Counseling, Psychology, and Children: A Muiltidimensional Approach to Intervention

by Wagner, William G.

• ISBN13: 9780130848147
• ISBN10: 013084814X
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2003-01-01
• Publisher: Prentice Hall

Summary

This fresh, new book takes a multidimensional four-part approach to counseling children. This approach: 1) capitalizes on the relationships children build with parents, teachers, and other adults; 2) looks at children's developmental processes; 3) examines multicultural influences upon them; and 4) takes into consideration the variety of intervention models available. Four chapters examine four major approaches to child therapy: psychodynamic, child-centered, behavioral/cognitive-behavioral, and family systems. In the final synthesizing chapter, the author draws upon his experience as therapist and teacher to bring everything together through a case study that shows his multidimensional approach in action. This book covers the use of play as a therapeutic technique and emphasizes thinking outside the box of standard therapy. It encourages future counselors to view treatment as the culmination of education/developmental, preventive, and remedial interventions. MARKET For professionals in the field of counseling children.

Author Biography

William G. Wagner is a professor in the Department of Psychology at The University of Southern Mississippi (USM).

Table of Contents

1. A Multidimensional Approach to Interventions with Children.
2. Professional, Ethical, and Legal Issues.
3. Contemporary Issues: Managed Mental Health Care, Brief Therapies, and Empirically Supported Therapies for Children.
4. Assessment: The First Step.
5. Psychological Interventions with Children: Art and Science, Process and Outcome.
6. Psychodynamic Theory.
7. Psychodynamic Interventions.
8. Child-Centered Theory.
9. Child-Centered Interventions.
10. Behavioral and Cognitive-Behavioral Theory.
11. Behavioral and Cognitive-Behavioral Interventions.
12. Family Systems Theory.
13. Family Systems Interventions.
14. Consultation.
15. Psychopharmacotherapy and Other Interventions for Children.
16. Integrated Approaches to Treatment.
References.

Excerpts

Counseling, Psychology, and Children: A Multidimensional Approach to Interventiondescribes a practical method for remediating common childhood problems, preventing their occurrence in at-risk children, and facilitating optimal development in all children. Designed for mental health and school counselors, psychologists, family therapists, and social workers, the book is more than a review of the extensive literature on child interventions of the past 100 years. Significant theoretical contributions and empirical findings on child therapies are discussed, but in the context of a four-factor treatment model that requires consideration of developmental and cultural influences as they relate to the collaboration of therapists and significant other adults (e.g., parents, teachers) who deliver remedial, preventive, and educational/ developmental services to children. Contemporary psychosocial treatments for children are very different from the method that Sigmund Freud used with Little Hans at the beginning of the 20th century. These changes are addressed here, first as basic concepts and issues (Part 1), and then in terms of the theory and practice of commonly used treatments (Part 2), and other intervention methods for children and families (Part 3). Individual chapters progress from a description of the four-factor multidimensional model (Chapter 1) to the ultimate goal of this book, the use of integrated treatments in everyday practice (Chapter 16). Other topics include ethical and professional issues (Chapter 2), and brief and empirically supported treatments that can be used in an era of managed mental health care (Chapter 3). In Chapter 4, special attention is given to assessment methods for collecting treatment-related information from children, parents, and teachers. Therapy as an art and a science is discussed in Chapter 5, which contains a model based on the work of John Dewey, and a description of quantitative and qualitative research methods that can be used to study the process and outcome of treatment. In Part 2, there is a review of the most commonly used psychosocial treatments for children: psychodynamic, child-centered, behavioral and cognitive-behavioral, and family systems therapies. For each approach, one chapter is devoted to theoretical issues and a second to related treatment methods. Part 3 contains information on other interventions, such as consultation, psychopharmacotherapy, and narrative therapy. Case vignettes are included throughout the book to illustrate the application of the theoretical constructs and empirical findings presented in the text. A novel feature of the book is its use of empirical research on child development in a multicultural society. This material is presented throughout the book as it relates to clinically relevant topics. Developmental and multicultural influences are also addressed in Contemporary Issues Boxes that contain recent findings on important topics related to children. As stated above, the ultimate goal of this book is the use of integrated treatments for children. As the field of child therapy has matured, authors have begun to describe and study these methods, which often represent the combination of more than one theoretical orientation. Integrated treatments are based, in part, on the assumption that individual methods have both strengths and limitations. Therapists who select this approach must be skilled in the treatments that are commonly used with children. In other words, before they can integrate based on the strengths of different theories, therapists must have a thorough understanding of the principles and techniques of each method. This book is offered as a step toward this goal.