Boy Who Was Raised As a Dog and Other Stories From a Child Psychiatrist's Notebook

by Perry, Bruce Duncan; Szalavitz, Maia

• ISBN13: 9780465056521
• ISBN10: 0465056520
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2007-01-08
• Publisher: Basic Books

Summary

What happens when a young brain is traumatized? How does terror, abuse, or disaster affect a child's mind--and how can that mind recover? Child psychiatrist Bruce Perry has helped children faced with unimaginable horror: genocide survivors, murder witnesses, kidnapped teenagers, and victims of family violence. InThe Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog, he tells their stories of trauma and transformation through the lens of science, revealing the brain's astonishing capacity for healing. Deftly combining unforgettable case histories with his own compassionate, insightful strategies for rehabilitation, Perry explains what exactly happens to the brain when a child is exposed to extreme stress-and reveals the unexpected measures that can be taken to ease a child's pain and help him grow into a healthy adult. Through the stories of children who recover-physically, mentally, and emotionally-from the most devastating circumstances, Perry shows how simple things like surroundings, affection, language, and touch can deeply impact the developing brain, for better or for worse. In this deeply informed and moving book, Bruce Perry dramatically demonstrates that only when we understand the science of the mind can we hope to heal the spirit of even the most wounded child.

Author Biography

Bruce D. Perry, M.D., Ph.D. is the Senior Fellow of The ChildTrauma Academy, a Houston-based non-profit organization which promotes innovations in service, research and education in child maltreatment and childhood trauma. He has served as a consultant to the FBI and is the former Chief of Psychiatry at Texas Children's Hospital, as well as former Vice-Chairman for Research in the Department of Psychiatry at Baylor College of Medicine. He lives in Houston, Texas and Alberta, Canada. Maia Szalavitz is an award-winning journalist who specializes in science and health. She is the author of Help at Any Cost: How the Troubled-Teen Industry Cons Parents and Hurts Kids and Recovery Options: The Complete Guide with Joseph Volpicelli, M.D., Ph.D. She lives in New York City.

Table of Contents

Author's Note	ix
Introduction	1
1 Tina's World	7
2 For Your Own Good	31
3 Stairway to Heaven	57
4 Skin Hunger	81
5 The Coldest Heart	99
6 The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog	125
7 Satanic Panic	155
8 The Raven	179
9 "Mom Is Lying. Mom Is Hurting Me. Please Call the Police."	203
10 The Kindness of Children	215
11 Healing Communities	231
Appendix	247
Acknowledgments	251
Notes	255
Index	265