Washington, D.C., March 10, 2026 — What if many of the most serious health and social challenges facing society today — from addiction and depression to chronic disease and early mortality — share a common root?
In Greater Than Gravity: How Childhood Trauma Is Pulling Down Humanity, author and innovator Michael J. Menard explores the profound and often overlooked ways childhood trauma shapes human health, behavior, and wellbeing across the lifespan.
The book examines how adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) influence mental health, addiction, chronic disease, and social outcomes across generations. Research over the past several decades has increasingly demonstrated that childhood trauma is strongly associated with a wide range of long-term health challenges, including depression, substance use disorders, cardiovascular disease, and shortened life expectancy.
Rather than viewing these outcomes as isolated problems, Menard presents a compelling argument: many of society’s most pressing health and social issues may share a common root in unresolved childhood trauma.
“Childhood trauma casts a long shadow over the human experience,” Menard writes, describing how adversity experienced during formative years can reverberate across the mental, physical, social, and economic dimensions of life.
Menard’s interest in the subject is deeply personal. Raised in a family of fourteen children in a small home in Illinois, he witnessed firsthand how difficult childhood environments can shape families and communities. Despite those early challenges, he went on to become a successful innovator and engineering leader, holding multiple patents and working with global organizations in the absorbent products industry.
Later in life, while writing his memoir, Menard began exploring the science of trauma and resilience. That research ultimately led to Greater Than Gravity, a book intended to help readers better understand how childhood experiences can shape patterns of health, relationships, and behavior throughout life.
The book speaks to a wide audience — including individuals seeking to understand their own experiences, families navigating the effects of trauma, and professionals working in mental health, healthcare, education, and social services.
By combining personal reflection with research into the long-term effects of adversity, Menard offers readers a framework for understanding how early trauma can influence life outcomes and why prevention and healing matter.
The Family Preservation Alliance is highlighting the book because of its contribution to a growing national conversation about childhood trauma and its impact on families.
“Michael Menard’s book brings an important issue into sharper focus,” said John S. Hamel, Jr., President of the Family Preservation Alliance. “Understanding the role childhood trauma plays in shaping lives is essential if we want to improve mental health outcomes and strengthen families and communities.”
Ultimately, Greater Than Gravity delivers both a warning and a message of hope. By recognizing the impact of childhood trauma, communities can begin to address the root causes of many social and health challenges and build pathways toward healing and resilience.
Learn More
United Against Childhood Trauma (UACT)
https://uactnow.com
STAR Network Foundation
https://starnetwork.org
Family Preservation Alliance
https://familypreservationalliance.org