Interview Participant

Your mother would faint whenever Bessel would ask her what her life was like when she was a little girl.

Your mother would faint whenever Bessel would ask her what her life was like when she was a little girl.

You said that child abuse and neglect is the single most preventable cause of mental illness, the single most common cause of drug and alcohol abuse, and a significant contributor to leading causes of death, such as diabetes, heart disease, cancer, stroke, and suicide. That's true.

You said that child abuse and neglect is the single most preventable cause of mental illness, the single most common cause of drug and alcohol abuse, and a significant contributor to leading causes of death, such as diabetes, heart disease, cancer, stroke, and suicide. That's true.

And in your book, you say that eradicating child abuse in America would reduce the overall rate of depression by more than half, alcoholism by two-thirds, and suicide, drug use, and domestic violence by three-quarters.

And in your book, you say that eradicating child abuse in America would reduce the overall rate of depression by more than half, alcoholism by two-thirds, and suicide, drug use, and domestic violence by three-quarters.

People have got increasingly interested in their early childhood experiences as a lens to understand who they are as adults. Is that overblown or is it important to understand?

People have got increasingly interested in their early childhood experiences as a lens to understand who they are as adults. Is that overblown or is it important to understand?

When you said about your mother and the incest thing, You'd realized as an adult much of your work focused on incest. And then you turned to your mother and asked her if there was an experience she had had and she fainted. Do you believe that there's a part of you that knew?

When you said about your mother and the incest thing, You'd realized as an adult much of your work focused on incest. And then you turned to your mother and asked her if there was an experience she had had and she fainted. Do you believe that there's a part of you that knew?

Okay, but the indicator was that she was always uptight about sex.

Okay, but the indicator was that she was always uptight about sex.

Yep. How many of the people that you treated in your practice, could you trace their adult dysfunction back to an early childhood experience?

Yep. How many of the people that you treated in your practice, could you trace their adult dysfunction back to an early childhood experience?

90%?

90%?

And what's the crux of what happened to them as a child, if you had to simplify it?

And what's the crux of what happened to them as a child, if you had to simplify it?

When you say terrible things.

When you say terrible things.