Dr. Perry's The Boy Who Was Raised As A Dog

Throughout most of modern history, the principal belief was that children were unaffected by traumatic events that happened in their lifetime. In recent years, however, child psychiatrists like Dr. Bruce Perry have worked with children, doctors, and parents to help expand recognition that children are in fragile developmental states and a traumatic event can have many detrimental effects. In his novel, The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog, Dr. Perry introduces many of his patients that have had a lasting effect on his knowledge of traumatized children, and how to treat them. While with each new child Dr. Perry learned something new about treating traumatized children, however every child needed three basic necessities in order to recover: physical affection, a safe environment, and the opportunity to grow. If a child is not given enough physical affection, the result is detrimental to both their emotional and physical growth. Children are extremely receptive to …show more content…
Perry’s The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog, there were clear things that each child needed in order to continue after their traumatic event. First is physical affection which, if neglected, can lead to sociopathic behaviors, or even no willingness for your body to live. Then, a child needs a safe environment where they have they control and are consistently reassured they are not going to be harmed. Next, a child needs the chance to grow and develop after their traumatic event happened. With these main things, a child can start to live their life away from what happened to them, and not because of it. Personally, while reading, I felt horrible for these children who were not treated with the basic necessities any human should be granted, but also felt deep gratitude for Dr. Perry. Without his groundbreaking research on how to help traumatized kids, such ideas may still be foreign to us today. Overall, the book describes the resilience of children faced with