Child Psychiatrist Frank Putnam Discusses His Soon-To-Be-Published book, "Old Before Their Time, A Scientific Life Investigating How Maltreatment Harms Children and the Adults They Become"

About this episode

Dr. Frank Putnam discusses his research on childhood sexual abuse and its long-term effects on health and development in relation to his upcoming book.

At least one in four girls suffers childhood sexual abuse. For example, the Department of Justice (DoJ) concluded Jeffery Epstein trafficked over 1,000 girls, some as young as 14. Nevertheless, six years after Epstein’s reported suicide, the Trump Administration’s 2026 budget proposes to entirely delete a subsection of federal law that requires DoJ’s Office of Violence Against Women to be “a separate and distinct office” and proposes to cut the Office of Violence Against Women’s budget by nearly 30%. Per the CDC’s Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) study, launched over 25 yrs ago, at least 1 in 4 girls and 1 in 20 boys are sexually abused. Among numerous other sobering stats, ACEs-related health consequences cost the US an estimated $14.1 trillion dollars annually in direct medical spending and lost healthy-life years. Dr. Frank Putnam, a child and adolescent psychiatrist at the U. of North Carolina’s Medical School who has spent his 35-year professional life investigating the effects of childhood sexual abuse on child development and adult outcomes, has recently completed “Old Before their Time” an autobiographical account of his research work and findings. In Dr. van der…

People in this episode

Host: David Introcaso

Guest: Frank Putnam

Topics covered

• childhood sexual abuse
• mental health
• child development
• adverse childhood experiences
• public policy
• health consequences

Keywords

• child abuse
• mental illness
• health policy
• trauma
• adverse experiences
• budget cuts
• child psychiatry

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Department of Justice, Office of Violence Against Women, CDC

Books & works: Old Before Their Time

Places: United States, North Carolina

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