Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy

In this new edition Blake gives a personal account of his professional experience of working with children and adolescents over the last 45 years. Providing a wonderful integration of the conceptual and the practical, this book clarifies complex theory while giving practical advice for clinicians through a nuts and bolts description of how to interview parents, emotionally assess a child and adolescent, set up a consulting room and conduct a therapy session. The addition of chapter summaries, questions and suggested further readings provides a valuable structure to those in child and adolescent training programmes. The author’s experience, gained from public and private work, is vividly described with the use of clinical examples to illustrate his thinking and way of working. This third edition highlights his evolution from a more traditional epistemological (knowing) approach, with its emphasis on interpretation and insight, to a more ontological (being) framework. He explores a more intuitive and unconscious way of working and argues this is more developmentally appropriate to children and adolescents. His accessible writing style transports the reader into his clinical world: a world full of fascinating stories of children talking through their play; of adolescents exploring who they are through their discussions about music, films, sport and computer games; of helping parents to understand and thoughtfully manage their child’s emotional struggles. This new edition, an amalgam of theoretical orientations (Kleinian, Bionian, Winnicottian, relational, non-linear and neurological), draws from recent developments, both in theory and technique. It will be of immense value to psychotherapists, psychoanalysts and all those involved in the treatment of children’s mental health.

Individualizing therapy is critical to achieving effective results with children and adolescents because of their changing needs during different stages of treatment. This comprehensive reference provides a uniquely individualistic approach to child treatment that allows the integration of therapies in order to fit the needs of each particular child. It emphasizes the basic processes of change, relates diagnosis to treatment choice, shows clearly how the therapist goes about integrating treatments for children, and details how the therapist can use an appropriate form of treatment. It also shows the use of the heuristic approach to treatment as a means to bringing a child to question and wonder about their emotions, cognitions, and behaviors and become more open to change. The book focuses on the techniques that bring about this process whether through psychodynamic, cognitive, or behavioral forms of treatment. It's a pragmatic approach that shows what a therapist does or doesn't do to bring about change. The basic ideas needed for a solid understanding of therapy techniques are covered in detail. The process aspects of therapy are emphasized, and comprehensive coverage of such topics as the role of emotions, obstacles to change, therapist spontaneity, and the content of treatment are included. Other topics discussed include the therapist-child relationship, play, how to identify conflict areas, the effect of cognitive level on treatment, the sequence of treatment, and how to deal with special problems associated with initial sessions and termination.