What Happened to You?

In 1968, Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy were assassinated. Vietnam protests swept the country. McDonalds introduced the Big Mac, selling for a whopping $.49. And in 1968, the television news magazine, “60 Minutes” debuted.

Over the ensuing fifty years, the metronomic stopwatch of “60 Minutes” has brought solid reporting and fascinating interviews into our living rooms, with only a few hiccups along the way. Its correspondents have talked with presidents and popes, shot pool with Jackie Gleason, and sparred with an ailing Muhammed Ali and the hostage-holding Ayatollah Khomeini.

“60 Minutes” has been influential in changing opinion across the country, while also offering a fleeting moment of fame to people of all types. Even with its reputation of going after the bad guys, still they came. When asked why crooks would be willing to go on “60 Minutes,” correspondent Morley Safer responded, “A crook doesn’t believe he’s made it as a crook until he’s been on ’60 Minutes.’”

From 1978 until his death in 2011, audience favorite Andy Rooney used the last three to four minutes for a light-hearted commentary on the week and the world. When he was suspended in 1990 for a major faux pas, “60 Minutes” lost 20% of its audience, and his sentence was subsequently commuted to time served.

This week, much attention has focused on Lesley Stahl’s interview of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and DeVos’ subsequent tweet that attempted explanation (never a good idea), as well as a highly-anticipated upcoming interview with Stormy Daniels. However, I was drawn to the piece by Oprah Winfrey, who I had just viewed in “A Wrinkle in Time” (she sure does get around). Oprah ditched Mrs. Which’s glittery lips and eyebrows to delve into trauma-informed care, a model of diagnosis and treatment the Ashland County Mental Health and Recovery Board has championed in recent years.

Through hundreds of research studies, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reports that childhood trauma is a powerful predictor of both physical and mental problems that impact people into adulthood. As a simple measurement, researchers and therapists use the Adverse Childhood Experience scale (ACE) to determine a person’s level of trauma in childhood. This ten question review considers the incidence of physical, verbal and sexual abuse, types of neglect, and the presence of domestic violence, addiction, and incarceration within the family. The higher the score, the more likely the individual will struggle in school, wrestle with depression, and face a shortened lifespan.

As Oprah noted, this research-based approach “comes down to the question of not, ‘What’s wrong with you? What’s wrong with that kid? Why Is he behaving like that,’ to, ‘What happened to you,’ which is a very different question.” Trauma-informed care provides those in the helping professions a more supportive approach. As clinician Tim Groves explained to Oprah, “We might not be able to ever prevent the stuff that happens to kids. But we are fully in charge of how we respond when we see it.”

Dr. Bruce Perry, an expert on childhood trauma, notes that “children are much more sensitive to childhood trauma than adults,” but also speaks to the antidote: “Really it boils down to something pretty simple. And it’s relationships.”

Disney has instinctively grasped this truth. Cinderella was given a fairy godmother, Anna was accompanied by Kristof and Sven, and Snow White had her seven dwarfs. Oprah and her mystical sisters fill a similar role in the film adaptation of Madeleine L’Engle’s “A Wrinkle in Time,” coming alongside Meg and her young brother, Charles Wallace, traumatized by the mysterious disappearance of their father. L’Engle describes their role: “She [Meg] was enfolded in the great wings of Mrs. Whatsit and she felt comfort and strength pouring through her.” Disney would agree with Dr. Perry – “it’s relationships.”

Oprah’s Wrinkle companion, Mrs. Who, understands the risk and the reward. Quoting the ancient Persian poet Rumi, she reminds the children, “The wound is the place where the light enters you.” As L’Engle also recognized, “It is only in vulnerability and risk – not safety and security – that we overcome darkness.”

What happened to you? I thought you’d never ask.