Maia Szalavitz

Bruce D. Perry

A renowned psychiatrist reveals how trauma affects children--and outlines the path to recovery "Fascinating and upbeat.... Dr. Perry is both a world-class creative scientist and a compassionate therapist." --Mary Pipher, PhD, author of Reviving Ophelia How does trauma affect a child's mind--and how can that mind recover? In the classic The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog, Dr. Perry explains what happens to the brains of children exposed to extreme stress and shares their lessons of courage, humanity, and hope. Only when we understand the science of the mind and the power of love and nurturing, can we hope to heal the spirit of even the most wounded child.

And Other Stories from a Child Psychiatrist's Notebook--What Traumatized Children Can Teach Us About Loss, Love, and Healing

The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog

Yomna Mahmoud 

A compelling, insightful, and profoundly important book. This book should be translated into every language, taught in schools, and distributed to everyone dealing with children. A real eye-opener! it never crossed my mind how those first years of life, specifically speaking the first three years, -which arguably no one would remember-, could have such a paramount effect. what is even more fascinating is the children's ability to reverse the effect of major traumatic events when love and nurturing relationships are provided. a gleam of hope, healing is POSSIBLE. 

 "Resilient children are made, not born. We often assume that kids “won’t remember” or are “too young to understand” traumatic events". Dr. Perry contradicts this belief in every story he shares. While reading, I could hear and picture each child’s outcry for help. I'm touched to the core, and my eyes were overwhelmed by tears. How he delivered complex neurological information through genuine short true stories is admirable, a writing talent that not many authors possess, this made the book even more and more engaging.

I would conclude this review with a quote from the book that really stuck in my mind, "Similarly, the most powerful pain we experience is the loss of that attention, approval, and affection - the most obvious example being, of course, the death of a loved one. This is why even our greatest intellectual, athletic, or professional triumphs seem empty if we have no one with whom to share them."

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

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