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Maia Szalavitz
Maia Szalavitz is an award-winning author and journalist who covers addiction and neuroscience. Her next book, Unbroken Brain (St. Martins, April, 2016), uses her own story of recovery from heroin and cocaine addiction to explore how reframing addiction as a developmental disorder could... show more



Maia Szalavitz is an award-winning author and journalist who covers addiction and neuroscience. Her next book, Unbroken Brain (St. Martins, April, 2016), uses her own story of recovery from heroin and cocaine addiction to explore how reframing addiction as a developmental disorder could revolutionize prevention, treatment and policy.She’s the author or co-author of six previous books, including the bestselling The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog (Basic, 2007) and Born for Love: Why Empathy Is Essential— and Endangered (Morrow, 2010), both with leading child psychiatrist and trauma expert Bruce D. Perry, MD, PhD.Her book, Help at Any Cost: How the Troubled-Teen Industry Cons Parents and Hurts Kids, is the first history of systemic abuse in “tough love” programs and rehabs and helped spur Congressional hearings, GAO investigations and proposed legislation to regulate these groups. She also co-wrote the first evidence-based consumer guide to addiction treatment, Recovery Options: The Complete Guide, with Joe Volpicelli, MD, PhD. (Wiley, 2000).Currently, she writes a bi-weekly column for VICE on drugs and addiction. From 2010 to 2013, she wrote daily for TIME.com and she continues to freelance there and for other publications including the New York Times, Scientific American Mind, Nature, New York Magazine online, Pacific Standard, Matter, Nautilus, and The Verge. Szalavitz has won major awards from organizations like the American Psychological Association, the Drug Policy Alliance and the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology in recognition of her work in these areas.She lives in New York with her husband and a Siamese shelter cat.

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Community Reviews
TsalagiWriter
TsalagiWriter rated it 10 years ago
Brent Jeffs grew up in the FLDS - Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. He is the grandson of Rulon Jeffs, who was the prophet up until he passed, and the nephew of Warren Jeffs, the current prophet.After suffering much abuse and his family being excommunicated, Brent eventuall...
msky11
msky11 rated it 12 years ago
Excellent and incredibly informative read. Compassion and wisdom on every page. A must read for those who work with children in any capacity, in particular children with trauma history.
Skulls and Coffee
Skulls and Coffee rated it 13 years ago
A great insight into the FLDS by one of the many boys who have left. As a nephew to Warren Jeffs, Brent Jeffs could have had so much within the FLDS. A story of choices, of dealing with abuse and of a childhood that leaves scares. If you're interested in the FLDS give this a shot. I really liked thi...
megancsparks
megancsparks rated it 14 years ago
This book is most interesting when discussing individual cases, but seems to fall apart and become rambling and even slightly patronizing when the author begins discussing psychiatry in general. I enjoyed it, for the most part, and I can definitely believe that the author has the best interests of c...
Wrighty's Reads
Wrighty's Reads rated it 16 years ago
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 Brett Jeffs reveals both the terror and the love he experi...
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