Doing Child and Adolescent Therapy
Adapting Psychodynamic Treatment to Contemporary Practice
Chapter One
Easy Does It: Beginning Therapy
Beginnings are important, arguably critical. A small misstep can detour
us unnecessarily; a large enough one can wholly derail the journey. At
the very least, the first steps, the ones from which all other steps follow,
form the foundation on which a therapy and the essential relationship
within are built.
We begin with the parents. They are the ones who usually choose,
arrange, and pay for a child's psychotherapy. Consider the challenge facing
the mothers and fathers who call us. In a handful of minutes, they
try their best to present an enormously complicated, painful, and often
embarrassing situation to a complete stranger who purports to be some
kind of expert on matters of children and families. As former students, we
know the intellectual demand of case formulation. Imagine adding the
heavy measure of worry, self-blame, and hopelessness that parents feel.
Whatever parents' issues, we try to listen pat ... read full excerpt from Doing Child and Adolescent Therapy: Adapting Psychodynamic Treatment to Contemporary Practice ebook
