The Perseus Books Group: Scared Sick by Robin Karr-Morse

Publishers Weekly

“information-packed….the authors do make a very persuasive case that preventive measures should be taken to eliminate or mitigate early trauma”

Kirkus Reviews

“A wake-up call? Absolutely.”

Daniel J. Siegel, MD, Executive Director, Mindsight Institute, Clinical Professor, UCLA School of Medicine, and author of Mindsight

“Karr-Morse and Wiley have done it again! Scared Sick raises many profound and urgent questions about how stress during the earliest moments of our lives—in utero and out in the world—can create lasting negative impacts on the health of our bodies and minds. While many of the exact details remain to be clarified with further research, this book’s summary of the science of stress creates a call to action that is quite clear: We need to awaken ourselves to the importance of both preventing toxic stress early in life and helping the many who have been affected during these early years to have the healing support that is available in the form of social connections and mindful reflective skills that can lead us in new and helpful directions in our collective lives.”

Vincent J. Felitti, MD, Founder, The California Institutes of Preventive Medicine

“Scared Sick is useful, highly readable, scientifically advanced, and relevant to all of us in better understanding our lives, especially how our earliest life experiences can translate into health and disease over the decades. Another impressive book by Robin Karr-Morse with Meredith Wiley.”

David Lawrence, Jr., President of The Early Childhood Initiative Foundation and former publisher of The Miami Herald

“Ghosts from the Nursery helped me decide—more than a decade ago—to retire to devote all my energies to ‘school readiness’ issues. The thesis of Scared Sick energizes me further. Within is an abundance of information and wisdom—about fetuses who feel pain, prenatal depression, trauma and the Unabomber, the mixed blessings of child care, and much more. The book is a splendid blend of sense and science.”

Shelf Awareness

“Scared Sick makes an erudite, well-considered case…. a must-read for pediatricians and mental-health counselors working with children and families…. A cogent examination of the changing role of childhood trauma on lifelong health.”