Treating Troubled Children and Their Families book cover

1st Edition

Treating Troubled Children and Their Families

Copyright Year 1994

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Book Description

Integrating systemic, psychodynamic, and cognitive-behavioral perspectives, this acclaimed book presents an innovative framework for therapeutic work. Ellen Wachtel shows how parents and children all too often go entangled in patterns that cause grief to both generations, and demonstrates how to help bring most modify with a combination of family-focused and kid-focused interventions. Vivid case examples illustrate creative means to engage young children in family sessions and conduct complementary sessions with children and parents lone, using a variety of strengths-based, developmentally informed strategies. The paperback edition features a new preface in which the author reflects on the continuing evolution of her approach.

Table of Contents

ane. The Child as an Individual: An Introduction to Child-in-Family Therapy
2. Meeting with Parents Alone: Understanding Their Concerns
3. Getting the Nigh Out of Family Meetings
4. Knowing the Child in Depth: A Clinical Guide to Effective Individual Sessions
v. Anxiety, Adaptational Styles, and Defense force Mechanims
6. Essential Psychodynamic Concepts
7. Interventions Based on Psychodynamic Formulations
8. Interventions Based on Behavioral Formulations
ix. Pulling It All Together: V Illustrative Case Studies

Author(s)

Biography

Ellen F. Wachtel, JD, PhD, has taught and supervised individual and family unit therapy in the doctoral programs at New York University and the City Academy of New York, every bit well as at Roosevelt Hospital and the Ackerman Establish for the Family. She maintains a individual practise in New York City.

Reviews

Treating Troubled Children and Their Families is a staple text for the child therapy and family unit therapy courses I teach in our clinical psychology PhD program. I believe it is far and away the nigh valuable reading that students do in these courses. Students regularly annotate on how 'right' it feels to view their clinical piece of work through Dr. Wachtel's integrative lens. They besides appreciate the like shooting fish in a barrel balance between theoretical perspectives and very detailed descriptions of what to exercise in a session. Students have even remarked that they salvage Dr. Wachtel's chapters for final, every bit a reward for finishing all of their other reading for the week! Amid the about essential qualities of Dr. Wachtel's piece of work are her respect and appreciation for the strengths of each parent and child, which truly make this book a gift for each new generation of clinicians working with families across all sociocultural contexts.--Karla Klein Murdock, PhD, Department of Psychology, Academy of Massachusetts-Boston

Treating Troubled Children and Their Families is required reading for my master's-level students. Wachtel articulates psychodynamic developmental principles in a way that is invaluable to burgeoning clinicians who are striving to exist relationship specialists. Students capeesh how the text helps them understand children's developmental needs and how to relate to them in a family context, and the creative ideas information technology provides for intervening in family therapy.--Linda Stone Fish, PhD, Department of Union and Family Therapy, Syracuse Academy

A ground-breaking work! Wachtel describes an integrated model of therapy which combines elements of systemic, psychodynamic, play, and cognitive behavioral approaches. The writer'southward child in family therapy combines both individual and interpersonal perspectives. Both kickoff and experienced family therapists will observe many practical suggestions for engaging young children in the therapeutic process. Highly recommended. --Charles E. Schaefer, Ph.D., Founder of the Play Therapy Grooming Institute, New Jersey, author of The Therapeutic Powers of Play

Undaunted by the challenge of integrating four dissimilar traditions--cognitive, behavioral, psychodynamic, and systems therapies--Ellen Wachtel uses her impressive intellect and inexhaustible imagination to bring the reader the best of theory and practice on behalf of troubled children and their families. A `must' for all therapists working with children. --Marcia Sheinberg, M.Southward.Due west., Managing director of Training, Ackerman Plant for Family Therapy

This is a big volume in every sense of the word. To call it an integrative model is to minimize its affect. Therapists who define themselves as systems or family unit therapists, as well as those who exercise a psychodynamic model of child therapy, will find information technology every bit important. Dr. Wachtel tells us that the 'relative rest of systemic psychodynamic behavioral and cognitive interventions varies profoundly from instance to case. Therapists need to pick and choose, borrow and reshape from all those who have something to offer distressed and troubled children.' I say amen to that. Dr. Wachtel has an encyclopedic knowledge of her field. She teaches while she informs. Best of all she holds your interest every page of the process. This may be the one book you will refer to over and over once again. To quote Ms. Wachtel again, 'Most important of all is that therapists learn to call up most children's difficulties from a wide variety of perspectives and that they have in their repertoire a broad range of interventions.' This book will help us all in that direction. --Olga Silverstein, M.S.W., and author of The Courage to Heighten Proficient Men

....Extremely well-written....A must for professionals at all levels of clinical feel who work with children and their families. --Stephen M. Gavazzi, Ohio State University in Periodical of Family Psychotherapy

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Extremely well-written....A must for professionals at all levels of clinical experience who work with children and their families.

--Journal of Family Psychotherapy, 6/4/2004ƒƒ

[A] masterly contribution in integration, with provocative and groundbreaking implications for contemporary family therapy.

--AFTA Newsletter, 6/4/2004