Cognitive Analytic Therapy For Adult Survivors Of Childhood Abuse

This book considers the aftermath of childhood sexual abuse within the conceptual framework of Cognitive Analytic Therapy, and presents a model for treatment.

This work addresses the specific symptoms and problems experienced by many adult survivors of childhood sexual and emotional abuse. These may include problems with substance abuse, self-mutilating behaviour, suicide attempts, eating disorders, dissociative reactions, depression, sexual dysfunctions, and serious interpersonal difficulties. The authors use imaginal exposure treatment and imaginal rescripting to replace the recurring abuse-related images with mastery imagery. They provide a comprehensive description of the cognitive behavioural treatment programme that can be implemented with survivors (male and female) of childhood sexual, physical, and emotional abuse.

"Component-based psychotherapy for childhood abuse is not a sequenced model, but it deliberately attends to the following four components: (1) relational, focused on client and therapist attachment styles and relational patterns with the intent of building a secure attachment as the context of the remaining work; (2) self-regulation, not only of emotions but of cognitions and behavior; (3) dissociative parts of self and their identification and elicitation; and (4) narrative construction of a coherent self. CPB does so in a way that is client-centered, flexible, and fluid, yet it is also systematic and has a structure. Each chapter offers observations of false starts, missed opportunities, pivotal interactions, and alternate approaches in response to particular exchanges between therapist and client, and highlights and builds upon interactions and interpretations perceived to bear promise"--

This book has been replaced by Treating Survivors of Childhood Abuse and Interpersonal Trauma, Second Edition, ISBN 978-1-4625-4328-1.

In Adult Survivors of Childhood Emotional, Physical, and Sexual Abuse: Dynamics and Treatment, Francisco G. Cruz, M.D., and Laura Essen, L.C.S.W., two senior therapists with years of experience in treating this population, give the clinician the tools he or she needs to work with abused patients. In clear prose, the authors cover clinical assessment of adult survivors, a broad spectrum of multi-modality treatment strategies and techniques for clinical intervention (including dynamic and cognitive approaches), transference and countertransference issues, the therapeutic relationship, defense mechanisms, grief work, and special clinical problems in treatment with adult survivors. The book's eclectic approach makes it accessible to therapists across a wide spectrum of orientations.

How is an individual to lead a comfortable, productive existence when he or she was never taught the skills necessary for effective living? Adult survivors of child abuse often face this dilemma. Instead of being nurtured as children and taught life-skills by their caregivers, child abuse survivors were subjected to a daily regimen of coercive control, contempt, rejection and emotional unresponsiveness. It is not surprising, therefore, that many survivors encounter difficulty adjusting from this type of damaging childhood atmosphere to one in which they have autonomy. This book addresses the particular problems associated with treating adult survivors of child abuse. Until now, psychotherapy for child abuse survivors often centered on the trauma of their abuse experiences. However, survivors frequently reveal a history suggesting it was not abuse trauma alone that created their difficulties, but growing up essentially alone - without the consistent emotional support and guidance needed for development of effective functioning. This book presents an alternative to trauma-focused treatment that, though effective for treatment of other forms of trauma, can induce deteriorated rather than improved functioning in survivors of prolonged childhood maltreatment. The contextual therapy presented in Not Trauma Alone delineates a psychotherapeutic approach that emphasizes helping survivors develop the capacities for effective functioning that were never transmitted to them during their formative years. Detailed descriptions of the methods and interventions comprising contextual therapy are included in this critical book for all mental health professionals, clinicians, academics, and students in the field.

This groundbreaking book presents a new model for working with survivors of abuse and other trauma. The Healing Tasks Model, based on developmental stages of healing with specific tasks for each stage, offers the clinician new support for threading through the sometimes overwhelming complexities of the survivor's experience. At the same time, Kepner's model helps to avoid some of the common pitfalls and risks of work in this most challenging of clinical areas, such as pushing clients to express and remember before they have developed the capacity to manage such intensity, or encouraging confrontation and interpersonal interactions that the survivor doesn't yet have the developmental underpinnings to support. Using the Healing Tasks Model the clinician will find techniques for helping clients develop emotional and systemic supports, manage feelings, and set appropriate boundaries. Readers will also find a guide to dealing with the difficult and troubling issues of memory: how to approach abuse memories, when and how to take action based on abuse memories, when to defer action pending the development of more supports and capacities for the survivor, and then how to develop those essential supports and capacities. Written for psychotherapists, psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, counselors, pastoral counselors, and adult survivors of childhood abuse, Healing Tasks provides a therapeutic model that can be used to help abuse survivors develop the emotional skilles to lead richer and more fulfilling lives.

This is a practical, down to earth guide for mental health professionals assisting adult survivors of childhood abuse. Short and long term effects of abuse are presented, (as well as clinical findings from 99 survivors), setting a foundation for the type of therapeutic response most helpful. Assessment of victims who characteristically do not self disclose is emphasized. Specific treatment "phases" are presented with clear goals in each phase. Special issues such as dissociative phenomena, trauma resolution, and group therapy are highlighted.