Attachment Theory in Clinical Work with Children - Bridging the Gap between Research and Practice

A useful introduction for those who work with youth who participate in self-injurious behaviors. Serves as a reminder that the most important healing aspect is the therapeutic relationship with the healer. -PsycCRITIQUES Adolescent Self-Injury is unique in offering:

• Detailed discussion of the complex trauma and its relationship to self-injury
• Detailed assessment protocol to be used in educational settings
• A chapter on creating pathways to care in schools and on college campuses

In this truly comprehensive guide, Dr. D'Onofrio approaches the topic of how first-responders treat adolescent self-injury. The book discusses some basics, such as what constitutes self-injury and how to engage an adolescent with these issues. The chapters outline how to recognize, treat, and approach this illness, and incorporate first-person stories from psychologists, teachers, and adolescents themselves.

Results from numerous surveys indicate that many students do not feel safe in school. This condition exacts an academic as well as a psychological toll because, as the authors remind us, children must feel safe in order to learn. The authors of Preventing Bullying and School Violence contend that inadequate attention has been given to the role of mental health professionals in preventing bullying and school violence. They propose a collaborative, multidisciplinary approach, one that draws upon the skills of the educational, health care, and mental health communities in identifying risk, choosing appropriate interventions, and implementing targeted wellness programs. The authors see bullying as a process, not a problem originating with a single troubled person. Accordingly, they believe that bullying behaviors can be effectively addressed only by targeting the broader social context -- the coercive power and group dynamics that breed and maintain bullying and violent behavior in the school setting.

The book is designed to help clinicians, school counselors, and administrators create a safe climate for their students and to respond thoughtfully, but swiftly, when threats arise. The authors offer many practical guidelines for achieving these goals, addressing ? The critical importance of establishing a strong connection between the family, the school, and the community in creating a healthy academic environment? Strategies for working effectively with the complex social bureaucracies that often characterize the entities (such as school boards and governmental agencies) that intervene in cases involving violent children, with an emphasis on developing skills in managing both small and large groups? Ways to define and recognize at-risk children who require special attention as a result of having mental illness and/or learning disability? Innovative community interventions, such as therapeutic mentoring and home-based therapy, in addition to information on local, state, and federal programs designed to support antiviolence programs in the schools? Techniques for promoting wellness among the student population -- not just physical wellness, but also the positive attitudes and coping skills that are the hallmarks of mental health.

Preventing Bullying and School Violence aims to empower mental health professionals to work confidently and effectively in educational settings to reduce the distress, enhance the psychological well-being, and secure the safety of all schoolchildren.

Carefully working through all the phases of assessment, including integrating, conceptualizing, test selection, administering, scoring, and report writing, Conducting Psychological Assessment provides clinicians with a step-by-step methodology for conducting skilled individual assessments, from beginning to end.

Unlike most guides to assessment, this book addresses the critical steps that follow administration, scoring, and interpretation—namely the integration of the data into a fully conceptualized report. Rich with case studies that illustrate every major point, this text provides a coherent structure for the entire process, taking into account the imperfection of both clinical intuition and specific psychological tests.

Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) is a psychotherapeutic approach designed particularly to treat the problems of chronically suicidal individuals with borderline personality disorder (BPD). The therapy articulates a series of principles that effectively guide clinicians in responding to suicidal and other behaviours that challenge them when treating this population.

Dialectical Behaviour Therapy highlights 30 distinctive features of the treatment and uses extensive clinical examples to demonstrate how the theory translates into practice. In part I: The Distinctive Theoretical Features of DBT, the authors introduce us to the three foundations on which the treatment rests – behaviourism, Zen and dialectics – and how these integrate. In part II: The Distinctive Practical Features of DBT, Swales and Heard describe both how the therapy applies these principles to the treatment of clients with borderline personality disorder and elucidate the distinctive conceptual twists in the application of cognitive and behavioural procedures within the treatment.

This book provides a clear and structured overview of a complex treatment. It is written for both practicing clinicians and students wishing to learn more about DBT and how it differs from the other cognitive behaviour therapies.