Childhood and Trauma

Winner of the Blanche Ittleson Award for her research on childhood trauma, clinical professor of psychiatry Terr examines the many ways that trauma has changed not only the children she's treated, but all of us. She demonstrates that traumatized children can be helped, showing that there is hope for the innocent victims of our frightening world.

'The Presence of the Therapist' explores the many dilemmas and difficulties of how to work with children who have undergone trauma.

This handbook provides both a conceptual and practical framework for diagnosing, treating, and assessing post-traumatic stress in survivors of violence, abuse, war, ethnocultural problems, political torture, and disaster. The in-depth clinical experience of Williams and Sommer helps define a variety of theories and methods for treating children, adults, families, and other groups with various types of post-tramautic stress disorders. They point to specific new kinds of therapies and types of interventions, and discuss new developments and trends for the treatment of post-traumatic stress. This reference volume, with its lengthy bibliography, is designed for students, teachers, and practitioners in the fields of psychology and psychiatry, social work, medicine, and public health.

Harvey Schwartz's territory is the severe end of the child sexual abuse continuum, where victims' experiences are so unthinkable and their adaptations so bizarre that the rest of us are tempted to pronounce them fictions -- whereupon we become complicity by subverting the survivors' struggles to heal. Schwartz synthesizes trauma theory and relational psychoanalysis to make sense of perpetrator, collaborator, and victim pathologies, and exposes the tortuous double-binds of therapy for and with dissociative patients. His office is the last stop on a kind of underground treatment railroad; his say-it-isn't-so case material reverberates throughout.

Today, one in every three Americans will be affected by trauma, and the most vulnerable among these victims are children. Children and adolescents in our communities are exposed to disastrous and devastating events, including natural disasters, violence, accidents, and, most recently, terrorist attacks, that have a great impact on their emotional and physical well-being. Children in Disasters is a training manual and reference for those who provide psychological relief in the wake of disasters. The expert contributors offer guidance for helping children integrate their traumatic experiences, develop healthy coping skills, and restore a sense of safety.

Helping Children Live with Death and Loss is a practical guide for parents, caregivers, teachers, clergy, funeral directors, and other adults who may interact with young children between the ages of two and ten. Utilizing a developmental approach that is critical for understanding the unique characteristics and needs among children under ten, the volume is enhanced by an accessible style and format, numerous illustrations, and the positive attitude that make it possible for any reader to comprehend and apply the concepts when discussing death and loss with young children.

The scope of concepts ranges from adult self-assessment to knowledge of children's developmental stages in learning. Building on that foundation, the book provides four basic content areas for teaching, supplies sample questions and answers, and suggests strategies for teaching general death education as well as strategies for responding to a current death or loss. The resource concludes with print and internet sources for adults and children. Helping Children Live with Death and Loss also aids adults and children in improving their communication and coping skills, which are critical for managing loss and preparing for a healthier future.

This is a superb book. It is based on extensive interviews, careful and complete mastery of existing literature, and the research of others. It is a significant contribution to our understanding of mourning, childhood and adolescent psychology, and of specific diseases, particularly cystic fibrosis.

details the incidence aria scope of the violence epidemic and examines the developmental impact of violence on children. Contributors describe several exemplary prevention and intervention programs currently in place around the country and propose a range of educational and policy initiatives.

In trauma, when words fail, the body begins to speak. How can clinicians accurately and attentively "hear" the body and understand its messages? Useful both as a text and a professional handbook, Splintered Reflections is a detailed review of the physical symptoms and body-image distortions found after trauma, as well as a textbook of methods aimed at repairing the broken metaphors of the body so that a healthy mind-body relationship can be restored.

Among the various psychotherapeutic techniques explored are Freudian psychoanalytic theory, attachment theory, and trauma theory, all synthesized to form an interlocking framework within which the therapist can effectively listen, and stay with the messages from the patient's body. The reader is guided by detailed clinical examples drawn from an international group of trauma therapists that includes Barry Cohen, Richard Kluft, Bruce Perry, Valerie Sinason, and Onno van der Hart.

Family Stressors is aimed at practitioners working with couples and families dealing with the impact of a traumatic/stressful event. The book provides a hands-on, practical guide that deals with how to respond appropriately to a wide range of specific stressors. Offered as a companion to the Handbook of Stress, Trauma, and the Family (also edited by Don R. Catherall), a quick-reference format allows the reader easy access to applicable information.