Treating troubled children and their families

by Ellen F. Wachtel

Drawing on clinical insights from family systems thinking, psychodynamic play therapy, and cognitive-behavioral perspectives, this significant new work presents an innovative approach to therapeutic work with young children and their families. The author brings a thoroughly integrative orientation to bear in her understanding of how parents and children get entangled in patterns that cause grief to both generations. Her approach - "child-in-family" therapy - although steeped in the systems outlook, offers a thorough consideration of the unique characteristics of the child in trouble and the specific developmental obstacles that he or she faces. This strategy enhances family therapy at times when a child's difficulties begin to take on a life of their own, and also brings the power of family systems thinking to individual efforts to help young children in trouble. . Beginning with an introduction to the author's methods, the first chapter sets forth a rationale for combining the most va