What My Bones Know - A Memoir of Healing from Complex Trauma

By age thirty, Stephanie Foo was successful on paper: She had her dream job as a radio producer at This American Life & had won an Emmy. But behind her office door she was having panic attacks & sobbing at her desk. After years of questioning what was wrong with her, she was diagnosed with Complex PTSD-a condition that occurs when trauma happens continuously, over the course of years. 

Both of Stephanie's parents had abandoned her as a teenager after years of physical & verbal abuse & neglect. She thought she'd overcome her trauma, but her diagnosis illuminated the ways in which her past continued to threaten her health, her relationships, & her career. Finding few resources to help her heal, Stephanie set out to map her experience onto the scarce scientific research on C-PTSD. 

In this deeply personal & thoroughly researched account, Stephanie interviews scientists & psychologists & tries a variety of innovative therapies with the determination & curiosity of an award-winning journalist. She returns to her hometown of San Jose, California, to investigate the effects of immigrant trauma on a community, she uncovers family secrets in the country of her birth, Malaysia, & learns how trauma can be inherited through generations.

Ultimately, she discovers that you don't move on from trauma-but you can learn to move with it, with grace & joy. Powerful, enlightening, & clarifying, What My Bones Know is a brave narrative that reckons with the hold of the past over the present, the mind over the body-& one woman's ability to reclaim agency from her trauma"

Stephanie Foo is a writer & radio producer. She lives in New York City.

stephaniefoo.me

Twitter: @imontheradio

Instagram: @foofoofoo