Human Development and Trauma: How Childhood Shapes Us into Who We Are as Adults

by Darius Cikanavicius, Jacqueline Peressini (Foreword), Daniel Mackler (Editor)

From the About the Book The focus of this book is human psychological development. The book’s goal is to explore how our early emotional and social environment influences us and what problems and advantages we develop as adults as the result of it. ... This book is intended for people interested in the subjects of childrearing, childhood trauma, and the consequences of childhood adversity. It is for all who wish to better understand themselves and their society. From the What makes this book special is that it is healthy. Darius Cikanavicius offers the reader a compassionate and trauma-informed study of childhood from the perspective of the child, and not, as is the case with the far majority of psychology books, from the perspective of the parent. This is key, because any book that addresses childhood trauma and is really worth its weight must sensitively yet determinedly take the child’s side. ... For this reason I consider anyone who gets their hands on this book fortunate indeed. — Daniel Mackler, LCSW

Genres: Psychology, Self Help

244 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 22, 2018

About the author

Darius Cikanavicius is known for being the founder of SelfArcheology.com (and its Lithuanian counterpart, Saviarcheologija.lt), a website dedicated to psychology, healing from childhood adversity, self-exploration, and personal growth. Besides running Self-Archeology, Darius is an author at one of the leading websites on psychology, Psych Central, and one of the experts at the Centre of Modern Therapy (Moderniosios terapijos centras). He has professionally worked with people from all over the world as a psychological consultant and a certified life coach.

Darius's areas of interest are human development, individual and social psychology, language, rational thought and argumentation, and emotional literacy. His professional work is concentrated on the significance of childhood adversity and early environment in human development, healing from trauma, self-esteem, healthy relationships and boundaries, belief systems, and personal fulfillment. In addition to his own publications, Darius has translated other people's writings and documentaries into Lithuanian. His works have been translated into other languages too.

Reviews

[Courtney · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read.



Note: Darius states that his future book will talk about what people can do to resolve these problems, heal, and grow. It has been five years since "Development and Trauma: How Childhood Shapes Us Into Who We Are As Adults" was published. I sure hope his follow up book will hit the shelves soon!

[Jennifer Olsten · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've read many books on the topics of childhood trauma, development and abuse, and this one is definitely my favorite. It's very well written and researched, without being neither too technical nor too simplified. The author talks about difficult subjects of childhood trauma without justifying or minimizing it, which, sadly, is often not the case with most books I've encountered. I recommend it to people who want to understand how we become who we are, and especially to everyone who likes to look inward and grow as a person.

[Tina · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am very grateful to have read this book while on my healing journey. I think (most) everyone would benefit from reading this book because everyone is a child at some point and may become a parent themselves. This book does an amazing job at delving into the root causes of many individual and societal problems. It also explains why our psyche might be inclined to protect our abusers. This book is brave and interesting, which makes a great read. I'm forever grateful to the author.

[Kim Thornhill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Darius is a hero.

This book gets 5 stars from me because he writes from the child's perspective. As a survivor of childhood abuse, this book validates everything I went through, which was never my fault.

[Anirudh Bharadwaj · Rating 5 out of 5]

Painfully accurate

This book is a masterpiece. Darius Cikanavicius has done a wonderful job. He gives clear details of how childhood trauma affects individuals in their adulthood. I would recommend anyone who has endured childhood trauma to read this book.

[Nancy Boyd · Rating 5 out of 5]

I cannot give this book enough stars. This should be required reading in every therapist office and human psychology classroom across the country. Easy to read and understand with good research to back it up. Interesting and insightful. This literally felt like someone went back in time and observed my entire childhood. I took notes and dog-eared multiple pages for future reference.
My only critique is that the ending felt extremely abrupt. However, that is not enough to detract from a five star rating. Go to Amazon and buy this book right now.

[Matthew Hoffman · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very useful book if you work with children or young adults

I’m a teacher at a Day School. This book helped me to relate and empathize with the children and families that I work with. While I’m not a counselor, I still need to make a connection and help heal wounds in possible. This book helped me to recognize different forms of trauma and what environment might work best for them in the classroom. I also used this book to identify better ideas for breaks when students are disengaged and not being productive. Hopefully I can make the world a better place by recognizing the cycles of abuse and trauma in my students and how to teach them proactive skills they can use in the future as adults.

[Emma Dickson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting read but failed to create solutions only problems . I recognise that the next book may have some form of solutions for these people . Overall insightful but that’s all it is .