Maltreated Children: Experience, Brain Development And The Next Generation

The brain is what makes us human, and the experiences of childhood sculpt the brain. Deprivation, terror, sexual exploitation, and emotional abuse affect the biology of the developing brain in a permanent, negative way. This book describes simple but powerful principles of neurodevelopment and neurobiology and examines clinical issues of child maltreatment within this context, providing a new conceptual approach to the assessment, treatment, and prevention of child abuse and neglect. Bruce Perry, M.D., is at Baylor College of Medicine, Houston.