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55th out of 411 books
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429 voters
The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog: And Other Stories from a Child Psychiatrist's Notebook--What Traumatized Children Can Teach Us About Loss, Love, and Healing
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. In The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog, he tells their stories of t...more
Hardcover, 288 pages
Published
January 8th 2007
by Basic Books
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The Boy Who Was Raised As a Dog, and Other Stories from a Child Psychiatrist’s Notebook: What Traumatized Children Can Teach Us About Loss, Love, and Healing is a book worthy of such a hefty title. Dr. Bruce Perry writes, in conjunction with journalist Maia Szalavitz, about some of the most distinctive cases that he has worked over his years as a child psychiatrist. In the process, Perry makes powerful arguments for early intervention in the lives of traumatized children, and gives many insights...more
This book should be read by everyone who cares for children professionally. We know that children are abused and suffer, yet when we meet some of these children we often don't understand how to help them. This book of stories from Doctor Perry's practice shows us children who come from backgrounds of neglect or abuse. These stories tear at your heart, but knowing that Doctor Perry and others are using what we know about neuroscience to heal offers us hope. If anything, reading this book will mak...more
5 likes · like · see review
A very impactful read. The most practical thing I think I can take from it is a greater compassion for my fellow men. We really don't know what people have gone through to contribute to who they are. These stories make me not want to judge anyone (some "bad" people experienced trauma and neglect to the degree that their brain was permanently affected). I wish I could do something to make life better for or be a friend to some of these unusual, and socially misfit individuals. Thank goodness many...more
7 likes · like · see review
Perry refutes the adage that children are resilient, and walks us through the cases of traumatized children -- the consequences on their psyches and behavior, and how to heal them.
A few minutes of stress for baby rats can affect their brain into adulthood. Yet these children are expected to handle abuse, witnessing the murder of a parent, systematic neglect... What seems to affect them the most is the lack of love, even while medical diagnoses are offered. A disruptive girl has ADD, of course. B...more
A few minutes of stress for baby rats can affect their brain into adulthood. Yet these children are expected to handle abuse, witnessing the murder of a parent, systematic neglect... What seems to affect them the most is the lack of love, even while medical diagnoses are offered. A disruptive girl has ADD, of course. B...more
WOW. This book is MIND BLOWING! I cannot say enough good things about it. It is utterly fascinating. I heartily recommend it to anyone interested in neuroscience, psychology, and/or child development. He combines short narratives of his experiences working with various children with very scientific analysis of what he learned about the brain's development; and as the book evolves his theories and knowledge build on what he's learned and observed before. The "science" part of the book is challeng...more
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Bruce Perry treats children who have suffered childhood trauma using a neurosequential approach. This approach supposes that as the brain grows from the most basic deep structures to the most complex outer structures (basically from the inside out and from the bottom up) in the first 3 years of life, trauma at any phase of that development shapes or prevents the proper physiological development of the brain area that is developing. Because the higher brain structure development depends on develo...more
An interesting book looking at brain development from the perspective of child abuse. Introduces (to me) the linear model of brain development - how an abused victim can be rehabilitated by providing the stimuli it missed as a child in the order it should have been received in (ie. hugging an adult that suffered from touch deprivation). It's obviously still a model, but I'd like to know more: for example, are there time-limits on when the stimuli can be given. I know that stereoscopic vision dev...more
I'd like to give this book 4.5 stars. It's about a child psychiatrist and some of the children/cases that he's treated over the years. He talks about the effects of stress and trauma on kids. The stories are heart wrenching as expected, but sadly typical of what I see working in the public schools! His approach is intriguing and makes total sense. He gets a little wordy I think when talking about the science and brain development and psych. info., but I still kept reading. After you read it agai...more
Aug 13, 2012
Ali
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
mental-health,
non-fiction
I borrowed this book from my supervisor when I interned in a pediatric psychiatric hospital, and I pretty much read it in one sitting. The book completely changed the way I looked at patients. Before, I saw them as children who were reacting to terribly traumatic experiences. Now, I understand that the traumatic experiences literally changed the way their brain functions. It explains why so many therapeutic interventions fail; our techniques aren't right. We're treating the cancer with cold medi...more
Dr. Perry, a child psychiatrist who works with traumatized children, writes about some of his cases in a sensitive, readable, and ultimately human way. His neurobiological perspective shows, in understandable language, how trauma can stunt brain development and how some of this delayed development can be treated by providing nurturing environments in which the children can "catch up" to their peers. He also brings some insights into understanding antisocial behaviors and potential roots for thei...more
I've listened to this book on Audible three times through. As a professional in the care of many fragile minds and hearts, I think this book should be read in snippets to fully digest. As another reviewer stated before, those who want to improve their understanding of trauma or care of children would benefit from reading this book. Perry does an amazing job at making this understandable for those without a neuroscience background. I've paired this text with Dan Siegel's writings on parenting and...more
Pretty fast read (I read it all in one sitting, though maybe I'm weird). It was an interesting collection of anecdotes with some interpretation. I thought the "neurosequential" theory of treatment was interesting, that the brain develops in a certain order during infancy and the time of neglect can affect which brain functions are affected. However, the horrifying stories make the book seem sensational, and the fact that basically all of the stories show the author coming in and saving the day m...more
This book was recommended to me by a colleague and what a recommendation. Perry tells the true and always harrowing stories of the effect of early trauma on child development and how such cases have helped him and other psychiatrists and psychologists, and even laypeople, in treating these children. What emerges is the power of love, the power of listening to the children, the power of understanding and recognising the specify trauma in each case. Most of what we do and what we are is governed b...more
This was recommended to me by a colleague. I thought it would be a disturbing read and put of off for ages, however despite some of the horrendous cases, the book is not a shock and awe text. It’s actually quite uplifting. Dr Perry has a gifted way of explaining the connections between trauma, neuroscience and psychotherapy, which is accessible to the lay reader. His model of recovery assumes that children can be healed by receiving the stimulation they missed at certain developmental points. E....more
This book shares several stories of children who suffered severe trauma in their early lives. As I began to read this book, I was distracted by the use of somewhat complex medical concepts. My background is in psychology and I have some understanding of the brain’s mechanics, but the book was written from a psychiatrist’s perspective and training. I’m not sure how comprehensible some of the information is for a reader with no background in brain function. The good news is that if you stick with...more
really interesting, heart wrenching stories. favorite quotes:
"More than in any other species, human young are born vulnerable and dependent. Pregnancy and early childhood are tremendous energy drains on the mother and, indirectly, on the larger family group. But despite the severe pain of childbirth, the numerous discomforts of pregnancy and breast-feeding, and the loud, continuous demands of a newborn, human mothers overwhelmingly tend to devote themselves to comforting, feeding an protecting...more
"More than in any other species, human young are born vulnerable and dependent. Pregnancy and early childhood are tremendous energy drains on the mother and, indirectly, on the larger family group. But despite the severe pain of childbirth, the numerous discomforts of pregnancy and breast-feeding, and the loud, continuous demands of a newborn, human mothers overwhelmingly tend to devote themselves to comforting, feeding an protecting...more
Informative and tragic, this collection of traumatized-kid stories manages to be compelling without being a pop-science freakshow. Perry presents a streamlined version of his nueroscience research in child trauma, illustrated with cases of kids brainwashed, tortured, assaulted...
I always want take-homes from disturbing books like this-- something to tie the jarring loose ends into a nice little bow. Although this is a descriptive rather than a prescriptive book, Perry delivers these appeasing li...more
I always want take-homes from disturbing books like this-- something to tie the jarring loose ends into a nice little bow. Although this is a descriptive rather than a prescriptive book, Perry delivers these appeasing li...more
FOUR AND A HALF STARS. This is a very interesting book. Dr. Perry is a psychiatrist who discusses cases of traumatized children he has worked with. In addition to describing the cases and the therapeutic approaches, he explains how the brain works and how trauma has affected the brain development of the children in the case studies. He also explains how his therapeutic approach addresses this. As a social worker in the child welfare field, I found this very interesting. I think I learned more ab...more
"The truth is, you cannot love yourself unless you have been loved and are loved. The capacity to love cannot be built in isolation."
"Many of the sleeping and crying problems seen in infancy today are likely caused by the fact that a human infant left alone and out of sight distance of adults for almost the entire evolutionary history of humankind would have been facing near-certain death. It's hardly surprising that babies find being left alone to sleep distressing. In fact, what's startling (a...more
"Many of the sleeping and crying problems seen in infancy today are likely caused by the fact that a human infant left alone and out of sight distance of adults for almost the entire evolutionary history of humankind would have been facing near-certain death. It's hardly surprising that babies find being left alone to sleep distressing. In fact, what's startling (a...more
Bruce Perry is a child psychiatrist who, in this book, explores what happens to a child's brain as a result of trauma and extreme neglect. He weaves stories of his actual heart-breaking patients with information from neuroscience and psychology to explain how a child injured in infancy can possess long-lasting effects far into adulthood. Perry also focuses on the healing process - how best to deal with children immediately after they suffer a horrifying experience, and how to retrain young adult...more
Jun 21, 2011
Rachel
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
trauma-atrocity,
read-unowned
Very good, though it doesn't touch Judith Herman (Trauma and Recovery, among other classic texts) for insight and nuance. The style of the technical sections on brain function felt a little patronizing, as though Perry was treating his audience like the children he primarily explains these concepts too, but they were consequently very clear, and because Perry felt so wonderfully sincere I was not overly bothered. The stories, of course, are deeply inspiring, particularly that of a four-year-old...more
*Healing begins within the heart*
This truly amazing and beautifully written book provides an eye-opening, heart-felt, and mind-nourishing look at the effects that trauma has on the brain, bodies, lives, and souls of children, and offers an approach to helping heal the tragic wounds. Bruce Perry holds the rare talent of being able to integrate his intellectual gifts and academic research with his human intuition and profound compassion. Although he leads the way in the neurobiological research on...more
This truly amazing and beautifully written book provides an eye-opening, heart-felt, and mind-nourishing look at the effects that trauma has on the brain, bodies, lives, and souls of children, and offers an approach to helping heal the tragic wounds. Bruce Perry holds the rare talent of being able to integrate his intellectual gifts and academic research with his human intuition and profound compassion. Although he leads the way in the neurobiological research on...more
This book rocks.
It's written by a child psychiatrist who specialized in working with traumatized children. He tells the stories of very bizarre cases that he has worked on, and how each form of abuse psychologically affects the children.
But what I really loved about this book (and what I thought was really unique) is that he goes further to explain the physiological effects of abuse -- like how the brain responds to threat or, neurologically, why learned behaviors are learned. And usually I thi...more
It's written by a child psychiatrist who specialized in working with traumatized children. He tells the stories of very bizarre cases that he has worked on, and how each form of abuse psychologically affects the children.
But what I really loved about this book (and what I thought was really unique) is that he goes further to explain the physiological effects of abuse -- like how the brain responds to threat or, neurologically, why learned behaviors are learned. And usually I thi...more
This was an intellectually interesting book. The case studies were each interesting in their own right, and the discoveries that Perry shares are both interesting and relevant. My only complaint about this books is that it perhaps does not pay enough attention to the art of story-telling. Each of the case-studies was interrupted with long passages about neurons and brain activity, and while these things were interesting in their own right, I thought that they made the cases of the children thems...more
This book is one of those most moving books I've ever read. Bruce Perry is a world famous child psychatrist. In this book, he gives a realistic account of some of his most intense and famous cases. As a parent-infant therapist, this book is rooted in all of my professional and personal beliefs. He shows how important, and how much of a significant impact, a child's environment, touch, affection and language can have on a child's developing brain. Nothing has more of an impact in establishing who...more
Jul 22, 2009
Elise
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
parents to be, mental health professionals
This book, more than anything I have read so far (even as a grad student in social work), exemplifies just exactly how important early childhood attachment and interpersonal connection is to any human being's existence. It explains how not being touched or talked to in your formative years literally impedes brain development, how neglect is in fact a form of trauma, and just exactly how trauma works in a child's brain -- all without going completely dry or detached (I read it in one sitting; cou...more
Fantastic and important book for anyone seeking to understand how trauma affects children and how to help them heal. Challenges many conventional notions about child psychiatry, pediatric PTSD, and childhood resilience through fascinating (and often disturbing) case studies. The author writes an accessible book that explores how trauma affects a child's neurobiology, through stories of his work with children who survived Waco, child sexual abuse, witnessing murder, and more. As a foster parent t...more
WOW - lots of great research and information on the developing brain, and the effects of both minor and major trauma on the brains of infants and children. Using case studies, Dr. Perry illustrates what he has learned about how the brain develops.
Did you know there is an important reason for loving, caring adults to rock babies? Believe it or not, there is brain development that happens from rocking! Rocking! So, if simple rocking helps brains development, imagine what other things impact the br...more
Did you know there is an important reason for loving, caring adults to rock babies? Believe it or not, there is brain development that happens from rocking! Rocking! So, if simple rocking helps brains development, imagine what other things impact the br...more
This book was a hard read at times, but definitely worth it. The author describes the human brain and its development in such easy terms, it's amazing that doctors weren't recognizing the effects of trauma on kids before. It's actually a pretty recent addition to brain science.
I recommend this wholeheartedly to anyone interested in knowing why people are the way they are.
My favorite chapter dealt with two brothers. One is a completely criminal sociopath with no regard for anyone but himself; h...more
I recommend this wholeheartedly to anyone interested in knowing why people are the way they are.
My favorite chapter dealt with two brothers. One is a completely criminal sociopath with no regard for anyone but himself; h...more
Really great book that made me want to go and hug my children! What interested me most were the chapters on neglected children and how infants and toddlers especially need a pattern of physical and emotional connection--personal interaction, rocking, hugs, physical touch--in order to grow and thrive. When they don't have that, their brains aren't able to grow properly and are actually smaller in size. Emotionally and socially they don't develop as other children do and treatment needs to go back...more
1 like · like · see review
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“The truth is, you cannot love yourself unless you have been loved and are loved. The capacity to love cannot be built in isolation.”
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5 people liked it
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Jan 29, 2013 08:10pm