
Childhood and Trauma Pt. 2
Season 6 Episode 2 | 2mVideo has Closed Captions
Bonnie discusses reasons for different responses to childhood trauma with Dr. Shervington.
Some children are dysregulated by traumatic events. But in a clip from Bill Moyers Journal, Bonnie’s late brother Dr. Carl Bell tells Moyers that some children who experience trauma become like Batmen—protective figures such as paramedics and doctors. Bonnie discusses reasons for different responses to childhood trauma with Dr. Denise Shervington, Chair of Psychiatry at Charles Drew University.
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Bonnie Boswell Reports is a local public television program presented by PBS SoCal

Childhood and Trauma Pt. 2
Season 6 Episode 2 | 2mVideo has Closed Captions
Some children are dysregulated by traumatic events. But in a clip from Bill Moyers Journal, Bonnie’s late brother Dr. Carl Bell tells Moyers that some children who experience trauma become like Batmen—protective figures such as paramedics and doctors. Bonnie discusses reasons for different responses to childhood trauma with Dr. Denise Shervington, Chair of Psychiatry at Charles Drew University.
Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback
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Hello, I'm Bonnie Boswell and welcome to part two in our series about childhood trauma.
Now we've learned sometimes children who've experienced violence decide that they have to become either predators or prey, but some to say they can become protectors like Batman.
Now years ago, Bill Moyers interviewed my brother Carl Bell.
Carl was a psychiatrist and expert in the field of violence prevention.
Batman saw his parents get killed And he did not turn into a bad guy.
He turned into a good guy.
When you read autobiographies of physicians and policemen and people who are engaged in trying to help solve the problem of stress, you frequently find they were exposed to stress themselves and out of their effort for mastery they become a good guy.
My guest is Dr. Denise Irvington.
She's the chair of the Department of Psychiatry at Charles Drew University in Los Angeles.
Denise, why did some traumatized children decide to become protectors and others decide to act out?
One of the best buffer a child ever has is that affectional bond with a caretaker.
This is how you build resilience in the brain.
There's a whole movement to get Doulahs so they get in to work with the pregnant woman and her family to be just a support to go through labor and delivery that even the Head Start where there's so much attention paid on early development of a child, which involves attachment.
Thank you so much, Denise.
Next week, we'll find out what California is doing to help traumatized children.
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Bonnie Boswell Reports is a local public television program presented by PBS SoCal