1st Edition

Severe Emotional Disturbance in Children and Adolescents Psychotherapy in Applied Contexts

By Denis Flynn Copyright 2004
    280 Pages
    by Routledge

    280 Pages
    by Routledge

    Severe Emotional Disturbance in Children and Adolescents conveys the experiences of severely emotionally disturbed children in detailed accounts of psychoanalytic psychotherapy, and explores the life and death struggles against severe self-harm to body and mind by the most distressed sections of adolescents. Illustrated by clinical material, chapters cover subjects including:

    * the inpatient therapeutic setting
    * family rehabilitation after physical, sexual and emotional abuse
    * the adoptive father
    * work with adolescent inpatients with spina bifida
    * assessment, treatment and clinical management of adolescent disturbance.

    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. Psychotherapists, mental health workers, and social workers will find it a valuable resource for difficult work in a variety of contexts.

    General Introduction: Psychotherapy in Applied Contexts, Central Concepts in Psychoanalytic Understanding. Part I: The Young Child. Internal Conflict and Growth in a Pre-school Child. Early Identifications in the Borderline Child. Part II: The Child in the Family. The Child's Experience of an Inpatient Therapeutic Setting. Family Rehabilitation After Physical Abuse. Challenges in Work with Emotional and Sexual Abuse. Mother-infant Work During Family Rehabilitation. The Adoptive Father. Part III: The Adolescent. A Group for Adolescent Inpatients with Spina Bifida. Psychoanalytic Theories of Adolescence. The Containment of Borderline Adolescents. The Eclipse of Adolescence: Assessment of Normal and Pathological Aspects.

    Biography

    Denis Flynn is a Child Psychotherapist and is now Head of the Inpatient Adolescent Unit at The Cassel Hospital, London. He is a Member and Child Analyst of the British Psychoanalytical Society and also works as a Psychoanalyst in private practice.

    'The clinical material is stimulating and discusses issues such as the rehabilitation of abused children with their parents, adoption, and group work with physically disabled adolescents. Psychotherapists, child and forensic psychiatrists and other professionals providing supervision or treatment in residential or in-patient settings will certainly appreciate this book.' - Alyson Hall, Psychological Bulletin

    'Destined to become a classic text and to live in the bookshelves, briefcases and handbags of practicing psychotherapists (adult, child and adolescent), it is sure to become a key text for both training schools and those involved in planning and commissioning of services.' - Caroline Owens, Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy