A Conversation with Dr. Bruce Perry About Trauma

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Join us as Dr. Bruce Perry answers your questions about how trauma impacts adoptive, foster, and kinship kids and families. Dr. Bruce Perry, is a child psychiatrist and neuroscientist, the principal of the Neurosequential Network, Senior Fellow of The ChildTrauma Academy, and adjunct Professor at Northwestern University School of Medicine in Chicago. He is the author the numerous books including co-author along with Oprah Winfrey of What Happened to You?: Conversations on Trauma, Resilience, and Healing, and co-author of The Boy Who Was Raised As A Dog.

In this episode, we cover:

• The shift in perspective from what’s wrong with you to what happened to you--the ability to understand seemingly senseless behavior by looking at what’s behind it.
• What do you include as “trauma”? How severe does it have to be to impact us later in life?
• We hear foster, adoptive, and kinship parents say, “she was only neglected.” Is neglect less harmful than abuse?
• When siblings are separated in foster care and parents are taken completely away from seeing the children for a year at a time does this lack of contact count as trauma and how does this type of no-touch abuse effect the child's brain? 
• How common is trauma? ACE study.
• Does trauma at a young age have longer lasting impacts? 
• We have a child who is chronologically 3yrs, who had a non-accidental TBI at 3 months of age. He is a sweet boy but prone to rages and is very loud.  Could this be from the trauma or is it his age and frustration? 
• How can parents help their child manage trauma if they don’t know what the trauma was?
• The times of healing are often very short but very powerful.  And that the more times our kids experience healing, even in short bursts, the more their brain "re-develops" in healthier ways.
• Is there is an association between trauma and sensory processing and if so, do we know why?
• How do you become “unstuck” on being a victim?  My daughter is 18 and is struggling to become an adult, but constantly feels and acts as though she is still a victim from her past. 
• Can you discuss how trauma is related to the sabotage of relationships, family events, life events, and opportunities?
• Prenatal trauma—
  • in utero exposure to alcohol or drugs
  • maternal stress
• Can generational trauma be passed down genetically through the various forms of DNA? 
• Resilience and Healing: My question is coming from the perspective as an adoptive and foster mom of some kids who have some pretty big behaviors. Can we really grow these kids and help them live happy, well-adjusted lives?  Not problem free, but a life where after many years of love, they will come to find peace within themselves?   
• I have two children who are currently in foster care because their father was abusive and I stayed with him and allowed my children to witness the abuse. Is there any way to reverse the trauma?

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