I can’t believe it’s finally here: Childhood Disrupted: How Your Biography Becomes Your Biology, and How You Can Heal hit stores yesterday and has been steadily climbing on Amazon (as of this afternoon, it was the #1 best-seller in Developmental Psychology and #787 overall!) and gaining traction on Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, and various news outlets, including Aeon Magazine and Huffington Post. Even more rewarding for me are the comments that have been pouring in from readers about how much they’re enjoying the book, and how important this topic is to them. How many times can I say that I have the best readers on the planet?!

Speaking of great readers, thank you to those of you who came to my reading (standing room only!) at the Ivy Bookstore in Baltimore last night; you made the event a huge success. I so enjoyed sharing the science in Childhood Disrupted with you all, and hearing your thoughts on the impact of childhood adversity on adult physical and mental health. If you couldn’t make it to the Ivy, stay tuned—I’ll be updating my “upcoming events” page soon with information about future readings and book signings in your area. I can’t wait to see you at my next event!

As promised, here are the results of yesterday’s give-away: congratulations to Debbie Manahan and Mari McCarthy, who will be receiving signed copies of Childhood Disrupted! I hope that the book will be helpful to both of you. Even though the give-away is over, it’s not too late to sign up for my newsletter to receive occasional updates about Childhood Disrupted in your inbox, as well as resources on Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs)—like this infographic (below) that our team created to explain the relationship between ACEs, women, and autoimmune disease. Feel free to share with your friends on social media (#ChildhoodDisrupted), so that we can start a discussion on ACEs and help those facing the aftermath of childhood adversity move toward healing and transformation.

Increasingly doctors are looking at depression as an inflammatory reaction, rather than a standalone neurological disorder — and in some cases depression may even be exacerbated by an allergic reaction. This theory could lead to never-before-prescribed methods that can be used in conjunction with traditional antidepressants to combat inflammation. This new understanding of depression could even help us to find new “cures” for depression.

The relationship between inflammation and depression makes so much sense. Our body reacts to stressors by pumping stress hormones and inflammatory cytokines through the bloodstream. And it just so happens that people suffering from depression are loaded with high levels of inflammatory cytokines. This has led researchers to focus on fighting the inflammatory symptoms of depression, rather than the neurological ones. There may be some hope in the form of easily-accessible, over the counter methods, such as omega 3 and curcumin, that can help in conjunction with conventional depression treatment to improve symptoms (of course, never take anything without checking with your healthcare practitioner first!).

If depression is an inflammatory disease, then doing everything we can to counter the effects of stress, including longstanding stressors from any early life trauma or Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) we might have faced (don’t know what ACEs are yet? You can learn more here) can make a tremendous difference. The good news is that this means there may be more ways than we ever thought possible to achieve recovery, and better brain health. Trauma-based approaches to healing — which I’ve detailed in Childhood Disrupted —  can all help counter inflammation and thus ease symptoms.

One of the most beautiful and profound descriptions of depression I’ve ever read comes from writer Andrew Solomon’s book The Noonday Demon. Solomon (whose newest book, Far From the Tree, has just been released in paperback) shares his insight into depression in this powerful TED talk.