The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog: And Other Stories from a Child Psychiatrist's Notebook

by Bruce D. Perry

we tend to prefer the “certainty of misery to the misery of uncertainty.”

Incidentally, since Waco, research has demonstrated that rushing to “debrief” people with a new therapist or counselor after a traumatic event is often intrusive, unwanted, and may actually be counterproductive.

post-traumatic stress disorder is not signaled by a constellation of new symptoms that develop long after a stressful event but is, in many regards, the maladaptive persistence of the once adaptive responses that began as coping mechanisms in response to the event itself.

Young people exhibiting antisocial traits and callous behavior tend to have abnormal levels of the stress hormone cortisol (which

the more anxious someone is the harder it is for him to accurately recall and describe his feelings, thoughts and history.

Research on rodents has shown that when these animals are totally restrained—a highly stressful experience for them—their brains flood with natural opioids, known as endorphins and enkephalins. People

While self-mutilation, too, is often seen as an act of rebellion or attention-seeking, in most cases it is probably better understood as an attempt at self-medication as well. Cutting releases brain opioids, which makes it especially attractive to those who have been previously traumatized and found relief in dissociation.

heart it is the relationship with the therapist, not primarily his or her methods or words of wisdom, that allows therapy to work.

The truth is you cannot love yourself unless you have been loved and are loved. The capacity to love cannot be built in isolation.

Because of the mirroring neurobiology of our brains, one of the best ways to help someone else become calm and centered is to calm and center ourselves first—and then just pay attention.