Short-term Psychotherapy Groups for Children: Adapting Group Processes for Specific Problems / Edition 1

by Charles E. Schaefer PhD, RPT-S, cofounder and director emeritus, the Association for Play Thera

Overview

The short term group approach to child therapy is of enormous clinical importance. Group therapy complements the normal developmental tasks that further children's capacities for social interaction and is a proven method of helping children and adolescents overcome a wide range of emotional and behavioral problems.

This comprehensive manual offers specific how-to guidelines for conducting a wide range of psychotherapy groups and detailed session-by-session descriptions of sixteen structured group interventions. Time-limited, structured, educational, and goal-oriented, these groups focus on such core treatment issues as separation and divorce, alcoholism, bereavement, sexual abuse, fears and anxieties, anger management, weight loss, and encopresis.

In this practical sourcebook of group interventions, experts in child and adolescent group therapy demonstrate how to achieve therapeutic gains with a limited number of sessions. A valuable resource for clinicians, this book also validates using group therapy as a primary, rather than auxiliary, form of child psychotherapy.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780765701879
Publisher:	Aronson, Jason Inc.
Publication date:	11/01/1999
Series:	Child Therapy Series
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	496
Product dimensions:	6.40(w) x 9.14(h) x 1.55(d)

About the Author

Charles E. Schaefer, Ph.D., a nationally renowned child psychologist, is Professor of Psychology at Fairleigh Dickinson University and Director of its Center for Psychological Services in Hackensack, New Jersey. He is co-founder and Director Emeritus of the International Association for Play Therapy. He has authored or edited more than forty books on parenting, child psychology, and play therapy, including The Therapeutic Powers of Play, Family Play Therapy, and The Playing Cure. Dr. Schaefer maintains a private practice with children and families in Hackensack.

Editorial Reviews

This book is an invaluable resource for professionals who do group work with children or are considering adding it to their therapeutic repertoire. The time-limited treatment cogently demonstrates how short-term groups are a powerfully effective intervention in their own right as they promote more effective self-experience, improve social skills, and increase the self-esteem of their members. As a clinician who has been leading children's group for over fifteen years in private practice, I found Dr. Schaefer's book to be a stimulating, provocative, and exceedingly useful tool. I recommend it without reservation.

Robert H. Milich

Dr. Schaefer has extended high highly acclaimed prescriptive approach in child therapy to the efficacious use of short-term group therapy with children. The volume contains a wealth of information and is an immensely useful resource in planning brief therapy groups. Specific group interventions with a wide range of childhood disorders are covered by a knowledgeable array of contributors. This outstanding book addresses the ever timely and pertinent issue of brief treatment and helps fill a critical gap in the formal training of many child therapists. It provides a clear guide to short-term group therapy with children.

David A. Crenshaw

This instructive volume fills an important niche within the growing literature on child and adolescent group psychotherapy by expanding the application of structured group therapy modalities to a wide range of clinical problems and settings. The highly satisfying array of informative chapters outlines specific group interventions on a session-by-session basis. The book offers a range of theoretical orientations including an admirable integration of traditional psychodynamic group psychotherapy with the more structured group formats. Practitioners with experience in traditional long-term group psychotherapy will find this a valuable resource for utilizing brief and structured group techniques. Those who have not worked with children in groups will find it a useful introduction to the range of structured group methods and areas of application. This volume will stimulate interest in obtaining further training in the field of child and adolescent group therapy.

James Caron