Violence and Childhood: How Persisting Fear Can Alter the Developing Child’s Brain.

David Baldwin's Trauma Information, Articles:
Perry (2001)

Violence and Childhood: How Persisting Fear Can Alter the Developing Child’s Brain.

Citation: Perry, B.D. (2001b). The neurodevelopmental impact of violence in childhood. In Schetky D & Benedek, E. (Eds.) Textbook of child andadolescent forensic psychiatry. Washington, D.C.: American Psychiatric Press, Inc. (pp. 221-238).

This is an edited (web) version of the chapter from the author's ChildTrauma Academy website.
Bruce Perry discusses five neural systems involved in regulating a child's response to threat: the Reticular Activating System, Locus Coeruleus, Hippocampus, Amygdala, and Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal Axis, and then describes the clinical presentation and altered neurobiology of children exposed to violence. Heartrate data and gender differences are presented from children at the Branch Davidian' s Ranch Apocalypse compound. Includes about 70 references, 3 figures and 2 tables. "