COLDESTheart
Charles Miller
PSYCH 205-20F
Smith Reaction #5 April 7, 2005
The Coldest Heart “The Coldest Heart”, an excerpt from The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog by Dr. Bruce Perry, is a part of story about a boy that was traumatized and committed a brutal crime. Perry was called in to evaluate Leon, the boy, as to deem if there are underlying factors to why he committed the crime. And Perry discovers that Leon does have factors that led to the attack and deaths of two teenage girls. Leon was neglected and left alone as a baby while his brother was loved and taken care of. But as Leon got older, he did not seem to be emotional, to show remorse for his actions or consider consequences. “The Coldest Heart” tells us that nurture is very important in development. The brain needs pattern and to be stimulated in order to develop functionally. And Leon did not receive these things at birth. He was left alone to wail but soon discovered that did not bring aid. And he did not get to see different sights or receive praise for learning to crawl or walk. Leon learned that the only person that he can rely on is himself. Nurture has a more important factor in the development of the brain. It takes outside stimuli for the different areas of the brain to develop and respond appropriately. Because Leon was left alone, the areas of his brain associated with touch and feelings did not develop correctly. He did not liked to be touched; he became repulsed by it. And did not have a constant relationships therefore he did not care whether or not people only got hurt. He only cared about himself, fulfilling his own needs. “The Coldest Heart” tells us things about personality disorders. Leon helps people understand that personality disorder can either be learned or it can be genetically passed on to offspring. When Leon went to preschool, he received enough stimuli to learn how to talk and understand what is expected to him. He learned to manipulate people in this early age. And he learned to
PSYCH 205-20F
Smith Reaction #5 April 7, 2005
The Coldest Heart “The Coldest Heart”, an excerpt from The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog by Dr. Bruce Perry, is a part of story about a boy that was traumatized and committed a brutal crime. Perry was called in to evaluate Leon, the boy, as to deem if there are underlying factors to why he committed the crime. And Perry discovers that Leon does have factors that led to the attack and deaths of two teenage girls. Leon was neglected and left alone as a baby while his brother was loved and taken care of. But as Leon got older, he did not seem to be emotional, to show remorse for his actions or consider consequences. “The Coldest Heart” tells us that nurture is very important in development. The brain needs pattern and to be stimulated in order to develop functionally. And Leon did not receive these things at birth. He was left alone to wail but soon discovered that did not bring aid. And he did not get to see different sights or receive praise for learning to crawl or walk. Leon learned that the only person that he can rely on is himself. Nurture has a more important factor in the development of the brain. It takes outside stimuli for the different areas of the brain to develop and respond appropriately. Because Leon was left alone, the areas of his brain associated with touch and feelings did not develop correctly. He did not liked to be touched; he became repulsed by it. And did not have a constant relationships therefore he did not care whether or not people only got hurt. He only cared about himself, fulfilling his own needs. “The Coldest Heart” tells us things about personality disorders. Leon helps people understand that personality disorder can either be learned or it can be genetically passed on to offspring. When Leon went to preschool, he received enough stimuli to learn how to talk and understand what is expected to him. He learned to manipulate people in this early age. And he learned to
References: Perry, B.D. & Szalavitz, M. (2006). “The Coldest Heart” In The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog and Other Stories from a Child Psychiatrist’s Notebook: What Traumatized Children Teach Us about Loss, Love, and healing. New York: Basic Books.