Using Self Psychology in Child Psychotherapy: The Restoration of the Child Hardcover - 1996

From the rear cover

Emphasizing the fragility of the developing self and the need for empathic selfobjects, Heinz Kohut revolutionized psychodynamic psychotherapy. His ideas changed the thinking and practice of every therapist. Curiously, this revolution did not extend to child psychotherapy. Now, Dr. Jule Miller III brings Kohut's therapeutic understanding and techniques to child work. Dr. Miller builds on Kohut's legacy, emphasizing each child's powerful, creative forces that push toward healthy self development, and brings new understanding to trauma and developmental arrest. In this book you will read about Jimmy, a 2-year-old who was expelled from preschool and almost put out of his home; Adam, a 2-year-old who hid in the bathroom while he heard his mother being raped; Allen, a 5-year-old who persistently climbed to the roof of his house, punched holes in walls, and talked about killing himself; William, an 11-year-old whose life was dominated by his younger brother's chronic illness and his mother's psychiatric hospitalization; and Leanna, a 16-year-old who had been abandoned by her parents and sexually abused for three years. Each of these cases is presented from the initial diagnostic interview to termination. In addition, other case vignettes are used to illustrate specific points. Dr. Miller brings Kohut's theory of the self to the treatment of children and adolescents, enabling therapists to heal a patient's self while it is still in the process of forming.