Psychotherapy With Severely Deprived Children

This book draws on the experience of some eighty severely deprived children referred for individual psychoanalytic psychotherapy to the Tavistock and other clinics and schools in the London area. It describes how child psychotherapists found themselves treating the severely deprived children.

"This study describes the experience of severely deprived children referred for individual psychoanalytic psychotherapy at the Tavistock Clinic in London, and at other clinics and schools. Most were living in children's homes, all came from chaotic and disrupted families, and many had been abused or neglected. Children from such backgrounds have previously been considered unsuitable for psychotherapy, and the theoretical and technical issues arising from their treatment are discussed here, and detailed case material is presented.There is a high rate of emotional and behavioral disturbance among children in community care. The experiences of the therapists struggling, often painfully, to establish contact and communication with these young people, who have been hurt and disillusioned by life, provide illuminating material on the children's perceptions of their lives. This book clearly demonstrates the need for and the capacity to respond to treatment, and it provides insights which are of relevance to all who are in close contact with such children.With contributions from Pamela Berse, Mary Boston, Ronald S. Britton, Helen Carr, Elizabeth da Rocha Barros, Maristella Fontana, Gianna Henry, Eva Holmes, Shirley Hoxter, Joan Hutten, Ann Kaplan, Gabriella Grauso Malliani, Lisa Miller, Sheila Miller, Michael Morice, Elizabeth Oliver-Bellasis, Alan Shuttleworth, Judy Shuttleworth, Rolene Szur, Brian Truckle and Gillian Woodman-Smith."--Provided by publisher.

Originally published in 1983, this study describes the experience of severely deprived children referred for individual psychoanalytic psychotherapy at the Tavistock Clinic in London, and at other clinics and schools. Most were living in children's homes, all came from chaotic and disrupted families, and many had been abused or neglected. Children from such backgrounds have previously been considered unsuitable for psychotherapy, and the theoretical and technical issues arising from their treatment are discussed here, and detailed case material is presented. There is a high rate of emotional and behavioural disturbance among children in community care. The experience of the therapists struggling, often painfully, to establish contact and communication with these young people, who have been hurt and disillusioned by life, provide illuminating material on the children's perceptions of their lives. This book clearly demonstrates the need for and the capacity to respond to treatment, and it provides insights which are of relevance to all who are in close contact with such children.

This Handbook provides a comprehensive guide to the practice and principles of child and adolescent psychotherapy around the world. Contents include: * a brief introduction to the child psychotherapy profession, its history and development * a review of the theory underlying therapeutic practice * an overview of the varied settings in which child psychotherapists work * analysis of the growth of the profession internationally * an examination of areas of expertise around the world * a summary of current research Contributors are experienced practitioners from within a diverse range of schools and approaches and so provide a well-rounded picture of child and adolescent psychotherapy today. The Handbook of Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy will be an essential resource for professional psychotherapists, students of psychotherapy, social workers and all professionals working with disturbed children.

Children whose minds as well as bodies have been damaged by the intrusions of sexual abuse, violence or neglect, and others, quite different, who are handicapped by their own mysterious sensitivities to more minor deprivations, may experience a type of black despair and cynicism that require long-term treatment and test the stamina of the psychotherapist to the utmost. In Live Company, Anne Alvarez reflects on thirty years' experience of treating autistic, psychotic and borderline children and adolescents by the methods of psychoanalytic psychotherapy. Central to the book is the moving story on an autistic child's long struggle between sanity and madness, in which the author describes the arduous journey that she as therapist and he as patient made towards new understanding and his partial recovery. Modern developments in psychoanalytic theory and technique mean that such children can be treated with some success. In the book the author discusses these developments, and also describes some of the areas of convergence and divergence between organicist and psychodynamicist theories of autism. Particularly important is her integration of psychoanalytic theory with the new findings in infant development and infant psychiatry. This has enabled her to formulate some new and exciting ideas and speculate on the need for some additions to established theory. Anne Alvarez has produced a professionally powerful and englightening book, drawn from her extensive experience as a child psychotherapist at the Tavistock Clinic, which will be of interest to all professionals involved with children and adolescents as well as anyone interested in madness and the growth of the mind.

This book describes an approach to children and young people who might be helped by child psychotherapy. Attention is paid to factors within the child's personality, to strengths and impediments in the developmental process, and to the family and wider school and community context. Individual chapters address both clinical methods and a variety of clinical problems, including work with very young children and their parents, severe deprivation and family breakdown, developmental delay, and the more serious psychological illnesses of childhood. Assessment in Child Psychotherapy is a significant contribution to all mental health professionals who need to be able to identify the precise nature of a child, adolescent or family's problems and to offer the most appropriate help. Such a book is long overdue. It spans a range of thinking about how best to reach those whose emotional and behavioural difficulties pose challenging questions as to the most suitable forms of treatment.

Severe Emotional Disturbance in Children and Adolescents underlines the value of intensive psychoanalytic psychotherapy as a coherent method of treatment in even the most severe cases of emotional disturbance.

Informed by an amalgamation of psychoanalytic and attachment theories, the techniques offered in this book can be employed alongside a variety of therapeutic modalities, such as evidenced-based cognitive-behavioral treatment; social learning, family systems, emotion-focused, Ericksonian, and solution-focused approaches; gestalt, psychodynamic, and narrative therapies; as well as play therapy and the therapies of the creative arts. "Evocative strategies" have been developed for the purpose of engaging children in an emotionally meaningful process. David A. Crenshaw illustrates that in order to create moments of transformation and change in and through the therapy process, we have to learn the language of the heart-where children in their essence live.