A report on child abuse, offering guidelines for treatment of both the child and the family in an attempt to keep the abuse from recurring.

Designed for professionals in the field of child maltreatment, this authoritative book presents a compelling theoretical framework that guide's assessment of children and adolescents who have been sexually abused and their parents. The book is designed to make it easier for clinicians to select a number of measures or procedures across three dimensions that have considerable clinical relevance – attachment, dysregulations, and self-perception. Psychological Assessment of Sexually Abused Children and Their Families features in particular the assessment of sexually aggressive children and an extensive set of interview formats, checklists, and other forms that clinicians will find especially useful in evaluating children and their families. The book is also richly illustrated with case studies.

A riveting exposé of child abuse in America and how the newest breed of pediatricians determines what happened, why, and at whose hands. Although more than one million children are abused each year in the United States, child abuse often remains a secret to family members, professionals, and politicians who neither see nor understand it. Child abuse pediatricians are the newest breed of pediatricians, specialized in exposing abuse. With detective-like acumen, child abuse pediatricians deduce through careful medical analysis who has abused and who has been abused. Describing the most compelling cases among the thousands that they have evaluated, author Lawrence Ricci reveals the trauma, pain, disability, and sometimes death that abused children experience at the hands of trusted adults. This gripping look at the dark side of American families is about good parents and poor ones, perpetrators and victims, and collateral victims such as innocent family members. It is also about the professionals who have made it their career to expose child abuse and to treat children who have suffered from it. The conclusion calls for systematic changes that could help to stem the tide of child abuse.

'A unique and innovative approach to family issues in psychiatric disorders. The authors tackle a broad range of complex issues that are rarely covered in the depth or with the expertise that this volume brings. This book is a major contribution to the field and provides the kind of international perspective that enhances our understanding of the complex dimensions of psychiatric disorders from a multigenerational and cross-cultural perspective.' From a review of the first edition by Carol Nadelson, Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School. It is indisputable that mental illness in a parent has serious and often adverse effects on the child, something which is surprisingly unreflected in clinical service provision. In this completely rewritten second edition, an international, multidisciplinary team of professionals review the most up-to-date treatment interventions from a practical, clinical point of view. It is essential reading for all professionals dealing with adult mental illness and child-care.