Perry, Bruce D. 1955- (Bruce Duncan Perry)

PERSONAL:

Born May 6, 1955, in Bismarck, ND. Education: Studied at Stanford University and Amherst College; Northwestern University, M.D., Ph.D.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Houston, TX; Alberta, Canada. Office—Child Trauma Academy, 5161 San Felipe, Ste. 320, Houston, TX 77056.

CAREER:

Clinician, researcher, and educator. University of Chicago School of Medicine, faculty member, 1988-91; Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, Trammell Research Professor of child psychiatry and vice-chairman for research for the department of psychiatry, 1992-2001; Texas Children's Hospital, Houston, chief of psychiatry, 1990s; Alberta Mental Health Board, Alberta, Canada, medical director for provincial programs in children's mental health, 2001-03. Child Trauma Center, Houston, senior fellow; senior consultant to the Alberta Ministry of Children's Services; University of Chicago fellow in child and adolescent psychiatry.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Texas Association for Infant Mental Health, T. Berry Brazelton Infant Mental Health Advocacy award; Award for Leadership in Public Child Welfare; provincial government of Alberta, Canada, Alberta Centennial Medal.

WRITINGS:

(With Maia Szalavitz) 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, Basic Books (New York, NY), 2006.

SIDELIGHTS:

Bruce D. Perry is a clinician, researcher, and educator in children's mental illnesses. After completing his undergraduate studies at Stanford University and Amherst College, Perry earned an M.D. and a Ph.D. from Northwestern University. Perry followed this with a residency in general psychiatry at Yale University School of Medicine and a fellowship in child and adolescent psychiatry at the University of Chicago. Perry was on the faculty at the University of Chicago School of Medicine from 1988 to 1991. In 1992 he moved to Houston, Texas, where he became Trammell Research Professor of child psychiatry and the vice chairman for research in the department of psychiatry at the Baylor College of Medicine. He served at the university until 2001, in addition to being chief of psychiatry at Houston's Texas Children's Hospital. Later that year he moved to Alberta, Canada, to serve as the medical director for provincial programs in children's mental health with the Alberta Mental Health Board and as senior consultant to the Alberta Ministry of Children's Services. Perry is also senior fellow at Houston's Child Trauma Center.

In addition to his contributions to periodicals, medical journals, and a number of appearances as a medical expert on television talk shows, Perry is an author of a book. With Maia Szalavitz, Perry wrote 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. The book discusses the dangers of emotional abuse to children. Perry and Szalavitz relate how emotional abuse can chemically alter a child's brain development, creating occasionally troubling consequences into adulthood. Reviews were mostly positive. A contributor to Publishers Weekly found the stories to be "beautifully written, fascinating accounts." The same contributor commented that "the stories exhibit compassion, understanding, and hope as Perry paints detailed, humane pictures of patients" and their traumatic experiences. E. James Lieberman, writing in Library Journal, described the book as "readable, informative about the workings of language, memory, trust, and choice, and ultimately optimistic." Peter Zama, writing on the Three Rivers Adoption Council Web site, concluded that "overall, this book should be required reading for therapists, for parents, for those subjected to trauma in the past, and for human beings at large."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, January 1, 2007, Donna Chavez, review of 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, p. 25.

Library Journal, January 1, 2007, E. James Lieberman, review of The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog and Other Stories from a Child Psychiatrist's Notebook, p. 128.

Publishers Weekly, October 16, 2006, review of The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog and Other Stories from a Child Psychiatrist's Notebook, p. 44.

Science News, February 17, 2007, review of The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog and Other Stories from a Child Psychiatrist's Notebook, p. 111.

ONLINE

Child Trauma Academy Web site,http://www.childtrauma.org/ (December 15, 2007), Lou Bank, author profile and interview.

International Cultic Studies Association Web site,http://www.icsahome.com/ (December 15, 2007), Doni Whitsett, review of The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog and Other Stories from a Child Psychiatrist's Notebook.

Three Rivers Adoption Council Web site,http://www.3riversadopt.org/ (December 15, 2007), Peter Zama, review of The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog and Other Stories from a Child Psychiatrist's Notebook.