Audiobooks by Maia Szalavitz

Help At Any Cost: How the Troubled-Teen Industry Cons Parents and Hurts Kids

"Help at Any Cost was the first book to expose the roots of the troubled-teen industry and describe how it sells abuse as therapy. This original work was one of the inspirations for the hit Netflix documentary, The Program, and its author is the leading expert on the origins and harms of tough-love programs for teenagers. Despite the fact that these programs have no medical evidence to support them, the boot camps, rehabs, emotional growth boarding schools, religion-based centers and wilderness programs that make up this industry are even now finding new customers. Help at Any Cost is first in-depth investigation of these programs and their practices, starting with their roots in the cult sixties drug rehabilitation program, Synanon, which became the model for 'therapeutic community' addiction treatment for both adults and teens in the United States. Szalavitz uncovers disturbing findings about programs' methods, including accounts of physical and verbal abuse, and presents moving, often horrifying, first-person testimony of kids who made it through and stories of those who didn't. The book also contains a thoughtfully compiled guide for parents, which details effective treatment alternatives. Weaving careful reporting with astute analysis, Maia Szalavitz has written an important and timely account that will change the way we look at rebellious teens—and the people to whom we entrust them. Help at Any Cost is a vital resource with an urgent message that will draw attention to a compelling issue long overlooked and a history that still shadows youth and adult addiction treatment in America."

Maia Szalavitz (Author), Ann Sprinkle (Narrator)

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Born for Love: Why Empathy Is Essential--and Endangered

"**Narrated by the Author** The groundbreaking exploration of the power of empathy by renowned child-psychiatrist Bruce D. Perry, coauthor, with Oprah Winfrey, of What Happened to You? "Empathy, and the ties that bind people into relationships, are key elements of happiness. Born for Love is truly fascinating." - Gretchen Rubin, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Happiness Project From birth, when babies' fingers instinctively cling to those of adults, their bodies and brains seek an intimate connection, a bond made possible by empathy-the ability to love and to share the feelings of others. In this provocative book, psychiatrist Bruce D. Perry and award-winning science journalist Maia Szalavitz interweave research and stories from Perry's practice with cutting-edge scientific studies and historical examples to explain how empathy develops, why it is essential for our development into healthy adults, and how to raise kids with empathy while navigating threats from technological change and other forces in the modern world. Perry and Szalavitz show that compassion underlies the qualities that make society work-trust, altruism, collaboration, love, charity-and how difficulties related to empathy are key factors in social problems such as war, crime, racism, and mental illness. Even physical health, from infectious diseases to heart attacks, is deeply affected by our human connections to one another. As Born for Love reveals, recent changes in technology, child-rearing practices, education, and lifestyles are starting to rob children of necessary human contact and deep relationships-the essential foundation for empathy and a caring, healthy society. Sounding an important warning bell, Born for Love offers practical ideas for combating the negative influences of modern life and fostering positive social change to benefit us all. It reveals how and why the brain learns to bond with others-and is a stirring call to protect our children from new threats to their capacity to love."

Bruce D. Perry, Maia Szalavitz (Author), Maia Szalavitz (Narrator)

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[Spanish] - El chico a quien criaron como perro: Y otras historias del cuaderno de un psiquiatra infantil

"'Este cuaderno de atrocidades, con el que no habrá capítulo donde el lector no se sienta zarandeado, es en realidad una crónica de la inocencia interrumpida; un estudio del cerebro infantil y de cómo ciertas situaciones creadas por los adultos que rodean al niño, pueden convertir a este en una máquina sin sentimientos, en un obseso sexual, en una víctima de la anorexia, en un desconfiado o en una mente irreparable.'—Luna Miguel ¿Qué pasa cuando se traumatiza un cerebro joven? ¿Cómo afecta la mente de un niño el terror, el abuso o la desgracia? El psiquiatra infantil Bruce Perry ha ayudado a muchos a superar horrores inimaginables: niños supervivientes de genocidios o testigos de homicidio, adolescentes secuestrados o víctimas de violencia familiar. Mediante la observación del trauma a través de la lente científica, Perry nos revela la asombrosa capacidad del cerebro para curarse. Combinando las historias de casos inolvidables con sus propias estrategias de rehabilitación, el autor explica lo que ocurre exactamente en el cerebro de un niño expuesto a un estrés extremo, y propone diferentes medidas para aliviar el dolor y ayudarle a crecer como un adulto sano. Las cosas más simples –el entorno, el afecto, el lenguaje, el contacto, etc.– pueden influir profundamente, para bien o para mal, en un cerebro en desarrollo. En este interesante documento, Bruce Perry demuestra que solo cuando entendamos la ciencia de la mente podremos tener la esperanza de curar el espíritu de casi cualquier niño, incluso el más afectado. 'Mediante la exposición de cada historia clínica y las aplicaciones del «tratamiento neurosecuencial», Perry y Szalavitz ofrecen una demostración fascinante de cómo las sinergias entre los avances en neurociencia y la psicología consiguen mejorías sorprendentes en pacientes que se consideran casos perdidos.'—El Cultural"

Bruce D. Perry, Lucía Barahona (translator), Maia Szalavitz (Author), Alan Bochm (Narrator)

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Undoing Drugs: The Untold Story of Harm Reduction and the Future of Addiction

"From "one of the bravest, smartest writers about addiction anywhere" (Johann Hari, New York Times bestselling author)-the untold story of harm reduction, a surprisingly simple idea with enormous power Drug overdoses now kill more Americans annually than guns, cars or breast cancer. But we have tried to solve this national crisis with policies that only made matters worse. In the name of "sending the right message," we have maximized the spread of infectious disease, torn families apart, incarcerated millions of mostly Black and Brown people-and utterly failed to either prevent addiction or make effective treatment for it widely available. There is another way, one that is proven to work. However, it runs counter to much of the received wisdom of our criminal and medical industrial complexes. It is called harm reduction. Developed and championed by an outcast group of people who use drugs and by former users and public health geeks, harm reduction offers guidance on how to save lives and improve health. And it provides a way of understanding behavior and culture that has relevance far beyond drugs. In a spellbinding narrative rooted in an urgent call to action, Undoing Drugs tells the story of how a small group of committed people changed the world, illuminating the power of a great idea. It illustrates how hard it can be to take on widely accepted conventional wisdom-and what is necessary to overcome this resistance. It is also about how personal, direct human connection and kindness can inspire profound transformation. Ultimately, Undoing Drugs offers a path forward-revolutionizing not only the treatment of addiction, but also our treatment of behavioral and societal issues."

Maia Szalavitz (Author), Samantha Desz (Narrator)

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The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog: And Other Stories from a Child Psychiatrist's Notebook -- What Traumatized Children Can Teach Us About Loss, Love, and Healing

"In this classic work of developmental psychology, renowned psychiatrist and the coauthor of the #1 New York Times bestseller What Happened to You? reveals how trauma affects children-and outlines the path to recovery How does trauma affect a child's mind-and how can that mind recover? Child psychiatrist Dr. Bruce D. Perry has helped children faced with unimaginable horror: genocide survivors, murder witnesses, kidnapped teenagers, and victims of family violence. In the classic The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog, Dr. Perry tells their stories of trauma and transformation and shares their lessons of courage, humanity, and hope. Deftly combining unforgettable case histories with his own compassionate, insightful strategies for rehabilitation, Perry explains what happens to children's brains when they are exposed to extreme stress-and reveals the unexpected measures that can be taken to ease such pain and help them grow into healthy adults. Only when we understand the science of the mind and the power of love and nurturing can we hope to heal the spirit of even the most wounded child."

Bruce D. Perry, Maia Szalavitz (Author), Chris Kipiniak (Narrator)

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Lost Boy

"In the polygamous Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (FLDS), girls can become valuable property as plural wives, but boys are expendable, even a liability. In this powerful and heartbreaking account, former FLDS member Brent Jeffs reveals both the terror and the love he experienced growing up on his prophet’s compound—and the harsh exile existence that so many boys face once they have been expelled by the sect. Brent Jeffs is the nephew of Warren Jeffs, the imprisoned leader of the FLDS. The son of a prominent family in the church, Brent could have grown up to have multiple wives of his own and significant power in the 10,000-strong community. But he knew that behind the group’s pious public image—women in chaste dresses carrying babies on their hips—lay a much darker reality. So he walked away, and was the first to file a sexual-abuse lawsuit against his uncle. Now Brent shares his courageous story and that of many other young men who have become “lost boys” when they leave the FLDS, either by choice or by expulsion. Brent experienced firsthand the absolute power that church leaders wield—the kind of power that corrupts and perverts those who will do anything to maintain it. Once young men no longer belong to the church, they are cast out into a world for which they are utterly unprepared. More often than not, they succumb to the temptations of alcohol and other drugs. Tragically, Brent lost two of his brothers in this struggle, one to suicide, the other to overdose. In this book he shows that lost boys can triumph and that abuse and trauma can be overcome, and he hopes that readers will be inspired to help former FLDS members find their way in the world."

Brent W. Jeffs, Maia Szalavitz (Author), Mike Chamberlain (Narrator)

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Audiobooks by Maia Szalavitz

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