The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog: And Other Stories from a Child Psychiatrist's Notebook

Bruce D. Perry introduces his first-ever child patient, seven-year-old Tina, whom he began treating during his 1987 psychiatry fellowship at the University of Chicago. During their first meeting, Tina immediately attempted sexual contact with Perry, reflecting her traumatic history of sexual abuse. From the age of four to six, Tina and her younger brother were repeatedly abused by their babysitter’s 16-year-old son, who raped and sodomized them while threatening death if they disclosed the abuse. Tina’s single mother Sara worked a minimum-wage job and could only afford informal childcare, which created the conditions that enabled the prolonged abuse.

Perry recounts his experience with two supervisors who illustrated competing approaches to childhood trauma. Dr. Robert Stine (a pseudonym) focused on diagnostic labeling using the DSM-III. He quickly concluded that Tina had attention deficit disorder and oppositional defiant disorder, and he recommended medication. In contrast, Dr. Jarl Dyrud encouraged Perry to understand Tina as a person rather than as a collection of symptoms, emphasizing the importance of learning about her daily life and environmental factors. This mentorship proved transformative to Perry’s developing therapeutic philosophy.

Perry’s work with Tina involved simple activities like coloring and games that gradually built trust and revealed how her worldview was shaped by trauma.