or other interventions have not had the capacity to touch.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2016 Mark Wolynn (P)2016 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

"Mark Wolynn does a masterful job of illuminating the ways in which our ancestors' unresolved suffering, often unknown to us, disables us and binds us painfully to them. He gives us the tools and skills - an approach that combines understanding, imaginative dialogues, and compassionate reconnection - to free and heal ourselves." (James S. Gordon, MD, author of Unstuck: Your Guide to the Seven-Stage Journey out of Depression)
" It Didn't Start with You takes us a big step forward, advancing the fields of trauma therapy, mindfulness applications, and human understanding. It is a bold, creative, and compassionate work." (Sharon Salzberg, author of Lovingkindness and Real Happiness)
"This groundbreaking book offers a compelling understanding of inherited trauma and fresh, powerful tools for relieving its suffering. Mark Wolynn is a wise and trustworthy guide on the journey toward healing." (Tara Brach, PhD, author of Radical Acceptance and True Refuge)

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What listeners say about It Didn't Start with You

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Surprised by the spiritual nature & direction this

Well I tend to love books with deeply personal, spiritual accounts, and scientific data to back it. This book ticks all the boxes! I adore the part about Wolynn's personal life and what he overcame. Won't give anything away. It's an act of bravery to work on yourself. Congratulations.

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Narration was hard to listen to

First off, it was hard to get past the voice narrating. The tone is very annoying and at times came off as mocking when he described others stories.
Secondly, there’s interesting information but as other reviewers have mentioned, there is a lack of concern/sympathy for those who suffered real abuse by their parents or other family members in their childhood. I wouldn’t think some of the exercises in the book would be helpful for abuse survivors, I think it could actually to do harm.

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Highly Recommend!

Excellent resource for working with your own personal family history. Thought provoking, great questions and lots of examples of how past family history may be impacting your present life.

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MUST DO the writing exercises!

Awesome book! Really helped me and learned more about my families past, to understand what is my Core Language.

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A book every person should read/listen.

It touches your core and gives you perspective in regards on how you see your ancestors and in general, other people.

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really excellent book

totally recommend this book to anyone, super cool psicology insights a a aa a a a

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This book spoke to my heart.

I have been in a lot of therapy. I am a licensed MH Nurse Practitioner who just retired from the VA. I recently started to learn about epigenetics. This book is beautifully written and presented. It offered the key, I have been looking for to heal my own inherited trauma and to help my Clients truly make peace with themselves!!! Thank
you!

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Very enlightening!

this book brought up a lot of hidden emotions I have been struggling with and with the tools offered, I am able to work on those difficult areas

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excellent resource

as a trauma therapist I have to say this book is absolutely fantastic. if you do the exercise and the activities as indicated there is healing for family inherited trauma.

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it change my life

love it. thanks for helping me see my struggle through a different perspective. now I see that it didn't start with me. thank you

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