It Didn't Start with You Audiobook By Mark Wolynn cover art

It Didn't Start with You

How Inherited Family Trauma Shapes Who We Are and How to End the Cycle

Preview
Get this deal Try for $0.00
Offer ends December 16, 2025 11:59pm PT.
Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible? Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Just $0.99/mo for your first 3 months of Audible.
1 audiobook per month of your choice from our unparalleled catalog.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, podcasts, and Originals.
Auto-renews at $14.95/mo after 3 months. Cancel anytime.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

It Didn't Start with You

By: Mark Wolynn
Narrated by: Mark Wolynn
Get this deal Try for $0.00

$14.95/mo after 3 months. Cancel anytime. Offers ends December 16, 2025 11:59pm PT.

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $18.00

Buy for $18.00

LIMITED TIME OFFER. Get 3 months for $0.99 a month. Get this deal.

A groundbreaking approach to transforming traumatic legacies passed down in families over generations, by an acclaimed expert in the field.

Depression. Anxiety. Chronic Pain. Phobias. Obsessive thoughts. The evidence is compelling: the roots of these difficulties may not reside in our immediate life experiences or in chemical imbalances in our brains - but in the lives of our parents, grandparents, and even great-grandparents. The latest scientific research, now making headlines, supports what many have long intuited: that traumatic experience can be passed down through generations.

It Didn't Start with You builds on the work of leading experts in post-traumatic stress, including Mount Sinai School of Medicine neuroscientist Rachel Yehuda and psychiatrist Bessel van der Kolk, author of The Body Keeps the Score. Even if the person who suffered the original trauma has died or the story has been forgotten or silenced, memory and feelings can live on. These emotional legacies are often hidden, encoded in everything from gene expression to everyday language, and they play a far greater role in our emotional and physical health than has ever before been understood.

As a pioneer in the field of inherited family trauma, Mark Wolynn has worked with individuals and groups on a therapeutic level for over 20 years. It Didn't Start with You offers a pragmatic and prescriptive guide to his method, the Core Language Approach. Diagnostic self-inventories provide a way to uncover the fears and anxieties conveyed through everyday words, behaviors, and physical symptoms. Techniques for developing a genogram or extended family tree create a map of experiences going back through the generations. And visualization, active imagination, and direct dialogue create pathways to reconnection, integration, and reclaiming life and health. It Didn't Start With You is a transformative approach to resolving longstanding difficulties that, in many cases, traditional therapy, drugs, or other interventions have not had the capacity to touch.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2016 Mark Wolynn (P)2016 Penguin Audio
Mental Health Personal Development Post-Traumatic Stress Disorders Psychology Psychology & Mental Health Health Inspiring Childhood Trauma Overcoming Childhood Trauma

Critic reviews

“Mark Wolynn does a masterful job of illuminating the ways in which our ancestors’ unresolved suffering, often unknown to us, disables us and binds us painfully to them. He gives us the tools and skills—an approach that combines understanding, imaginative dialogues, and compassionate reconnection—to free and heal ourselves.” —James S. Gordon, MD, author of Unstuck: Your Guide to the Seven-Stage Journey Out of Depression

It Didn’t Start with You takes us a big step forward, advancing the fields of trauma therapy, mindfulness applications, and human understanding. It is a bold, creative, and compassionate work.” —Sharon Salzberg, author of Lovingkindness and Real Happiness

“This groundbreaking book offers a compelling understanding of inherited trauma and fresh, powerful tools for relieving its suffering. Mark Wolynn is a wise and trustworthy guide on the journey toward healing.” —Tara Brach, PhD, author of Radical Acceptance and True Refuge

Insightful Healing Approach • Valuable Family Exploration • Calming Voice • Transformative Exercises • Clear Intonation

Highly rated for:

All stars
Most relevant
Love this very effective and complex modality of Family Constellation. Mark Wolynn does a remarkable job to explain how it works, and why it is so valuable. Interesting and fairly easy to listen! A must buy if you are interested in learning about family constellation!

Outstanding

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

Would've been helpful to have illustrations on how African American post-slavery trauma is treated.

African American trauma experience

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

It is a well written and a targeted book that should be purchased by everyone!!! The recommendations are on point and assure transformation for all including those who may think they do not need to do trauma focused work. Well done Mark Wolynn!

Must read and reread!!!!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

wow there was just so much there it took me back. I have alot of work to do but i am looking fowards to it! onward.....

goosbumps

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

This book was the perfect read for anyone on any type of healing journey. It’s a real eye opener. The accompanying pdf made it interactive, and made it feel as though you were physically doing the needed work to heal yourself. 10/10. I would recommend this to anybody!!!

On a healing journey? THE PERFECT READ

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

See more reviews