Breaking Through to Teens : A New Psychotherapy for the New Adolescence

by Taffel, Ron

• ISBN13: 9781593851354
• ISBN10: 1593851359
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2005-03-09
• Publisher: The Guilford Press

Summary

This book presents groundbreaking strategies for psychotherapy with today's teens, for whom high-risk behavior, lack of adult guidance, and intense anxiety and stress increasingly come with the territory. Ron Taffel addresses the key challenge of building a therapeutic relationship that is strong enough to promote real behavioral and emotional change. He demonstrates effective ways to give advice that teens will listen to, get them to tell the truth about their lives, help parents reestablish their authority, and extend the reach of therapy by such nontraditional means as inviting teens to bring friends into sessions.

Author Biography

Ron Taffel, PhD, has supervised and written about working with children and families for over two decades. He is one of the country’s most sought-after speakers for both professional and parent audiences. Dr. Taffel is the award-winning author of over 100 academic and popular articles, and has been a contributing editor to <I>McCall’s<I*> and <I>Parents<I*> magazines for 14 years. His childrearing guides, translated into numerous languages, include the critically acclaimed <I>Parenting by Heart,<I*> <I>Nurturing Good Children Now,<I*> and <I>When Parents Disagree,<I*> as well as the professional handbooks <I>Getting Through to Difficult Kids and Parents<I*> and <*I>Breaking Through to Teens<*>. His latest popular book on adolescence, <I>The Second Family<I*>, was recently released in paperback. Dr. Taffel is the founder of Family and Couples Treatment Services at The Institute for Contemporary Psychotherapy in New York City, where he lives with his wife and two children.

Table of Contents

Introduction	1	(239)
1 CONTEXT: The New Adolescence and a New Treatment Paradigm	7	(23)
2 FIRST MEETING: Getting Teens to Talk	30	(16)
3 FOUNDATION: What's Necessary to Build a Helping Relationship with Teens	46	(27)
4 THE CORE: Healing the Divided Self of 21st-Century Teens	73	(34)
5 DIRECTION: Advice as Essential to Helping Teens Change Behavior and Attitudes	107	(20)
6 THE GRAY ZONE: The Truth about Lying to Therapists and Other Child Professionals	127	(21)
7 TREATMENT UNBOUND: Creating "Flexible Confidentiality"	148	(29)
8 THE PARENT TRAP: Childrearing Advice as Essential to Helping Parents Change Behavior	177	(36)
9 STUCK: How to Conduct a "Focused Family Session"	213	(27)
10 THE VILLAGE: Bringing Friends into Treatment	240	(19)
11 THE REAL IN RELATIONAL: Challenging Ourselves to Stay Three-Dimensional with Teens	259	(24)
Bibliography	283	(2)
Index	285