From Freud to present, clinicians and researchers have consistently viewed honest disclosure as an essential component of a patient’s therapeutic process (Baumann & Hill, 2016; Farber, 2003). However, despite practitioners’ best efforts to emphasize the importance of honest dialogue, client concealment has been found to be a common occurrence (Baumann & Hill, 2016; Farber, 2003; […]
Play and games have different meanings in play therapy literature (Schaefer and Reid, 1986). Play is usually spontaneous, has no particular purpose, and is motivated by a desire to have fun (Csikszentmihalzi, 1976; Erickson, 1950; Garvey, 1977). Play has an unrestricted, unstructured quality, whereas games are formal and have more restrictive rules for how the […]
Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT) was developed by Drs. Anthony Mannarino, Judith Cohen and Esther Deblinger. TF-CBT is an evidence-based treatment that has been evaluated and refined during the past 25 years to help children and adolescents recover after exposure to traumatic life events. TF-CBT is both a phase-based and components-based intervention. The initial focus […]
Abstract Literature has shown the importance of mentalizing techniques in symptom remission and emotional understanding; however, no study to date has looked at the dynamic relations between mental state talk and affect regulation in the psychotherapy process. From a psychodynamic perspective, the emergence of the child’s capacity to regulate affect through the therapist’s reflection on […]
Childhood trauma is a national concern as approximately one-half of children in the United States experience at least one traumatic event (National Survey of Children’s Health, 2012). Although staggering, help in the form of evidence-based treatments is available for pre-school-aged children exposed to trauma. Recommended treatments include Alternatives for Families: A Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (AF-CBT), Trauma-Focused […]
Henry Kronengold (2017) invites readers to experience with him a “curious space” of relational connections, playfulness, symbols, and metaphors that characterize psychotherapy with children and adolescents. What is it like for both client and therapist as they tentatively begin a therapeutic relationship, find common channels of communication, solve problems, and make sense of life’s experiences? […]
Child therapy presents the unique opportunity for creativity amongst therapists and psychiatrists due to the limited knowledge children possess about the therapeutic process, emotions, medications, and a variety of other aspects of psychotherapy. It is a tremendous responsibility for a child’s therapist to utilize age-appropriate communication to educate a child regarding his or her diagnosis, […]
While lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) youth are at high risk for emotional and behavioral problems, research has documented that family rejection increases these risks and family acceptance decreases them (Ryan, Russell, Huebner, Diaz, & Sanchez, 2010). In this article, I will apply concepts from family systems theory to work with families who are struggling […]
Each year in the U.S., nearly 500,000 children between the ages of zero and fourteen report to the Emergency Room related to head trauma (Langolis, Rutland-Brown, & Thomas, 2005). Current estimates show that 180 of every 100,000 children under the age of fifteen are diagnosed with traumatic brain injury (TBI) each year (Kraus, 1995). The […]
Informed consent lays the foundation for the psychotherapy relationship and treatment to come in respecting the client’s legal rights and offering her or him the opportunity to make an informed decision about participating in the treatment to be offered. Barnett, Wise, Johnson-Greene, & Bucky (2007) have highlighted the potential benefits of an appropriately implemented informed […]