In this book, a clinical scientist highlights youth psychotherapies that have been tested and shown to work. Treatments for fears and anxiety, depression, attention deficits and ADHD, and conduct problems and disorder are described in detail, their conceptual basis explained, their clinical application illustrated by richly developed case examples, and their prospects for use in clinical practice examined closely. This clinical perspective is complemented by summaries and critiques of the empirical evidence on each treatment and by commentaries on what questions remain unanswered. The author's clinical and scientific experience converge to produce a uniquely valuable experience on exemplary treatments for children and adolescents.

Presenting a fresh approach to child and adolescent therapy, this book identifies five principles at the heart of the most potent evidence-based treatments--and shows how to apply them. Clinicians learn efficient, engaging ways to teach the skills of Feeling Calm, Increasing Motivation, Repairing Thoughts, Solving Problems, and Trying the Opposite (FIRST) to 5- to 15-year-olds and their parents. FIRST principles can be used flexibly and strategically in treatment of problems including anxiety, posttraumatic stress, depression, and misconduct. In a convenient large-size format, the book features 37 reproducible parent handouts, decision trees, and other clinical tools. Purchasers get access to a companion website where they can download and print these materials, plus Spanish-language versions of selected parent handouts.

Weaving practical, hands-on ideas with theory and research about child development, child treatment, and the therapeutic relationship, this book describes an innovative approach to treatment of children and adolescents who won't or can't respond to traditional, conversation-based therapy. For these children, therapists need an entirely new clinical language, one that doesn't depend on words. Within an interpersonal and developmental framework, Straus spells out the deceptively simple goals of no-talk therapy: someone to be close to, and something to be proud of. Through empathy and respect, games, activities, community involvement, a circle of adults, and little pleasures, this approach begins to provide these anxious, sullen, enraged, and confused kids with the self-confidence, self-esteem, and self-awareness to develop a voice of their own.

Many children and adolescents face developmental or situational difficulties in areas where they live most of their meaningful experiences-at home, at school, and in the community. While adults who struggle with life events and stressors may look to professional help, young individuals are quite alone in coping with these situations. Perhaps unsurprisingly, most children and adolescents typically do not seek such help, and often resist it when offered. Author Zipora Shechtman has written this detailed text advocating group counseling and psychotherapy as a viable means of addressing these issues if we are to ensure the psychological wellness of children in society. Group Counseling and Psychotherapy With Children and Adolescents is arranged in four parts. Its chapters explore topics including: *who needs group counseling and psychotherapy; *therapeutic factors in children's groups; *activities in the group; *pre-group planning and forming a group; and *how to enhance emotional experiencing and group support. This text is a principal source of information for counseling psychology students, researchers, and practitioners working with young people, in addition to social workers, teachers, and parents.

What do we wish to know about psychotherapy and its effects? What do we already know? And what needs to be accomplished to fill the gap? These questions and more are explored in this thoroughly updated book about the current status and future directions of psychotherapy for children and adolescents. It retains a balance between practical concerns and research, reflecting many of the new approaches to children that have appeared in the past ten years. Designed to change the direction of current work, this book outlines a blueprint or model to guide future research and elaborates the ways in which therapy needs to be studied. By focusing on clinical practice and what can be changed, it offers suggestions for improvement of patient care and advises how clinical work can contribute directly and in new ways to the accumulation of knowledge. Although it discusses in detail present psychotherapy research, this book is squarely aimed at progress in the future, making it ideal for psychologists, psychiatrists, and all mental health care practitioners.

Intended to be a resource for individuals who are working directly with children and adolescents in diverse applied and clinical settings. The first section contains perspectives on the field. The second section contains an overview of assessment issues in child and adolescent psychotherapy. The third section offers a state-of-the-art overview of major therapeutic approaches that represent current practice in child and adolescent psychotherapy. The last section includes chapters that are related to major assessment and therapeutic practices. A Longwood Professional Book.

Part VI Creativity, Expressive Arts, and Play Therapy: Evidence-Based Strategies, Approaches and Practices with Youth, and Future Directions and Trends in Counseling Youth -- 14 Creativity, Expressive Arts, and Play Therapy -- 15 Strategies, Approaches, and Evidence-Based Practices -- 16 Future Directions and Trends in Counseling Children and Adolescents -- Index