NCJ Number
166278
Date Published
1996
Length
237 pages
Annotation
This book highlights the problems and concerns of adolescents who are currently being abused or who have histories of past abuse, and treatment modalities for such clients are discussed.
Abstract
The author's approach is to combine the information provided in the literature with the author's clinical experience to create, examine, refine, and implement useful strategies, grounded in a theoretical framework that includes material from developmental, attachment, systemic, and trauma theories. The author believes that abused adolescents' current behaviors, which may be identified as provocative or symptomatic, must be understood in the context of their past or current abuse. The basic premise is that child abuse interrupts and disrupts the developmental process and that several developmental tasks are not fully addressed; therefore, these must be revisited during the treatment process. In addition, the author believes that, given certain discrete circumstances, it is necessary to focus the therapy on past traumatic experiences that continue unresolved and to do so for a specific period of time and in a structured manner. The author proposes a model of treatment that is primarily empowerment-based, with a goal of increasing overall functioning. It is informed by therapy with adult survivors. For individual chapters, see NCJ-166279-85. 183 references and a subject index