Comfort Cases: Unpacked Podcast | Episode 7 | Dr. Frank Putnam

What if a child’s behavior is not simply “acting out” — but a response to something their body and brain have learned in order to survive?

This week on Comfort Cases: UnPacked, Rob Scheer is joined by Dr. Frank W. Putnam, professor of clinical psychiatry at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine and an internationally recognized expert on the effects of childhood abuse, trauma, and family violence.

For nearly four decades, Dr. Putnam’s work has examined how childhood maltreatment can affect emotional development, physical health, relationships, and even biology over time. Much of that work has included children involved in foster care, adoption, child protective services, and residential treatment — young people whose behavior is too often misunderstood without recognizing the trauma behind it. Rob and Dr. Putnam discuss how trauma can show up in ways caregivers may mistake for defiance, manipulation, withdrawal, or “bad behavior,” and why understanding those signals can completely change the way adults respond.

They also explore the long-term effects of childhood trauma, the importance of stable and supportive relationships, and why providing a child with a safe placement is only the beginning of the healing process.

Dr. Putnam’s latest book, Old Before Their Time, brings together decades of research into how childhood maltreatment can follow someone into adulthood — and what caregivers, professionals, and systems can do to help change that trajectory.

CONVERSATION HIGHLIGHTS

How childhood trauma can appear as behavior that adults may misunderstand
What foster and adoptive parents should know when a child’s full history is unknown
How abuse, neglect, and chronic instability can affect both mental and physical health
What dissociation can look like in children and why it may be overlooked
Why Developmental Trauma Disorder can provide a useful framework for understanding children with complex trauma histories
The kinds of training foster and adoptive parents need to better recognize and respond to trauma
Why one stable, caring adult can have a profound impact on a child’s development
What research tells us about intergenerational trauma and breaking cycles of abuse
Why permanency and a safe home are essential, but may not be enough on their own
How trauma-informed care can change the way parents, teachers, caseworkers, and systems respond to children

ABOUT DR. FRANK W. PUTNAM

Frank W. Putnam, MD, is a professor of clinical psychiatry at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine and an internationally recognized expert on the effects of childhood abuse and family violence. He co-founded the Female Growth and Development Study with the late Dr. Penelope Trickett. This long-term research project followed survivors of childhood sexual abuse from childhood into adulthood. His work has explored trauma, dissociation, mental and physical health, development, and biological aging.

Dr. Putnam is the author of more than 200 research papers and four books. His latest book, Old Before Their Time, examines how childhood maltreatment can shape health and development across a lifetime and what decades of research can teach us about prevention, treatment, and healing.

CONNECT WITH DR. FRANK PUTNAM

Website: https://www.frankputnam.com/

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To listen to previous episodes of Fostering Change and Comfort Cases: Unpacked, please visit: www.comfortcases.org/podcast or your favorite podcast outlets.

📩 Have thoughts or questions, or an idea for a future guest? Reach out at fosteringchange@comfortcases.org – we’d love to hear from you! From all of us at Comfort Cases: Unpacked, thank you for listening, for sharing this journey with us through seven incredible seasons, and for believing that every child deserves dignity, belonging, and hope.