Too Scared To Cry: Psychic Trauma In Childhood [Paperback]

Lenore Terr (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 24, 1992

In 1976 twenty–six California children were kidnapped from their school bus and buried alive for motives never explained. All the children survived. This bizarre event signaled the beginning of Lenore Terr’s landmark study on the effect of trauma on children. In this book Terr shows how trauma has affected not only the children she’s treated but all of us.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

When children witness or experience sudden, shocking events, how do they assimilate the horror? Terr found they don't simply forget and grow up unscathed. Evidence proves the trauma is recorded and repeatedly replayed by the mind. That these recurring images manifest themselves in different guises is especially intriguing in light of her speculation about repressed trauma in the work of Hitchcock, Stephen King and others. The stories here will break your heart, but Terr's advice for aiding traumatized children can help counter the blows of a violent world.

From Publishers Weekly

Terr, child psychiatrist at the University of California School of Medicine in San Francisco, explores the dire effects of childhood trauma, defined here as "a single overwhelming experience or a series of overwhelming ordeals." She focuses on the 1976 abduction of a group of children in Chowchilla, a California farm town, who were seized from a bus as they were returning from day camp. The author, who interviewed the victims soon after their release from the abandoned rock quarry where they were buried, and who continues to make periodic assessments of the children, analyzes their attendant losses in cognitive and emotive function. Expanding on her Chowchilla research, Terr discusses post-traumatic behavior patterns she discerns in the works of writers such as Poe, Hawthorne and Stephen King, and in the films of Ingmar Bergman. Written in an anecdotal format, the book is penetrating and illuminating.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Basic Books (June 24, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0465086446
• ISBN-13: 978-0465086443
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #120,913 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

52 of 52 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Unforgettable insight into the effects of early trauma ., April 5, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Too Scared To Cry: Psychic Trauma In Childhood (Paperback)

After many years of fostering displaced and traumatized children, this book gave me landmark understanding of their emotional state and behaviors. I will never forget the recurring themes of the young children at play and have since found observing play as a valuable tool in unravelling the mysteries of trauma in toddlers. I am especially intrigued by the effects of pre-verbal trauma since many of the babies that have come through my home, or stayed by adoption, have told their "trauma stories" through their behaviors. They have no words yet to describe their experiences. The effects of sexual trauma at a very early age are well described in this book. It is something most of us would rather not think about, much less deal with on a daily basis in a three year old. This book has helped me do that. Another book that was very helpful along these lines was Unspeakable Acts, an account of a daycare sexual abuse case in Florida. While very graphic and detailed, more journalistic in style, it helped me recognize the many symptoms and effects of sexual abuse on very young children and also gave me insight into the bizarre psyches of the perpetrators.

69 of 81 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting, readable, but problematic, January 30, 2001

By 

Cathleen M. Walker "geminiwalker" (Massachusetts) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Too Scared To Cry: Psychic Trauma In Childhood (Paperback)

I enjoyed reading this book, but I also had problems with it. Most of the information comes out of the author's own experience working with children who had experienced what she describes as psychic trauma. Primarily her subjects are the children of the Chowchilla kidnapping that took place in 1976, but there are other children that she refers to as well. While her work is important and interesting, it is certainly not the last word in trauma research. I was particularly distressed by her tendency to dismiss and invalidate the children themselves while imposing her own interpretations of their experiences on the very children she was researching. Questioning a child's ability to remember their own reality is very problematic for me, and stating as a fact a great many things that she does not document made me wonder what on earth her agenda was. She tended to alienate her subjects with her inability to believe the things they shared with her in trust and confidence, and I suspect that she lost a great deal of valuable understanding in the process. As I said, I enjoyed reading the book and I'm sure it will be a valuable addition to my reference shelf, but I do take issue with her bias and her own interpretations of experience she herself did not face. It is for this reason that I will keep her nearby as I continue my own research and understanding of trauma and recovery.

39 of 45 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A most important work, September 18, 2000

By 

Peter A. Levine (Lyons, Co. United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Too Scared To Cry: Psychic Trauma In Childhood (Paperback)

"Too Scared to Cry," is a seminal book. The research which this beautifully written book sumarizes is a corner stone in the modern understanding of trauma. The book is vital and conveys the expertise and rare wisdom of this pioneering researcher and clinician. It is equally readable for professional or for lay persons. It is a classic in the field and has been an inspiration to me.

Peter A. Levine Ph.D.-Author of Waking the Tiger, Healing Trauma."